Although I usually surf on Friday afternoons, I decided to surf on Friday morning this week. Robin and I have been interviewed by the Galveston County Daily News and today they wanted to come take pictures. The only time they could do it was this morning. Fortunately, I discussed a schedule change with my boss and she was okay with me working in the afternoon rather than the morning. The pic was at 8 a.m., so I had a couple of hours to surf and still get home, clean up and make it to work by 1 p.m. As a matter of fact, I actually made it to the office by 12:30. Pshewww...it was hard leaving the beach though when everyone got to stay behind and surf.
The surf itself wasn't that great. There were waves, but they were rough and closed out fast. I pearled only once, but I also missed some waves that I should have been able to surf. Surfing the waves today was like trying to surf in a washing machine. Waves were small and rough, coming from many different directions. One surfer, however, seemed to be doing great. He was going to the outside and riding these strange-forming waves a long way. When I was on the outside, I couldn't find a wave that would stay a wave long enough for me to ride six inches, let alone halfway down the beach. He had no problem. I chatted with him, and he told me he had been surfing 35 years. Wow! He seemed to hop from wave to wave. I hope I'm still surfing in 35 years! I have fun now, but sure wish I could get better at this.
I returned today (Sunday), for my second regular weekly session and found the waves quite small...if possible, smaller than Friday. However, the ripple was just enough to give me something to play around with on my board. On Friday, I had taken my 8'1", but because of how flat it seemed on the webcam today, I took my 9' Softop. I caught a few, but Robin said the waves were better the 30 minutes she surfed before I arrived. I think I got down there at 8:05 this morning rather than my regular 7 a.m. Isn't that always the case? The waves are always better when the surfer asking about the waves isn't there. Today (Sunday), that was me.
I stayed for about three hours anyway and had a ball. I got extremely frustrated at the beginning though. I was in a grumpy mood to begin with, then I went out on the west side of the jetty and, although Travis, one of the C-Sick instructors, and Brian were catching the occasional wave, I was having trouble catching one. I went to the east side of the jetty and caught them, finally deciding that I might need to stay on that side. The waves were breaking fairly close to shore, so I had to move in close, but once I did, I caught just about every wave I attempted to surf. Thank goodness! I hate getting so discouraged when I'm having a rough time. I start re-thinking every aspect of my life -- maybe I should give up surfing, maybe I should just stick to cycling and running, maybe I'm really no go at anything, maybe I've made all kinds of wrong decisions... But, after surfing a couple of small waves, I decided that I just need to practice more. Travis told me to move up on my board in the smaller waves so that I could get propelled forward. I usually pearl when I move forward, but it worked for me a couple of times today. Change. I just need to change positions depending on the wave. I guess changes are sometimes needed to make things right in all circumstances, whether surfing, working or just living!
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