I Surf Gooder Now

After almost two weeks out of the water because of my new tattoo – 13 days was all I could stand – Mike drove me and Jessica to Cardiff in his van to surf San Elijo at the campgrounds. The waves were small, oh so small, only waist high on sets, but I needed to get wet.

It's amazing what an impact a week at Surf Simply had on my surfing skills! I started out on my almost-ex's 8' Costco Wavestorm, which was as much of a piece of shit as I remembered, but still I caught and rode a few waves. That thing is just darn hard to turn, with no proper rails.

Mike was riding his 9' tanker but left his 6'6" Degree 33 egg on the beach and invited us to borrow it. After I swapped boards, there was – of course! – a long lull, and the pack on the peak grew denser. When the few-wave sets came, the longboarders were getting into them early. But I employed my shortboard-in-a-longboard-crowd strategy and sat inside, where I scored a few broken waves. Then I rode several with faces, cutting back, thinking about whitewater climbs, and maybe, just maybe, actually doing one for a brief moment.

There were so many things I learned at surf camp – the proper functional stance, always looking down the line, how to carve – and the drills in whitewater bored them into my muscle memory. I'm still thinking about things, like keeping my front arm behind the back rail, but the hip action feels almost natural, forward for speed and back to turn.

Mike mentioned that Jessica was thinking about buying an egg like his but longer, and I realized I'd been monopolizing the board. Jess and I paddled out to swap but a set came and we both caught waves to the beach, then traded. Her old 7'6" was my third board of the session. In the olden days, pre-SS, I would've had a hard time switching up boards so much. But after wiping out on the first wave because my foot slipped (Jessica hadn't waxed much since she wore booties), I got a few good rides, including a fine one into the beach with a nice cutback.

So, yeah, I surf gooder now. And I'm really stoked about that!

View from the rear-facing seat in Mike's van. I rode all three of the uncovered boards.