Saturday morning we finally went surfing after living a block from the beach for
almost a month. Even though the water was a brisk 57 degrees and the waves weren’t
that great, I splashed into the ocean excited with Jen’s brother-in-law.
Jen and her sister followed Matt & I across the street, down the beach a few blocks, and into history. My first surf in California. Only my 2nd time surfing ever. Although the water was much colder, and the breaks much shorter than Hawaii, with my wetsuit covering my outside, and adrenaline pumping through my inside, I didn’t even notice.
Matt has been surfing for many years and it helped having someone there to give me pointers. I borrowed his old suit, his brother’s long board, and my roommate’s booties. We surfed about an hour and I stood up on my first or second time.
For me the balance wasn’t that hard. And with the proper gear, the water wasn’t that cold. The challenge I found was paddling back out.
The photos don’t really capture the difficulty in paddling, but it’s exhausting. I guess snowboarding would also be more of a challenge if one had to turn around and walk back up the hills. Nevertheless, the thrill of standing up, and I’m told actually making some turns, justifies the expenditure.
Once we pulled out of the ocean, we walked back to the beach house patio. Our second side patio has an hot outdoor shower. A perfect place to wash off the salt water and slip out of the cold wet suit. The sliding glass door at the far end of patio opens up into the inside shower for a wonderful transitions from one warm shower to another. Jen was ready with the camera…
It was a great way to spend the morning. Hopefully, I’ll get a few more cracks at southern California’s favorite sport.
