Early morning waves

Sometimes, I just don't have long enough weekends! I'm sure everyone probably has a similar complaint. It's not because I dislike my week days, because I certainly don't. I enjoy the work I do and the people I work with daily. However, I sure would like more free time to hone my surfing skills. I had a weekend commitment this past weekend; one that was going to keep me from going to Galveston. It wasn't a bad commitment. I was going to have fun visiting family, but I still wanted to surf. So I decided to take Friday morning off since I was going to be leaving town on Friday afternoon. That way, I could surf for a few hours before I left town. I made it down to the beach by 7:15ish. It was one of the coolest mornings we had so far this season. I had my springsuit though, which kept me toasty while I was in the water. In fact, the only time I was chilled was walking from the water back to my car and that wasn't a long walk. Although it looked like there would be no waves on the Web cam I watch, there were, in fact, several small, long waves on the west side of the 43rd street pier. They were perfect for me. My surfing mentor, Brian, met me down there (with his lovely wife Karen and Tex the wonder dog), and we surfed together. He let me use his 9'6" "cloud" board, which I love! I practiced swimming out, turning quickly and, although Brian helped me several times by pushing me, my timing for catching the wave still needs improvement. (Timing seems to be my biggest issue right now...something that has to be right in so many life decisions.) I also practiced riding the wave parallel to the beach, which gave me a much longer ride; practiced dancing or moving up and down the board; and practiced stopping and dismounting the board without looking like a spastic first-timer. I still need a lot of practice on bringing my center of gravity down the board, bending at the knees instead of at the waist. These small waves, though, gave me a chance to work on improving my skills. I heard waves were pretty good on Saturday, but today they weren't. I had an opportunity to drive past the beach on my way home from my trip and stopped to watch several surfers making do on small, inconsistent waves. We -- weekend surf warriors -- sometimes just have to make do with what time we have!

P.S. I'm a little late posting this weekend because of my trip, but at least I was able to snap the photo above today when I was crossing on the Bolivar ferry back to Galveston.

Rainy days and cool, north winds

I was ready to surf today! For the first time since June, it has been more than a week since I had been out in the waves, and I definitely wanted to get out in the water. However, I've also been fighting a cold this week...one that kept me out of work on Wednesday, which is something I never do. My congested, feverish body needed some rest. Meds had helped me make a speedy recovery, but I thought it best for me to pass for today. I went to the beach, though, and watched the cool front come through. The winds shifted less than an hour before I arrived. The waves were bigger than usual, although not huge. Surfers had flocked to the 43rd and 46th street pier, although most of them looked miserable. Only two or three went out past the breaks and managed to catch a couple of decent rides, while the rest seemed to be just fighting with the water. My surfing buddy Brian showed me where the waves were getting sheared off by the wind. He said he wasn't going out today because it would be a lot of work for little payoff, although he was willing to get his board and take me if I wanted to go. Personally, I, too, thought it looked like most of the guys out were struggling quite a bit for very little payoff. Brian thought tomorrow might be better, but it just depends on how forceful this front moved through. It could be rough and choppy just like today. One cool thing I saw was a young woman who took her board out and seemed to outsurf several of the guys around her. She wasn't quite as good as the two guys who went out past the breaks, but she managed to get some decent rides. I saw a couple of waves fold on her though through no fault of her own. Brian says that's one of the problems with surfing in waves like today's. I can't wait to see what tomorrow or Sunday might bring in the form of waves. Sunday, though, I won't get out until a little later since I have to work a rest stop for the big Bike around the Bay two-day bicycle ride that starts in Anahuac and finishes in Baytown. The cyclists spend the night in Galveston. I decided not to ride it since I might be surfing. I am working the Sunday morning rest stop in Texas City though. It should be fun and I'll either ride or surf afterward. I've been spinning regularly, but I do miss saddle time on MY bike.

In other BIG news, I ordered a new surf board today. It is a custom-made fiberglass board by James Fulbright. That's right, I will have my very own Senator surfboard. James built the Hurricane board (an old moniker) that Brian owns and that I borrowed. Even though it's longer than my Softop -- it's 9'6", it didn't feel like it and was like surfing on a cloud. I got the same length and added a 1/2 inch in width to give me a little more stability (I'm tall for a surfer chick, and I'm a beginner). James says it usually takes six to eight weeks, but thought he could get mine to me in four! I can't wait, so keep your eyes posted for photos of me and my new board.

Choppy wave Thursday

Since I was leaving town for a couple days and was going to miss my weekend surf time, I decided to surf early on Thursday before I caught my flight. I made it to Galveston at 7:15 a.m. to find what looked like decent waves. However, once I made my way to the water, I realized that "decent" was definitely the wrong word. Choppy would have been a better description. Although it was quite a fight to get out, I managed to do it a couple of times. Eventually, I decided I would just practice my pop ups in the white water. Even that proved troublesome because I would jump on my board when a wave was coming my way, only to find that the waves were coming from two different directions, making it impossible to keep straight on the board. I was able to ride waves in three or four times, but another three or four times, I was knocked off balance on the board face first into the water because of the inconsistency of the wave. Although my surfing mentor Brian came out to watch me, he said the waves were too inconsistent for him to try to get out in the water and, besides, he was going to be surfing really "fine" waves tomorrow. Yes, at least three other times during the week, Brian had either called or e-mailed to let me know that because of the cold front coming in on Friday, the waves were going to be 4- to 6-ft and that it might be the best waves we've seen since last winter. I, of course, was going to miss it because I was going out town. My surfing buddy Robin broke her toe during our last outing and was probably going to miss it too, although she said she was definitely going to the beach to watch. Fortunately, this is just the beginning of the fall season and we should have many more 4- to 6-ft waves in weekends to come. Hooray! Although, I might have surfed those size waves a few times in Nicaragua last March (not sure if they were even that big, but I think they might have been), I haven't surfed them since and I am dying to know what it's like. Since it is only the beginning of fall, I'm sure I have many more weekends like this in my future. Ummm...can't wait!

P.S. While I might be missing the waves this weekend, I'm still having fun. I'm in Jonesborough, Tennessee at the National Storytelling Festival. Maybe I'll hear a story or two about surfing! Probably not, but who knows? Several great storytellers are in the lineup this year.