Beautiful August Waves and a Birthday

A birthday weekend would only be perfect with all three of my favorite activities! So, I celebrated by surfing, running and cycling, which means that this weekend wasn't all that different from my other weekends. On Friday, I turned 50. It's a milestone birthday so I received a little extra recognition for it. My office mates surprised me with a cupcakes and goodies on Thursday, which meant I definitely needed the cycling, running and surfing to burn off all the extra calories. Surf dude sent an email early Friday saying there would be waves on Friday afternoon. They were a little inconsistent, but should be easy enough to catch. I stuck to my Friday ritual. I worked until noon, then drove home, loaded up the car and headed to the 43rd Street jetty. I'm so glad I did. Because it was my birthday and other activities I had scheduled, I only had a couple of hours to surf, but those two hours definitely were fantastic. Roxanne definitely made my time in the water a good time.

Waves were a little difficult to catch, but that didn't stop me from trying.  I caught several, and the dude B. caught twice as many, making it look easy to be a surfer. I watched and was amazed. I turned the board a couple of times, but only to the left when heading toward shore. Turning left is the natural way for a goofy-footer to turn. But because the waves in Galveston usually break left to right, I almost always turn the wrong direction. I still sometimes get long rides, but I think it might be better if the waves were breaking the other direction. I've attempted to ride the wave the other way, with my back to the wave and face to the shore, but that never lasts long. I'm not completely sure, but I think that would look funny also. Nevertheless, I had fun on Friday and had a few pretty little rides. I will definitely have to explore and practice the direction I go on the waves.

Dude Brian gave me the
coolest gift. An original
Glen Campbell album
for his hit "Galveston."

I was a little hesitant to make my usual trek to Galveston on Friday because of all the news during the past few weeks about Red tide, which was depriving the fish of oxygen and causing shorelines to be littered with the carcasses of hundreds of fish. The worst of the Red tide was occurring on the west end of Galveston and in Surfside, but my surf pal, Robin, said that she could see washed-up fish bones in the water near the 43rd St. jetty on Wednesday. By Friday, though, they must have already been washed back out in the ocean. I never saw anything. Of course, the water is quite brown in Galveston, especially when the wind is blowing out of the west like it had been, but I never felt any as I was stepping into the water either. Brian gave me a cartoon on top of my awesome birthday gift (see pic). He said he had printed it last year, but with the "Red tide" in the news lately he brought it out and gave it to me. It is a picture of two surfers and a guy on the beach says that if he were them, he wouldn't surf because of Red tide and a sewage spill.  One of the surfers says to the other: "Good thing he's not us!" And the other replies, "Good surf is good surf no matter what color it is." I'm not sure I agree, but I had checked some of the environmental sites and found out that the water was safe for humans.  I sure hope so! 

On Sunday, I had been planning to make it down to surf early. However, a 6:30 a.m. report from Brian and a quick glance at the 43rd St. webcam, indicated that it was flat in G-town. The tide was in, and, on top of everything else, it was raining. So, I went to the gym and spin class. After spin, though, (around noon) I took a quick glance of the webcam on my phone and couldn't believe what I saw. Tons of surfers were taking advantage of some waves that had developed. I called Brian who decided he would go down and take a look at the waves. He called back from the beach a few minutes later and confirmed that the waves were, in fact, pretty. He thought it might have to do with a tropical system in the most southern section of the Gulf. However, I'm not too sure it wasn't some sort of strange North wind, which is really odd in August in south Texas. It doesn't matter. I just pretended it was a special birthday gift to wrap up my birthday week. I loaded Roxanne, drove to 36th (43rd was too crowded), made my way out and surfed. The waves were incredible, and my surf session was marvelous. Happy birthday to me!

Reconnecting with Roxanne

Friday waves were a little
disorganized, but at least we
had enough wind for them.

What a spectacular weekend! I had the opportunity to participate in all of my sports. The Gulf is still pretty flat, but, on Friday, rumor had it there were a few waves. Actually, the "surf dude" called me early on Friday and said that the waves were not bad, verifying the rumor as fact. Of course, by the time I made it down at around 2:15 p.m., the wind had shifted and it was kind of mess. But, hey, I can't complain: WE STILL HAD SURFABLE WAVES! I loaded Roxanne as soon as I got home from work and headed to the island. I drove down the Seawall looking for the best spot, and the waves were better around 36th Street, but because of summer crowds, there was no place to park. So, I drove back to 45th.

I paddled out in the rip current and immediately caught a wave. My timing was good and the ride was spectacular. Of course, I struggled after that. The waves were small and weak AND a little jumbled, so reading which waves to go for was difficult. The "dude" came out to surf with me about 3 p.m., and he made it look easy. It had been a little over two weeks since I had been out, and although that doesn't seem like a long time, when a person is still figuring out the intricacies of a new sport and on a new board, practices means everything. The "dude" caught three waves to my every one. At one point, he said that I wasn't paddling for waves soon enough. I know he's right. I almost always wait a little too late. Part of the problem on Friday was that a few of the times I paddled for a wave, the wave would fizzle out before it made it to me, leaving me worn out and deflated. So, I would wait until I could tell that the wave would make it almost all the way to me, which is way too late. I saw B lose waves, but I could also tell that he had a sixth sense about which waves would stay together until they made it to him. I caught several more waves, but missed several too. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I know I still need to practice; in particular, I'm still looking down rather than out when I surf. I HATE THAT! Also, about every third ride I have an awkward pop-up that leaves me feeling like a bird with peg legs struggling to find my balance. I'm able to salvage the ride, but I hate that it happens. I'm very successful turning my board to the left because I'm a goofy-foot, but I also need to practice going right. Oh, there's just so much for me to learn and practice! I hate it that this summer has been so flat.

