California Surfin' Once Again

I had another wonderful opportunity to surf this weekend in California when I flew to Los Angeles to compete in the Long Beach (half) Marathon. It's the third, and final, run in a series called the Beach Cities Marathons. Last January, I ran in Huntington Beach, while in May, I ran in the OC (half) Marathon. I decided that I had to complete the series in Long Beach. Naturally, I knew I had to surf while I was here so I contacted my favorite Surf School out in California and arranged another surf session with Phil, my California surf guru. I had exchanged emails with Jaz and another person at the school and found out that Jaz and Phil and a few others had been surfing in Baja and wouldn't return until late the night before I arrived. They would need to assess the waves early the next morning to let me know where to go. Sure enough, I received a call from Phil saying to meet him at a Jack-in-the-Box on a corner in Huntington. We met up, discussed the wave options at various beaches and opted for the head high, rather than the double overhead at the Brookhurst Beach we had met at before. 

I was a little intimidated at first, but quickly overcame my fears by watching the other surfers in the water. They all made it look so easy. Phil had an 8' and a 9' board. I opted for the 9' because I wanted to keep using the same size board as Roxanne, which is the board I use regularly these days. The differences, though, we're that it was Softop and, therefore, a little wider and thicker than mine. Since the waves were formed by a beach break, it was a little tricky getting out. I counted sets, but Phil warned that the waves had  minds of their own and would form and come into shore as they wanted and not in any prescribed manner. I tried to follow his lead, but sometimes got caught on the inside. He gave me some tips for getting out, one of them being to keep heading into the wave and to not stop paddling if I saw a rather large wave heading my way. Of course, at least three times, I got scolded for doing just that...stopping and occasionally turning when a wave headed my way. I paddled a lot, but then again, paddling has never been an issue  for me.  I caught three rather large waves with Phil beside me, but I also missed some I should have been able to catch. 

I participated in my run today (Sunday) and didn't really have an opportunity to surf again. I had a fun run that included a few miles on a paved path actually on the beach. However, with the sun beating down on the sand, running on the path was really warm...warm for California. I was hoping to finish in 1:55, but finished in 2:02 instead. Oh well, there's always next time to set the record. Who can complain about a running and, SURFING in California? I certainly can't!  

my own board and first surf

Well, just as with every new hobby, eventually you have to make the commitment to get the equipment or get out of the game. I decided last weekend to get my own equipment -- a surf board. Since I had already gone window shopping the week before, I knew exactly what board I wanted to buy. A 9' Softops board at Soundwaves on Montrose waited for me to come buy it. Bright orange with a purple flower made this board stand out over all of the others. Blue flowers pepper the epoxy underside of the board. A momentary fear of sharks finding me because of the flowers on the bottom of the board (they look for bright things) almost caused me to put it back on the rack. But, it was just so darn pretty, I couldn't resist it. I know it seems odd to refer to a surf board as pretty, but I can't help it.

I went out today on my new board. Waves were pretty flat, but there were enough little ones close to shore to practice popping up, sitting on the board, turning it, etc. I had some good pop-ups and could stand and turn the board. I also got a chance to practice loading and unloading it from the rack on top of my car. The sun was bright and the air was warm. It doesn't get much better than that!