Paddle! Paddle! Paddle! - August 8, 2010

Before breakfast, Ted's daughter and I were going to go for a jog but we decided to check out the waves before we began our trod through the muggy morning air.  According to the surf report, not much of anything was forecasted for the entire week, but a stiff southeast wind began blowing during the night so we were hoping that would push up some waves by the next afternoon. 

She and I walked a block to the gulf and right where our street dead-ended was a home under construction.  We skirted around the concrete beginnings of what will soon be the pool of some lucky beachfront homeowner, then hoisted ourselves up onto their unfinished boardwalk. 

What we saw when we got to the top of the boardwalk was almost magical.  There were waves—clean, pretty, and most importantly, big enough to catch without a push from someone.  We couldn't believe our luck!  While the run would have been good, we decided to can it in favor of grabbing our rash guards and boards.

We ran back down the boardwalk and jumped off the back where the stairs will eventually be built.   As we were trucking through the dirt-filled construction zone, the building contractor turned into the driveway.  We must have looked so guilty—like a couple of kids who had just tried out a potato gun on their neighbor's back porch.  Luckily he didn't question our trespassing, so a short time later we were paddling out. 

Ted decided to work with his daughter as it had been several years since her last time on a board and she wanted a refresher.  Plus, now that I've been surfing for a few weeks and have gotten comfortable with the pop-up, I've could continue working on paddling into my own waves. 

Something I've learned about paddling for your own waves:  It's significantly harder to generate enough speed in order to get in front of the wave.  It's surprising how much edge someone's push can give you.  With that extra speed, all you really have to focus on is your pop-up and keeping your balance until the wave is over.  But when you don’t have enough speed going into a wave, most of them will pass you by and you'll end up looking like an idiot standing up on your board as the wave moves on without you. 



Looking from the shore, this is me, now standing, as the wave passes by.



This was pretty much the experience of the entire morning.  I was only able to catch one wave, and that was at the beginning of the session.  This was such a tease because it showed me I was in fact capable of doing it, I just wasn't capable repeating it.  I tried to keep my frustration at bay because I didn't want to come across completely childish, but as the morning went on, I became more exhausted—therefore less patient—and I had to move down the beach to avoid ruining the surf session for everyone else with my expletives.



I’ve really got to figure this out.