Surf Simply Reunion Numero Dos

This morning Jessica and I met up in Cardiff with Mike from Seattle, planning to find Mike from San Diego (hereinafter Miguel to avoid confusion) in the water. We were all at Surf Simply in Costa Rica in early November.

Jessica, me and Mike from Seattle. If you look closely, you can see the Cardiff Kook in the background.

The surf was overhead and getting to the outside was a challenge. Mike charged out through the dumping and powerful whitewater near shore while Jess and I were tossed around like leaves. Past the shallows, those duck-diving drills at Surf Simply paid off. The maneuver came back to me even after a month – although I need to judge the timing better – and I got my 5'4" to the flat water. Yeah! According to coach Harry's formula (weight divided by 4), my 25.7L Firewire Spitfire is at the upper limit of the volume I should be able to duck dive, so I'm glad I can sink it enough. And that I remember all the moves!

via Surfline

Once we'd regrouped, the three of us set out in search of Miguel. First we paddled south to the next peak, but he wasn't there, nor at the next one. And then we were caught in the current from the river, which pushed us quickly more south. After a long paddle back, we checked a peak to the north. Miguel no esta aquí.

We gave up the quest and tried to catch some waves. I popped up and almost dropped in on a big one, but a mound of water appeared in the face and stopped me going down. Despite the low tide, it seemed the waves that didn't close out were too soft, unless you managed to be at a shifty peak as it broke. None of us got so lucky and we decided lunch would be more fun. I tempted fate by moving farther and farther inside, finally taking a late drop on a head-high right and getting blown off my feet after a second by the turbulence. Mike and Jessica came in on whitewater, prone and standing, respectively. Mike's bravely borrowed an 8' Wavestorm for his visit to SoCal, but it's a bit short for him.

Me and Jessica bookended by Mikes at Swamis

We finally connected with Miguel via text and met him and his friend at Swami's for lunch. They'd been riding waves even farther south of the rivermouth, too far away to see my bright orange hat, apparently.