Busy weekends, but always time for Surfing

Psheww! Weekends are never long enough. I'm sure many people feel the same way. There are so many things I'd like to do, and so little time to do them. I've lamented about the lack of time before. This past weekend was especially busy, which is why I'm already a day late posting to my blog.

Friday was a dud. After hearing about great Hurricane Ernesto swell (I think it became a weak category 1 hurricane before hitting land on the Yucatan Peninsula) on both Thursday and Friday morning, by the time I got off on Friday, my personal reports said that the WSW winds were too strong to go surfing. While there might be some chop, the current was extraordinarily bad and the loading and the unloading of the board might be treacherous. After hearing that, I didn't make it down. However, a friend of mine sent me a message late on Friday saying he had gone down and had actually had some fun on the windy surf. Of course, I always question my decisions anyway, so when I hear about someone else making it out and having fun when I've chosen to skip, I regret the decision I made. Therefore, I had pretty much made up my mind that I would make my way to the 43rd street jetty on Saturday at some point if there were any kind of waves at all.

Since I was going to be competing on Sunday in a Duathlon, I opted out of my 5:45 a.m. Saturday run. I did however go out for my regular Saturday bike ride with the intention of taking it easy, just because I can't imagine not cycling on Saturday. I had a fantastic ride.  I rode a little over 40 miles, and by the time I returned to my car, I had a message from surf dude saying that the waves were very pretty. I ran by the house and picked up Roxanne and made my way to the 43rd Street jetty. Wow! The waves were on the smaller side, but still pretty. Several people were out surfing, including two of the surf instructors from the surf shop that uses the 43rd Street jetty for lessons. I joined them -- after a brief visit with an old high school friend who had been surfing all morning -- and had a ball! I missed the first few waves 'cause I either didn't paddle hard enough or misjudged how far the waves were away. However, after a few minutes, I started catching them. I had a great time. I was so glad I went down. I even had a good conversation with one of the young ladies out in the waves who said I should definitely try Surfside since I'm a long boarder. I've been wanting to try Surfside, but I'm not real sure where to go. Hmmm...I've investigated once before, but I might have to give it a try again. All in all, I had a fabulous time on Saturday.

Had fun participating in my first
Duathlon on Sunday!

Fortunately, on Sunday, I felt hydrated and ready to go bright and early when I needed to head to my Duathlon up near Lake Houston. I have never competed in anything like it before. I ran one mile, cycled 11 and finished the race with a 3-mile run. My finish time was 1:10, and although the records show I had a really slow transition time, I felt incredibly good about my performance. Had a ball and will probably compete in another one! And, if I had even wanted to go surfing afterward, I couldn't have. The waves were gone. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they return this week!

Back to the Murky Waves of Galveston

I had beautiful waves in San Francisco, but I was definitely ready to return to my home break this Friday. After all, even though the sets/waves wouldn't be as pretty as San Fran, I definitely wouldn't have to put on a wetsuit. I probably won't need a wetsuit in Galveston until November and, even then, it probably will be only a springsuit until late December when I wear my 3-2. I won't need my 5-4 again (I HOPE) until mid-January. Dude B. says the water is cooling in Galveston, and I found that hard to believe until I went down on Friday afternoon. It is a little cooler...by Galveston standards.  By cooler I mean that instead of feeling like I was stepping into a murky bowl of steaming soup, it felt more like I was actually stepping into a pool. Water temp is about 86 degrees.

Dude B. called on Friday to say that the waves were pretty decent despite the picture that was appearing on G-Town Surf. He said the sets were fairly clean and breaking outside of the camera picture. When I got to the 43rd St. jetty, I saw what he was talking about. I think the sets had slowed considerably, but they were still there. I unloaded Roxanne and took her out. I caught a wave right away, but it fizzled. I got a ride though and even tried to extend the ride by stepping forward on the board. However, I either didn't step forward quick enough or the wave really was fizzling out, 'cause I couldn't extend the ride. Oh well! I caught several waves that day, and received some compliments. The planets must have been aligned for my success, 'cause while one of the lifeguards was walking out on the jetty to do a water check, he saw me paddling back out and stopped to talk to me. He said it looked as though I was the only one at the time that was catching any waves. I wasn't sure. I saw several surfers out, but only noticed one who seemed to catch quite a few waves. By the time, Dude B. made it out again to surf with me, I was catching waves quite consistently. They were very small waves, but waves nevertheless. The second compliment of the day came from one of the little boys playing in the water. I had seen him a couple of times when I was making my way in to catch the rip current back out into the waves. He turned to his mother and said, "I want to surf like her." Now, I would like to say that I had a stellar day! But, it wasn't the greatest. It certainly wasn't the worst, but things must have been just perfect when people saw me surf. The waves were small, and I'm guessing that those watching were just excited 'cause ANYone was able to surf them.  I paddled hard to catch them.  And, I missed many. I certainly didn't catch as many as Dude B., who manages to catch just about everything he attempts to surf. All in all, I had a ball and it was great getting back out.

