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.

Surfing vs. Cycling: Should I allow two sports to compete for my time?

Surfing is finally becoming second nature to me. That's not to say that it's easy. I still have a lot of work to do and, after all, I am surfing in only two-foot waves (on a good day). However, I really felt comfortable in the water today. I understand what I'm supposed to do; I just can't always do it all at the right time. I had a couple of bad starts when I first got into the water. I might have been a little nervous. My friend (and, as of today, my new surfing buddy), Andrea, was watching after her lesson with Brian. She said she was too tired to get back in with us, but she wanted to watch. I guess I wanted to impress her, but I'm not sure what kind of impression I might have given her. Eventually, though, I got back in my groove and popped up and road some waves all the way in. I had a ball. Brian, my friend and surfing mentor, surfed with Robin and me, but couldn't help but critique us too, which is good 'cause I need all the tips I can get. For instance, although he complimented me on my form, he would then say not to worry about the other surfers near the pier 'cause they were just as pathetic as I was. He also told me that I looked like I had a death grip on the board when I was sitting out in the water. I do need to work on it, that's for sure. Then came the talk about tomorrow. Weather rumor had it that a cold front was going to pass through to change the wind from the SSW to the North. When this shift occurs, waves in Galveston will be running at 4- to 6-ft., which is quite big for Galveston. Brian says that I definitely wouldn't want to miss it. However, the latest weather forecast predicts that the front won't make it all the way through Galveston. Ummm...we really won't know until tomorrow. I don't want to miss the good waves, but Saturday is usually my cycling day. I cycle during the week too, but on Saturday, I usually do a long, hard ride. So my dilemma is should I go surfing first thing in the morning or should I go cycling? Right now, I'm leaning toward surfing, but I don't think I will know for sure until early tomorrow morning. I'll just have to keep my eyes on the g-townsurf.com Web cam to check out the wave action to find out if I will hang ten or assert my pedal power.