Inconsistent Fun

There was a surprisingly light crowd this morning. I had the first couple of waves all to myself.

Before

Sets were head-high+ but the lulls in between were quite long.

After

I think I waited twenty minutes for my wave in. It was well worth it though. Stoked!

Time to Think

The best things about this morning's surf were that it was a lovely dawn and I had plenty of time to think. The swell fell a lot since yesterday and the dropping low tide didn't help matters. No one else even bothered to paddle out. Rideable waves were few and far between, and when one made a rare appearance I was never in the right place - but near enough a few times to get up and ride.

The impossibly long lulls gave me ample time to muse on the young adult fantasy novel I've started writing, about a surfer girl named Nerina who's given ocean-related superpowers by a merman. The working title is Marinea and the Fountains of the Farallones. While I bobbed in the sea, I cycled through an alphabet of last names until I found one suitable for the villain of the story.

To keep my book on track, I joined a writers' group that meets weekly to review each other's work, up to 3500 words. At last night's meetup, one of the women said she found it unbelievable that a teenage girl would be out surfing all by herself. As I explained that it's not really uncommon to surf solo, she talked over me:

Her:  Well, I guess some young people think they're invincible -
Me:    I surfed alone this morning.
Her:   - and some older ones too.

It seems strange that she would think the ocean is such a scary place no one would dare go out alone. Sure, there are times when it wouldn't be prudent, but not all times. And today, despite the dearth of surf, I was content to float alone with my thoughts, enjoying sunshine on my face and the occasional fleeting company of low-flying pelicans.

Funner

A late-morning surf at my local reef break was much more fun than yesterday at Steve's.

When I got back to the car, I was surprised to see that I'd been out for more than two hours.

Surf 'n' Skate

Dawn patrol with Steve and his daughter Maria at Rockpiles....

Bit overhead with light crowd, but mixed up and hard to get into

...followed by a skate session with Michele.

Michele in the bowl during Sunday's GRO session

Neither was particularly stokeful, but tomorrow is another day. And I've just booked a week of coaching at Surf Simply ahead of my birthday in November, so I'm stoked on that!

The Seal Beneath

Yesterday's spring wildflowers by the San Diego River near the entrance to the Ocean Beach skate park

It was great to surf again as the waves have been too tiny and too gutless for too long. Yesterday was a skate day.

Dawn patrol

The waves were small and mostly weak but decent shape and plentiful. I rode many on my 6'2" on the uncrowded south side of the pier. Stoked!

As I waited in the lineup, a sea lion swam toward me and then nearly under my surfboard. I could almost have touched her with my foot. Awesome.

Short Glass

Fun little waves on the north side

I met up with Steve at Scripps for a shortboard session. We both thought the waves would be bigger, but the glassy, translucent water was lovely to surf on...

Paraglider drifting south from Torrey Pines

...while it lasted, anyway. Should've been there earlier, before the wind came up and the tide fell. Still fun though!

One benefit of surfing that section of La Jolla is that, in theory at least, the water should be cleaner than elsewhere after the rain. It's an Area of Special Biological Significance (ASBS), so direct discharge of stormwater runoff into the ocean is not allowed. It's only in theory because apparently Scripps Institution of Oceanography doesn't like to abide by that law.