Nash woke me up at 4:45 am Saturday with a text that beeped relentlessly until I dragged myself out of bed and checked it. He was pulling out of our planned early morning departure. I immediately understood that he was just hitting the sack after raging the previous evening and now that I was up, stumbled to my computer to check the bouys. It didn't look too good. I crawled back under the warm covers and weighed my options. The rest of the weekend was supposed to be even worse and with winds out of the south predicted for later, I could still get lucky at Cove if I left soon.
OS and I bombed out there and were disappointed to find waist high waves rolling in that even the loggers were struggling to get into. So we checked about four other spots. Blown out. Finally we returned to Cove and hesitantly tugged our wetsuits on in a stiff rain that started to come down. There seemed to be some smaller waves with more power on the inside, so that was our destination. At the very least, we'd get some paddling in to prepare for Nica.
The funny thing about less-than-stellar waves is that they always seem to teach you something. Without any other surfers around, we caught tons of waves and because they were so small we were forced to pop up quickly and pump immediately to make sections. I caught quite a few fun rights and lefts and was even happier with my new board, realizing that it can work quite well in small surf. As kooky as it sounds, Taj Burrow's "Book of Hot Surfing" has a great section on surfing in crap, saying it's the perfect opportunity to work on refining one or two aspects of your style: for me it was staying low on backside waves and smoothing out my bottom turn going frontside.
It was a surprisingly good session - much better that staying at home and watching the French Open with the rain slamming the roof.
Land of Talk - Sea Foam
(Checked out this band when they opened for the Rosebuds Sunday. They's good!)
Posts
8 comments:
That's the modern age right there. You just used a digital camera to take a picture of a text message on a cell phone to post on your BLOG.
I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I too have Taj's book of hot* surfing...and I think it's pretty awesome.
Crap days have their merits. The bitter makes the sweet better.
*Would be even better/cheesier if he spelled it "hawt" or "h0T"
EVERYTHING is "much better that staying at home and watching the French Open with the rain slamming the roof."
Ouch, publicly outed. I said I was sorry.
hey! leave the french open alone! the nadal/federer match had the makings of a classic. although, like the waves this weekend.....it wasn't all that.
So funny and true. I have been drivin' to a super early surf many times and gotten those texts from buddies that are just going to sleep. Oh well I think, more waves for me.
I often find that I can be suprised by crappy surf in ways I never expected. Sometimes it looks worse from shore and is actually fun once you get out. Usually if I see at least one or two shoulders or someone catch one decent ride I try and convince myself to paddle out anyway.
that's exactly why those florida guys rip (kelly, the hobgoods, the lopez brothers). they surfed shitty waves all the time. it teaches you how to generate speed. speed is your friend.
If surfing in small, gutless, crappy waves helps you refine your style...
After the month I've had, I should be ready for the tour soon.
Post a Comment