I was planning on a trip to Santa Cruz this morning, but M reported that the Jetty's been fun, so I took the shorter drive there instead. There were only a few people out when I arrived, and it was a beautiful sunny morning, nearing 60 degrees. Thankfully I had also headed M's warning about the upwelling and came kitted out in my warmest layers, because the water was damn COLD! Quite a contrast from Santa Cruz. As I paddled out on the Xanadu, whitewash heading towards me, my brain said "I should duck-dive this for practice," but my body said "Nooo! Too cold!" And indeed when my head did get submerged later, I got a huge instant icecream headache.The waves were up to about shoulder-high but inconsistent and mixed up, with many looking paddly-worthy that would just mound into mushy humps. It was a bit of a challenge finding a good place to sit, but eventually I caught a wave, popped up a little early but made the drop - it was only 4', OK maybe only 3', but it was steep, and it felt exhilarating to make it! - then the wave closed out in a crash and tossed me. It was followed by a couple friends I tried to duck-dive; made one, blew the other, and got the aforementioned headache from the icy water. About then there was an invasion of SUPers - well, only 2, but they were taking most of the waves, dammit, making me back off. The regular surfer crowd was growing too. When I looked at my new watch, I was surprised that only half an hour had passed, but I could no longer feel my pinkies and several of my toes. I lasted a bit longer, till my teeth were chattering, and went in. I know, I'm a wimp. I really should put on some body fat like a seal so I can better stand the cold. Nah.
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