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.

Waves have returned...at least for now

It's about time. After a couple of weeks of absolutely flat surf, today the waves were back. They weren't huge (after all, it's still Galveston), but they were a little bigger than they had been during August. The sets were different too. Although there was a quite a bit of time between the sets, when the waves finally made it to me, they seemed different somehow. I started out on my own 9' Softop, but, eventually, traded it for Brian's 9'6" fiberglass board, on which I love surfing. I'm not really complaining about my Softop. It's a fabulous board (and it's pretty too), but that fiberglass board is like surfing on a cloud. It's incredibly light and easy to manipulate in the water because it is also a little more narrow than mine. I'm dying to get a board just like it, but I know this one was custom-made and would probably cost me $1,000 or more. I'm not sure I could describe the differences adequately. I just know that it seems easy to maneuver.

I'm still having trouble "catching" the waves. I'm trying to catch them out past the break(s), but I only really catch about one in ever four or five. The others I seem to misjudge. I end up face first in the water alot too, without any real explanation as to why. I guess it's just part of the learning process. Today's waves tired me out too. For the first time, I can honestly say that my arms were a little tired today after surfing only about three-and-a-half hours.

I bought my springsuit just in time. I needed it today. The water temp was only about 78 degrees, but stepping into it was shocking. I eventually warmed up, and I'm sure the springsuit had something to do with that. I think I'll probably need it for about another month or so until I have to drag out the ol' 3-2 wetsuit. But, I hear that when that happens, the waves will definitely be good.

In closing today's blog post, I'll drop in the opening quatrain/stanza from Katherine Anne Porter's "Texas: By the Gulf of Mexico":

Ye shivering ones of the frozen North, list [sic] to my happy song
Of the seventh heaven nestled here below,
In our rich, fertile valleys, midst sunkissed fruits and flowers
In Texas, by the Gulf of Mexico