And So It Begins...

I'm stoked.

Tomorrow morning I will carry my longboard to the beach once again. I will look so confident out there; moving in rhythm, wet-suit-clad--one with nature and my surfboard.

Then I'll enter the water.

After only one time out in the ocean last week I already feel much more confident performing an essential skill that every surfer will spend most of their hours in the water doing--sitting on the surfboard. I think I was more impressed my first time out by how easily everyone else sat on their boards than I was at how easily they caught and rode waves. They all looked as tranquil balanced on their boards as if they were lounging on the couch at home, while I choreographed an odd, half-submerged Middle-Eastern gypsy dance routine trying not to tip over.

There was an impressive mix of folks out playing in the gentle Capitola surf last Friday. Guys and girls from age 10 to 60 were all out there paddling, bobbing, splashing, falling, riding, laughing and bragging. They all had one thing in common: being better at surfing than me. Fortunately, everyone was kind and helpful--especially the two little boys who stood up on a ledge overlooking the beach and shouted advice--"There's a WAVE COMING!!" "GET READY" (pantomimed paddling) "OK!! START PADDLING!!" (more frantic paddle-gestures). They were so genuinely fervent in their coaching that I began to be more motivated by my fear of letting them down than by my desire to surf. Then there was the trio of teenaged girls who, upon finding out that it was my "first time" took me under their collective wing and offered to "give me a push when the wave got there."

I learned some new words too. Apparently, "pearling" is the term reserved for when a wave carries you on your board but you shift your weight incorrectly causing the front of the board to dip under the water and--best case scenario--this slows you down considerably and ruins your ride, or--in more drastic cases--causes a chain reaction in which the back of the surf board tries to pass the front of the surf board and encounters your head along the way. I have not experienced the latter, but I have an imagination.

There are other words that a person uses in the context of surfing. Some of the most colorful are generally employed when your arms and shoulders are so tired from paddling that you can't seem to lift them above your waist, and then you realize that you still have to peel off your wetsuit--a formidable task in the best of circumstances. Those words are often heard in angry mutters and outbursts, punctuated with odd grunting and wheezing sounds.

Well, I was going to wrap this up all neatly...but hey--it's late and I'm tired and I need to rest up for tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

I'll try to get some pics tomorrow.