We switched vacation rentals as I'd been eyeing a development thirty minutes south of San Juan del Sur. It has a wedging left and it didn't look as though it was surfed often. As we drove down the rutty dirt/rock road, my confirmation bias kicked in with each bump. There were other waves which were a lot more convenient, it made sense for people to surf elsewhere.
Here's the view to which we arrived (this is post-sesh):
Imagine my surprise when I paddled out in the afternoon and I'm jostling for position with a dozen other dudes.
I caught several lined-up waves (my first with dry hair) and I was enjoying my time out there. The biggest bummer was a bomb came through and I paddled for it. I popped up and stomped down and I saw a local paddling right to me less than twenty feet from the nose of my board. I eyed him as I descended the wave. I was watching for signs of him beginning a duckdive but his only movement was a look of deepening terror on his face. I made the decision to jump off my board as I would have absolutely hit him with so little time/face to avoid him had I not aborted. I reached for my leash underwater and yanked it back so I could perhaps spare him of a chance to get hit by a fiberglass torpedo.
I surfaced, leash in hand, and asked him if he was ok. He said yes. I asked him if the board hit him and he responded affirmatively. I apologized to him and he shrugged it off. He never apologized for paddling straight at me, in the way of someone who was up and riding. I likened this to his not knowing surf etiquette but later debated with myself as to how much of that was surf etiquette and how much of it was common sense. The result is he was just a kid and the wave of my day was blown.
I caught a nice wave on which I pumped for a while and was going into a roundhouse cutback but didn't commit to weighting my front foot and shifting my hips forward so I awkwardly tumbled backwards.
I left the water and my right buttcheek was really sore for the rest of the night from bailing on the wave to save that kid's face.
Here's the view to which we arrived (this is post-sesh):
Imagine my surprise when I paddled out in the afternoon and I'm jostling for position with a dozen other dudes.
I caught several lined-up waves (my first with dry hair) and I was enjoying my time out there. The biggest bummer was a bomb came through and I paddled for it. I popped up and stomped down and I saw a local paddling right to me less than twenty feet from the nose of my board. I eyed him as I descended the wave. I was watching for signs of him beginning a duckdive but his only movement was a look of deepening terror on his face. I made the decision to jump off my board as I would have absolutely hit him with so little time/face to avoid him had I not aborted. I reached for my leash underwater and yanked it back so I could perhaps spare him of a chance to get hit by a fiberglass torpedo.
I surfaced, leash in hand, and asked him if he was ok. He said yes. I asked him if the board hit him and he responded affirmatively. I apologized to him and he shrugged it off. He never apologized for paddling straight at me, in the way of someone who was up and riding. I likened this to his not knowing surf etiquette but later debated with myself as to how much of that was surf etiquette and how much of it was common sense. The result is he was just a kid and the wave of my day was blown.
I caught a nice wave on which I pumped for a while and was going into a roundhouse cutback but didn't commit to weighting my front foot and shifting my hips forward so I awkwardly tumbled backwards.
I left the water and my right buttcheek was really sore for the rest of the night from bailing on the wave to save that kid's face.
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