Waves for Japan

Yesterday, because it was Friday, my thoughts turned to surfing, specifically my surfing. I started thinking about my beloved custom Reunion wetsuits and decided I wanted one with a Japanese rising sun as a way to show solidarity with both the people of Japan and the surfers of Japan. Well, I can't get that wetsuit any time soon. However, I'm happy to report that Ryo, the owner of Reunion, is safe. He told me his family and friends are safe too. That is a relief, to say the least.

Anyway, I wanted to do something surf-related for Japan. I figured there couldn't possibly be much surfing going on over there now. And I sincerely doubt that anyone is feeling good about the ocean at this point. So, I decided I would catch waves for Japan. I'd get the waves that the Japanese surfers can't get (for obvious reasons).

Of course, the conditions were terrible. A storm is on the way. The tide was way too high in the morning. You know the drill. I would not be denied though. I watched the cam, waiting for something to catch my eye. When it finally did, I then had to decide about my wave-riding weapon of choice. A friend who'd surfed earlier at the home break had described the waves as "chunky". There was no good way to construe that. Watching the cam at a different break, the words "bumpy" and "lumpy" came to mind. I finally decided to leave the surfboards at home. I don't enjoy days like this one when I'm on a board. It would be the mat or nothing.

When I got to the beach, the waves did, in fact, look pretty bad. I didn't care. There was a lot of energy in the water. The shape could have been better, but it wasn't exactly horrible. It just wasn't good. You don't need good when you're doing a karma surf/mat session. All you really need is a wave to ride.

I'm happy to report that I mined 500 tons of stoke for the Japanese. And all of that stoke was for them.

In our next episode, I talk about coming to the realization that my new job is run by the insane, the disgruntled and the overly fashionable. I truly believe that. Will I last a year there? Those who know me well would say I won't. I say that I will. But who knows?