The last few days I've really been jonesing for surf, and I finally got my gills wet at the Hook this afternoon. With Surfline calling conditions good, I wasn't surprised that there was a crowd in the water. Still, I managed to find a little clearish space mostly to myself, and got some good secondhand advice from a nearby shortboarder who was teaching his girlfriend on a longboard. He said she was holding back on the board when she popped up, and "you have to have that forward committment."
Since I hadn't been on the 5'8" Xanadu Rocky in a while, it took a few waves to kick the rust off, more than the crowd allowed me to actually get in a ride. My session went something like this (interspersed with lots of missed waves that were already taken, or I thought would be taken, or was just too timid to claim):
- Paddle for but miss a wave.
- Catch a wave but blow the pop up.
- Catch a wave and pop up but, lacking forward commitment, slide off the backside.
- Catch a wave and pop up, then make the drop, but bail because the girlfriend dropped in on me. Damn! Rust gone, I would've ridden that one. At least she fell too.
Still it was a decent sesh for me, and I left feeling stoked and refreshed. Nonsurfers just can't understand the restorative effect of being in the ocean, moved by its varying moods like an intelligently-directed piece of flotsam, sometimes harnessing a little of its power beneath your feet.
The last few days I've really been jonesing for surf, and I finally got my gills wet at the Hook this afternoon. With Surfline calling conditions good, I wasn't surprised that there was a crowd in the water. Still, I managed to find a little clearish space mostly to myself, and got some good secondhand advice from a nearby shortboarder who was teaching his girlfriend on a longboard. He said she was holding back on the board when she popped up, and "you have to have that forward committment."
Since I hadn't been on the 5'8" Xanadu Rocky in a while, it took a few waves to kick the rust off, more than the crowd allowed me to actually get in a ride. My session went something like this (interspersed with lots of missed waves that were already taken, or I thought would be taken, or was just too timid to claim):
Still it was a decent sesh for me, and I left feeling stoked and refreshed. Nonsurfers just can't understand the restorative effect of being in the ocean, moved by its varying moods like an intelligently-directed piece of flotsam, sometimes harnessing a little of its power beneath your feet.
Yep - I can totally empathise with that. Sometimes just being in the water is enough and I am sure as hell looking forward to that on Thursday this week after too long out f the water because Michelle and I have been going hard on the building site.
ReplyDeleteNice waves. And yes, you just gotta get in that water. I am looking forward to getting my camera out there and having a bash at some photography as well. And Robin's tiny helmet-cam (I reckon it is small enough to strap to one of our toy poodles and get some poodle-cam).
ReplyDeletePoodle-cam - ha!
ReplyDelete