Today's Pictorial

There we are, at a new break, heading into the surf. Notice the oh-so-fashionable doo rag on the left. Yep, that's me. It was also my first day in the new fullsuit. Me likey!!! And speaking of hair—mine is getting so long that the stocking cap/bandana solution is close to being useless. In a minute, I'll be in a hoodie. I have no other choice at this point.



The paddle out was nothing special. This was the only spot where we even saw a wave and I think we still managed to do the dry hair thing. The waves kind of picked up (or should I say jacked up and walled out) about 30 minutes later. Was it fun while it lasted? Well, from a can't-find-anything-to-surf-so-this-will-have-to-do standpoint, yes. From a looking-for-something-with-shape-size-and-consistency standpoint, no.



This was my only serious move of the day. I was heading backside, saw the wave closing out ahead of me, and finessed a hard turn back to the frontside. I kept wondering why things felt a little stiff today. After I saw the pictures, I realized that I wasn't standing far enough back on the board. So the turns took some work. I know better. I'm glad I have the pictures to remind me to stop popping up to the middle of the board.



The title of this one is "That's Gonna Leave a Mark". Did it ever!!! From the picture, it looks like I was able to fly through the back of the wave unscathed. Nope. The wave walled up and then pitched me backwards onto the log. Then the log lodged in my ribs and together we got worked. That one hurt. In all of my years as an athlete, I've never been hit in the ribcage. Now I know why people can't breathe when they break a rib. I came out of this wave with some soreness. I can't even imagine the actual pain involved in serious injuries to that part of the body.

Obviously, we found something to surf today. We started out at LPB. It was as flat as everything else we passed. In fact, we were suited up and waxing our boards, preparing to get in at LPB, when the guys who'd just headed down to the water came back . . . and they were dry. They said the conditions looked even worse from the shore. So we loaded the boards and ourselves, still fully suited up, back into the car and drove north. The pictures show what we found: short rides on pitching waves.

Who took the pictures? Soul Brother #1, of course.