Did You Wait 72 Hours?

I know there were waves out there last week. They looked mighty tasty, yes. What spooked me was the water. Didn't it rain? Hard? Then why were people paddling out so soon after the season's first real rain? What part of the letters "MRSA" don't people understand?

I am loving that eight foot hull. Everything about it is perfect at this stage in my surfing. I didn't think I'd had a particularly stellar session today. It was just a session. But once I got out of the water, more than one of the locals said positive things to me about the way I was surfing today. Interesting. I still don't feel completely comfortable doing many things with this new knee, including surfing. So while I'm thinking my waves weren't that good, others are telling me they were. One guy, a local who surfs beautifully but barely speaks, told me he saw me owning a peak and taking all of the lefts. Me? Another local told me I surf this board well. I also heard some things from a couple of other guys. The thing is, I know I'm improving but I didn't know it was that obvious to other people. I'm not trying to toot my horn at all. I'm simply curious as to what it is they're seeing in my surfing that I seem not to have picked up on. Perhaps it's that, after having surfed for seven years, I've finally managed to get out of my own head. I remember wondering early on if there would ever come a time when much of what I did on a surfboard would become second nature. I suppose that time has, in fact, arrived. I'm still learning and working on things when I surf, but now I no longer have to think about surfing a wave. I just paddle, pop-up and go. (It sounds so easy when I express it in such an abbreviated way, doesn't it?)

In other news . . . there is no other news really.

Since I seem to be morphing into a different type of surfer, specifically one who snakes people and throws stinkeye with abandon, I realized I would soon need backup once I got out of the water. My enforcer is in training. Tae Kwon Do is his martial art of choice. Doesn't he look menacing? Don't mess with me or I'll have him take a swing at you!


We're still unemployed. We're all healthy though (knock on wood). Our little man is doing well in school. The dog is happy. We're happy.