Linda Mar, 6 March 2008

Just after dawn, the air was only 48 degrees, and the water not much warmer. There were only a few guys in the water when I paddled out at one of the several spots along the beach breaking around 3-4'. Mostly the waves would look to be forming up, then mush out into big round unridable mounds, probably due to coming up to a high high tide. Happily I caught one though, popped up fine, stuck the landing - and if the wave had been a bit more powerful and less mushy, or I was a bit better surfer to compensate for its lacks, it would have been a good ride. As it was, a second into the ride the wave continued without me. But I didn't screw up anything stupid, and I feel good about that. I just need to ride more waves.

Mushy waves, inactive long waits between sets, the frigid air/water and the sun's lazy slowness in rising above the hills, all combined to get me chilled much quicker than usual. Shivering and numb feet forced me back to the beach within the hour, by which time the crowd had swelled to usual Linda Mar proportions anyway. I passed my friend N just heading out, and saw M's SUV in the parking lot but missed him while trying to chase down S who had the rental car keys. It'll be so nice in a few weeks to have the new Mini Cooper S, which had better come with a plastic surfing-proof key or I'm sending it back (not!). One good thing about surfing in cold NorCal is that the hot water in the jug that's waiting in the car, particularly when dumped overhead and down the front of one's wetsuit, feels soooo good!

Some nice pix by guest photog S. Yeah, that's me waiting for a wave.

I'm glad I got in one last dawn patrol before Daylight Savings Time arrives. The days are getting longer and warmer now, but on Sunday we lose an hour of morning light. Really, I can't understand what daylight we're supposedly saving, or what conceivable purpose is served by changing the clocks twice a year, except perhaps the government just likes to periodically fuck with our minds. At any rate, it pretty much precludes dawn patrol for me for a while, since I need to turn up at work at a somewhat reasonable hour, not just before lunch.