Just Brilliant

Not the brilliant as we Americans know it. You know, that means something that is bright or glittering. I mean brilliant in the British sense. According to Wikipedia, "brilliant" in Brit speak means very good or excellent. I love that. I much prefer this adjective to "awesome" or "cool". Why the discourse on brilliant? It's the first word that came to mind when I thought about how I would describe my two days of surfing at the home break. It was brilliant.

When I arrived at the home break yesterday, I saw closeout after closeout after closeout. Not a satisfying or inviting sight by any stretch of the imagination. I knew the tide would come up, but wasn't sure if this would improve the shape of the waves. I realized it was worth making a quick run to RPB to check out the waves up there. RPB doesn't not do well on a high tide unless it's firing hard. Still, it looked like there might be enough energy in the water to bring some waves through. RPB is about a 10 minute drive from the home break when the traffic is light. When I got there, I saw three people on boards, sitting there with that "maybe-something-big-will-come-through-and-surprise-me-even-though-I-know-I'm-sitting-out-here-wasting-my-time-and-getting-cold" posture. That was all I needed to see. That place was flat. The home break it would be, closeouts or no closeouts. So, I got back to the spot, suited up, and told myself it would probably get better as the tide rose. And I was right. There was about a 45 minute window when the place got peaky and full of shoulders. It was glorious. Again, it wasn't epic. I don't require epic. Sunshine? Check. Clean (enough) water? Check. Friends? Check. I realize now, and perhaps I've realized it before, that you're most comfortable at the break you surf the most. I'm hesitant and a little unsure of myself at other breaks even when I'm feeling good. But at the home break, I'm completely comfortable. I know that wave well after years of cutting my surfing teeth there. Being there on a day when the home break finally got good again was a treat. I got two meaty lefts that made my whole session because I was able to work those (Grace, I think I was doing your top turns) until they ran out of steam. Not bad on a day when most of the waves were up and over. Yesterday's session brought back many good memories about that place.

Of course, I had to go back for more today. It's too bad the waves weren't as good today. It was still a noteworthy session. I finally did the one thing I've wanted to do for over a year. I threw caution to the wind, said "damn the torpedoes", thought long and hard, and then . . . went in the water without covering my head. Remember, I've been cultivating these dreadlocks since July 2005. What most people don't know is that locks don't happen overnight. It takes work and patience to lock one's hair. I've finally gotten to the point where I can do the maintenance on my locks myself. (What? You think roots lock all by themselves?) I know my hair is most of the way there now and figured if the locks tried to pull out, I'd go home and tighten them up. The good news is my hair is locked. I got tossed around by a few of the closeouts. At the end of the day, my locks are still up there. The bad news is my hair is too short to pull back into a ponytail and too long for surfing. I was constantly trying to get my hair out of my face (i.e., from in front of my eyes). Right now, they kind of look like this:

I want to eventually be able to do this: