Linda Mar, 24 August 2008

I should've gone surfing on Friday. There was a window in my schedule of other obligations, and there was swell. But I just couldn't muster the motivation to do dawn patrol, since I was depressed about about an awful perm I got on Wednesday. I just wanted some nice curls, is that too much to ask?! Instead, I got the opposite of curly: dry, flat, frizzy-tipped hair. It's remarkable how looking lousy can make you feel lousy, although my coworkers probably just thought I was having a bad hair day (more like the start of a bad hair month). Still, I should've forced myself to hit the beach, since undoubtedly it would have made me feel better. But after an emergency deep-conditioning treatment and haircut on Saturday (at a different salon, of course), I started jonesing for surf again. So when today came, I was determined to scour the coast for waves, any surfable waves, since - OMG! - it's been almost two weeks, and the closest I'd been to waves was in the Koi Pond on my iPod Touch. But the forecast had me thinking that a skunking was likely.

The early-season NW swell had dropped too much for Santa Cruz breaks to be over knee-high, so I set my sights on the Peninsula coast, with a morning start (but not too early) to beat the wind. Since Linda Mar is one of my least-favorite spots, though it looked most promising from the reports, I saved it for the end and drove by HMB first. The Jetty was tiny, with four beginners in the water, so I kept going. Just up the road, Montara was going head high, contrary to Surfline's forecast - too big and gnarly for the fish, and the scattered breaks along the beach were already filled.

So I thought I might as well see what Lindy was doing. The parking lot was jammed, but I lucked into an ocean-front, door-ding-safe parking space. The waves at the south end were waist-high+, much more suited to the fish, but the whole beach was as crowded as the parking lots. Still, the sun was starting to shine, and I spotted a gap with unridden shoulders. Time to suit up.

From the moment I reached the lineup, I quickly caught and rode every wave I paddled for: one, two, three. Nothing spectacular, but I got in some turns, maneuvering around the floating obstacles. I think I'm starting to like Linda Mar better, even in a pack, since I can outsurf the Soft-top crowd. So I was having a great session in the midst of the masses, but then on my way back to the lineup after the third ride, breathing hard after fast paddling and multiple duck-dives, I got splashed in the face unexpectedly and swallowed a mouthful of seawater. (Near the creek, but I don't want to think about the implications of that.) Uh-oh, because I hadn't eaten since my scrambled tofu breakfast three hours before. I've come to rely so much on the sea-sickness wristbands for protection from that scourge that I forgot I really should eat something shortly before I go out. Sadly, that one nasty gulp was enough to do me in. I tried to soldier through, even rested on the beach a while, but ended up too sick to my stomach to go out again. A walk on the beach with S sounded like a better idea. Still, even though it was short, the three-ride count was better than many much longer waveless sessions I've endured at Linda Mar. Sometimes a quickie can be good, and just what you need to restore the stoke.

Enough YouTube, here's my second attempt at video. Not sure why it won't play bigger; I'll have to look into that. I also need to figure out how to turn off sound recording. Or maybe start reciting poetry.