Flat, Flat, Flat and Flat

Welcome to the end of summer! A person wouldn't know it by the heat, but summer is coming to a close and I can tell because it is soooooo flat. Actually, I think the flatness last year was a little earlier in the summer...July or so. But this year, it's been flatter in August. In fact, this weekend has been the flattest of the year. I didn't bother even going down on Friday, my usual weekday surf time. It was quite flat, and I had other things to take care of, so I opted out. I was working later in the afternoon on Friday because of an event scheduled for the new fall semester. If there had been waves, I would have definitely headed down to the beach right after 5:30 a.m. spin class. However, without the waves to help lure me down, I just stayed on the mainland.

I decided to head down today despite the flat conditions. I was lusting for the beach, so I thought I would do some Stand Up Paddling. Brian graciously brought his SUPs to the 43rd street jetty so that he, Robin and I could play around in the lake-like Gulf. He also brought a small kayak, which was a good thing 'cause surfer Bre joined us. We all had something to play around on. We had a blast and, during the first half of my time on the beach, I never fell off my SUP. On my second round, though, I had trouble with the current a couple of times and forgot to use my core to stay steady and fell. (I used my legs instead, which just doesn't provide enough stability.)

Although nothing exciting happened in the water, I experienced a little thrill when I bought today's Galveston County Daily News. A couple of weeks ago, a reporter with GCDN interviewed me and Robin for a story in the newspaper's Coast magazine. She had been approached by Brian to come take a lesson and learn to surf. She took him up on it. While taking the lesson, Brian told her about me and Robin. (I believe she even met Robin during the first lesson; I met her during the second lesson.) It was a fun interview and, eventually, "photo shoot." (The story begins on page 29.)