By today (Sunday), it was flat again. Later this afternoon, I noticed that the waves were building but, by then, it was too late for me to load up and get down to 43rd. Oh well! I had a full weekend. I ran and cycled (more than 95 miles) this weekend. And, I'm looking forward to next weekend. 

San Francisco Surfing

I'm a little delayed in my weekly post, but that's because I'm just returning from a fantastic long weekend trip in San Francisco. I signed up a while ago for the San Francisco (half) Marathon. The Wipro San Francisco Marathon is unique in that it divides its full marathon course into two half marathons, which means that it is possible to run either the first or the second half of the marathon route. I ran the second half last year since I was new to running and noticed that the second half was a little flatter than the first. So, this year, it was only natural that I consider running the first half, which includes some steeper hills and a glorious run across the Golden Gate Bridge. Run weekend was this past weekend, but I had already made up my mind that if I made it to the northern California coast again, I would surf.

A "Texas Surfer" with an amazing
California surfer named Candace

The week before heading to San Fran, I put in some calls to some local surf shops that popped up when I googled "surfing San Francisco." None of them answered right away and only one returned my call the same day. University of Surfing (ironic since I work at a university) called me back within four hours. A young surfer named Candace called to see what kind of lesson I was seeking. I explained that I had been surfing about three years, but that I still needed a lot of practice. Candace said it was no problem and that she would be glad to meet me on Friday afternoon, right after I arrived in San Fran, for a surf session. (Incidentally, I eventually heard from two of the other surf shops I called; but it was several days later.) I questioned her about wetsuits, and she said she would provide one; however, I insisted that I wanted to bring my own. She said I would need either a 4-3 or a 5-4. I opted for my 5-4, and I'm sure glad I did.

On Friday morning, she called my phone and told me to meet her at Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica, Calif., which is a suburb of San Fran. So, as soon as my plane landed, I made my way to San Fran to check into my hotel, and to plot my travel to Pacifica. I was able to take the BART and then a taxi straight to the beach. It was quite cool, and I was having second thoughts about getting in the water just as Candace arrived. I hesitantly put on my wetsuit, walked with Candace down the beach to her co-worker's house, picked up a couple of boards and headed back to the beach near where we parked. Several surfers were out. The sets were small, but pretty...prettier than I've seen in a few months. Candace directed me to the part of the beach I would surf, and I picked up my board and paddled out. Candace had asked me what I wanted to work on, and I told her that I wanted to concentrate on knowing when to start paddling and also on turning. We had a brief discussion and when we made our way out into the water. Candace paddled close to me and gave me some tips on when to start paddling. One piece of advice she gave me was to keep my feet together when paddling out. I hadn't thought about it much, but Candace claimed by keeping them together it would help my core strength. I'm not sure I can explain why, but it made sense to me, and it's something I'm going to think about every time I go out. I started catching waves right away. I missed quite a few too. Candace explained that the waves weren't very strong, so they might be a little hard to catch, but because I'm used to weak waves in Galveston, I'm not sure I missed any more than I would have at my home break. I had at least two outstanding rides, partially from some of Candace's advice about how to turn. All in all, it was a blast. And, it wasn't very cold once I was in the water. But when it was time to get out of that wetsuit to go back to the hotel, I WAS FREEZING. Fortunately, Candace offered to drive me to my BART station, so I didn't need to call a cab.  I wish the waves had been a little bigger, but, all in all, I had a blast! And, not only did I get the opportunity to run across the Golden Gate Bridge during my run, but I also got to surf in northern California! (Oh, and I got to see two of my surfing chicas from Chica Brava while in San Fran!!)Who knows? Maybe I'll surf again next year when I go back to run in San Fran again. In fact, I'm pretty sure I will.