"OOH BABY...", I exclaimed upon seeing a set break in the midst of the lowest of low tides. I was still commiserating with myself about yesterday's session. This had major potential in turning yesterday's frown upside down.
I slowly made my way down the sharp rocks and waded through the river to get to the waves. I paddled out south of the pack, but eventually floated north close to them. The waves were there, but I wasn't on them.
Finally, about fifteen minutes of lusting after others' rides, I spotted one of my own. I paddled hard, and when I felt I wasn't making it, slammed all of my weight on to the front of my board. I did get to the I-caught-it,-time-to-stand-up feeling, but by the time I did, the wave had closed out on me. The foam behind me wasn't going to let me back off the wave, so I threw myself over the falls to avoid losing ground as much as possible. Grrr.... Frustrating.
I then caught a right which held promise, but my right hand slipped off its spot on my board as I was popping up. In the footy, I see myself quickly recovering, then grimacing as I eat it, kook-style.
If anyone was paying attention, they would have been making mental notes to burn the kook with the Go Pro camera on his board on the next set wave.
AH! A nice-sized right came and I was on it. After a mellow drop, I b-turned towards the lip, then harnessed the slope of the wave and compressed my body into a backside cutback. Alas, I made the mistake of going for an EXTREMELY weak bash without first assessing the wave. At about the seven-second mark in the video, you can see me prematurely disengaging my fins. I SHOULD have been keeping the pressure on and gone for a sick roundhouse cutty but kooked out YET AGAIN!!!!
I caught a left that was a fast one. I dropped halfway down the face and started pumping, extending my legs down so as to create the piston action which creates speed. Unfortunately, I hadn't fully set my rail, and I got air underneath my board. If you know anything about physics, you know that pushing down against air tends to make you sink. I failed to upend the laws of the universe and found myself kissing the bottom of the other side of the wave.
When I surfaced, a guy who was inside of me said that I needed to have been going about fifteen miles per hour to make the section, maybe with a tow-in, so that made me feel a little better.
The waves were good this day, but I was not...
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