Will I ever get better? I'm sure I will and I'm sure I have since first beginning my surfing journey three years ago, but some days I just feel discouraged. I had an awesome weekend. I surfed three days in a row. However, the one thing that could have made it better is if I had caught more waves. Some of the reasons I didn't catch waves had to do with the inconsistent waves. But the major reason had to do with my inability to properly read the waves. On all three days other surfers around me caught waves. Some didn't or couldn't, but a couple of them made it look easy.
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| Me with Bryan's cool RA Board! |
On Friday, I went down to surf at my usual time. I was excited to see that Dude Brian brought surfer Bryan's board for me to try. Bryan has a 9' Robert August board that he was lending to Brian for me and my surfing pal Robin to try. Bryan was there and explained that it was an old board that had several nicks that had been patched. He also said that it was a little heavier than many boards and that it had three stringers. Sure enough! The stringers were visible. I'm always a little hesitant at first to use a strange board, but it's always fun to try something new. I had a ball on it. If I could read the waves better, I'm sure I would have had more fun. But even though I missed a lot of waves, I still had fun on the ones I caught. I think I surfed approximately four or five waves, but only one or two did I catch before it was whitewater. When the waves are so inconsistent, it is soooo hard for me to know the difference between the ones that will truly form and those that won't actually break.
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| Saturday's flatness |
Saturday wave-catching came after my 57-mile bike ride. I certainly remembered why I loved living in Texas on Saturday. The sun was out and the temps were in the mid-70s. The water temp is still at 55 degrees though, which means that surfers are forced to wear a 5-4 wetsuit. At least, I was forced to wear one. Because the air temp was so pleasant, I opted out of wearing booties, although several of the other surfers out with me that day were wearing not only booties, but also hoods. Not sure why they had it all on since I didn't have an issue. My 5-4 keeps me nice and toasty. I took my 9' Softop because I knew I needed the length, but didn't want to take my 9'6". I had fun, but only caught about three or four waves. As usual, I was about 30 minutes too late. B and R agreed that the waves had been a little better earlier. However, there were still a few waves left. I made the most of them. Again, I probably only caught one on the outside, but I had a couple of cool rides and managed to turn the board. I also had a couple of wipeouts. At one point, I was trying to catch a wave with my eyes closed. I thought this might help me train my eyes to look out instead of down. However, with my eyes closed, I pearled. Not sure why. I definitely need to figure out a way to force myself to look out instead of down. It seems that looking down is my natural pose. Oh no!!
By Sunday, the report from the surf dude was that there were still some surfable waves. The tide was out early in the morning, but by mid-day, it would probably be pretty nice. Ummm...I decided to go down again. This would be my third day in a row to surf, which is something that I haven't done in a very long time. I paddled out and caught the first wave I attempted to catch, but it was downhill from there. I caught a few, but mostly they were in the whitewater. I took "Sunshine," my 8'1" McTavish. I spoke with another surfer who was out and he suggested that had I been surfing a thicker and longer board, I would catch more waves. I'm not sure. I caught a few, but I felt like my biggest problem today (in addition to looking down instead of out) was not knowing which waves to attempt to surf. Again, it was hard to tell which waves were actually going to form and which ones were going to closeout. The other surfer that was out seemed to be doing just fine. He missed a few, but he caught several that I wouldn't have even thought were catchable. I watched in awe. I'm sure surfer dude Brian would have caught every wave. He, T and a couple of the other guys make it look easy. All in all, I had a ball. But, I sure wish I was a better surfer. I guess it will all come together one of these days. The key to my success right now is not to give up, and to always believe that I can do better tomorrow.
Surfing, alone among sports, generates laughter at its very suggestion, and this is because it turns not a skill into an art, but an inexplicable and useless urge into a vital way of life. (surfer/writer Matt Warshaw)
