Dancing on the board

I extended my Labor Day weekend during the past week by taking Tuesday off. I made it to the beach early and met my surfing mentor Brian. He and I were the only ones at the beach that day. Waves were not big, but at least there were some. Also, because no one else was on the beach, I had plenty of room to play on my board. I had been learning about taking off at a slight angle so I could ride the wave farther down the beach. Brian told me that I needed more of a Mae West wiggle with my back leg because it looked so stiff when I was standing on the board. I certainly didn't argue since I felt like I was stiff, and because when I saw photos of myself on the board, I looked stiff. Tuesday was a good day to practice. I successfully caught the small waves at an angle, popped up and wiggled. I was able to walk on the board and turn it successfully. Brian thought I improved quite a bit on Tuesday. I won't really know though until I'm out on a real wave and successfully riding it in. I also practiced my knee paddling, which has turned out to be a very effective way of getting out quickly.

I usually surf on Friday too, but, today (9-11), the seas were flat! It was also quite rainy with showers popping up quickly and offering much-needed downpours to the area. However, where there are rainstorms in southeast Texas, there is also lightning. Lightning and surfing don't go together at all.

In my last blog post, I mentioned that I was looking for a poem to share. I'm close to finding one. I believe I located the title and the author, but I haven't read the actual poem yet. Maybe next time...

(The photo posted with this blog was taken Sunday, Sept. 6, before I caught some waves.)

Flat seas, again

No waves dude! That's the first thing my surfing mentor and friend, Brian, said to me when he called me with the surf report last night and again today. No waves! I had actually seen the flatness myself by logging on to several of the webcams. However, I didn't want to believe it was happening again. Ordinarily I would have gone down alone, but Brian reminded me of it being Labor Day weekend and the crowds I would experience on the Friday afternoon before a long weekend. I had other things to keep me busy today anyway, but still, I missed going to the beach. So, I went shopping at the surf shop. I didn't buy anything, but I eyed a couple of really pretty fiberglass and epoxy boards. I also went to Sun & Ski to check on wetsuits. I knew they carried 3-2s, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to find a 5-4-3. To my surprise, they didn't have ANY wetsuits. Apparently it's a seasonal item and when I asked when they would get some in, the clerk said January. January? I might need it before then, so I'll definitely have to order it on the Internet. I know I'm going to need it and, more than likely, before January. I hate being cold.

The weather this weekend has been forecasted as rainy. I hate to hear that too, since I want to be able to surf at least one day during this long weekend. This will also require a wind-shift so that waves can be created. Brian is calling me on Saturday night to let me know about Sunday's forecast. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I was planning to close today's blog with a poem about the ocean, but, after my rather bold Facebook statement about southern writers being the best, I decided the poem definitely had to be written by a Southerner. However, I couldn't find one in any of my anthologies. I also couldn't find one on the Web. I know there are plenty out there, but I guess since I needed it right away, I would not be able to locate one. All I could think of was Kate Chopin's novel, "The Awakening." But, then I realized I didn't really want to include a suicide beach scene in my surfing blog. Death by drowning is never a good way to think about surfing. So now I'm on a quest to find a good southern beach poem. Oh, and I definitely need some waves.

p.s. The photo posted with this blog is not from Friday, Sept. 4. It's just an example of what Galveston surfers experience at the end of summer when we want to surf.

Summer doldrums and passing afternoon thunderstorms

I believe I've talked about them before...the summer doldrums...that time during the summer where the waves flatten out. Brian, my surf coach, called me this morning before I headed to Galveston to tell me the waves were fading fast. He was in the middle of a private lesson and, although there had been some small surf for his lesson, the waves were flattening out. I told him I wanted to go anyway. I spoke with Andrea and she desperately wanted to be out on her board also. So we met at our 43rd street pier. Once I arrived I saw just how flat the surf could be. It was definitely going to be a day to practice swimming out and turning the board. And that's exactly what we did. We hauled everything down to the beach and paddled out. A couple of small waves came through for us to practice the pop-up and one or two decent rides. And then, the sky turned black. It started to rain, but there wasn't any thunder and lightening; at least not at first. The wind started to shift and Brian suggested we swim out and over to the other side of the jetty. Just as we made the swim over (I still need to work on arching my back more), we heard the first clap of thunder, which of course means that lightening wasn't far away. Brian thought we should swim in and that's what we did. When we made it to shore, the skies opened and the rain came down hard and fast. The native surfer, Brian, said we should go stand close to the wall for some protection, which we did, but we still got soaked as did our towels and coolers, etc. A beach rat came out to play during the storm and not being a fan of any kind of rodent, I got a little miffed at the creature who thought it might run over to play around our feet. A loud "shoo" kept him away. The rain was the result of a norther heading our way that wasn't going to quite make it all the way through. It would switch the winds a little, cause some rain and, basically, flatten out the seas. Too bad! I'm hoping that the wind shifts enough to give us better waves on Sunday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.