I heard the waves returned briefly on Saturday, but Saturday is my run/ride day. And, since I have a half marathon coming up soon, I need the cardio. I was hoping to surf again today (Sunday), but it was too flat. In fact, B had to cancel his lessons. The forecast is dismal for the rest of the week, but I'm hoping that changes soon.

Books! I'm looking for a new surfing book to read. The hardest part about choosing surfing books is making sure that you choose one that actually shares valuable information and isn't just a lame story. One of the best I read so far was "The Wave" by Susan Casey, which I read about two years ago. I haven't found another really good one since. But, who knows... I'll just keep looking.  I'll have a little bit of time to do just that. I've been spending a lot of the evening hours watching the Tour de France. It finished today (a Brit won!), so I'll have some spare evening time once again.

Adding Roxanne to My Quiver

Welcome Roxanne! I added a new, wonderful and beautiful 9' Walden surfboard to my quiver and decided she should definitely be named Roxanne (Roxy for short). How did it happen that I bought a new board? Well, for the past six or so weeks, B has been talking about Walden boards. At about the same time, he's also been telling me that I really need a new board to advance my skills to the next  level.  My surfing pal R also bought a Walden a couple of months ago and says she felt a real difference in her surfing. Her board is a Wahine Walden with lots of flowers and pink trim. It is beautiful! Between seeing and hearing about R's board and listening to B, who also bought Walden about six or so months ago, I decided that the next board I would buy would probably be a Walden. After some research, I found that one of the major selling points of the Walden is the thickness and something I call, for lack of a better description, a double concave.  Actually, B might have called it a double concave. I don't remember for sure. But, because of the thickness and these "double concaves" the Walden boards seem more responsive to the small, rough waves in Galveston. (At least, that's what the surf dude told me. We'll see.)

Meet Roxanne!

Since about the third week of this discussion about the Walden boards, I started researching them. I looked for a Walden on Craigslist and, occasionally, I would find one. However, either it is was the wrong size (I'm trying to stick with a 9'), or it was sold by the time I sat down to send an inquiry about it. I started looking at area surf stores and I found at least two of them that carried the Walden Magic model. One of the stores that carried the 9' Walden Magic was a small store on the Strand and the other was Soundwaves on Montrose. I'm sure there are others, but I couldn't find them at the surf stores I regularly visit. Soundwaves had several 9' including the Magic model 1, 2 & 3 I believe. I'm not to sure about the differences between them except for price. The Magic model 3 was more expensive. One of the models they had was the Wahine, which is similar to R's except that instead of flowers, this one had a painting of a mermaid on it. I thought about it for a few weeks and priced them online. I eventually decided that I would get the mermaid Walden, despite the fact that I didn't want to spend that much. Even during the past week when I had pretty much decided that the was the board I would buy, I would call a different store and ask about their boards and almost be lured into buying a different one. One of the boards I found was a fiberglass Doyle. It was less expensive than the Walden, but I couldn't get the Walden out of my head. By looking at the dimensions, I could definitely understand why it would catch the smallest of waves. It was a little thicker then some of the other boards including the Doyle. It was also epoxy, which is the new material used in boards. I had been thinking that epoxy replaced fiberglass...I guess I just hadn't thought it through. But, I eventually realized that epoxy is actually the core of the board...a much lighter foam for the core.

On Friday, instead of surfing, I asked my surfing buddy R to go with me to the Soundwaves on Montrose and buy the board I appropriately named Roxanne. She's beautiful and incredibly light to carry. I couldn't wait to try it. Saturday was rainy, but Sunday seemed hopeful. At least until I heard from Surf Dude B who said that the surf was incredibly rough and sloppy as well as filled with seaweed. I decided that I had to try Roxanne anyway. So I loaded up and went down. I made up my mind that I would probably only stay out for a half hour or so, and that seemed to be all I needed. The current was AWFUL and the waves were rough and unstructured. Several male short boarders were out having fun, but I had a tough time just getting to the outside. Once I made it out in the rip current, I was automatically pushed back in. I was able to pop up and ride safely to shore on the first wave I decided to take and I caught several more in the whitewater after that. It wasn't the nicest of days, but I got to ride my new board, which made it all worthwhile. I didn't turn that much better than my other boards, but I think that will only be a matter of time, and that after practice, I will. I do think the board took off faster in the waves, which will help me develop a faster pop-up and I think, eventually, help me turn. I can't wait to surf again. I sure hope there are nice waves one night this week or, at least, by next weekend so I can attempt to "hang ten!"