5.25.19 Paying Tribute at Bigger Beach, then Point; BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

I got sick the night of my Balsamar session and didn't surf for 16 days.

I got quite the scare on the way down.  It had rained for much of the night and so I was taking it even more slowly than usual.  I guess I subconsciously track the oncoming headlights because I freaked out without warning when they were interrupted by a small box truck with no brakelights.  Thankfully they were farther away than I thought and I had PLENTY of time to react accordingly.

The truck in question, after the threat had been mitigated

My muscles in the middle of my upper back have been rocking me and I got a massage to alleviate it.  I am still sore from it and every paddle, especially my right arm, stung.

The rainy season is here  and with it, much more dramatic paiságes (EddieSurfs attempt at growing his French audience).

I opted for the beachbreak today because the point has been so wonky for so long.  The high tide was almost at its apex and the surface of the water looked like diluted chocolate milk.  There were some head-and-a-half mackers breaking out the back, a product of the ferocious 18-second period swell.

I tried to time my wade out but I accelerated my launch because the sticks and branches the rivers had been deposited with the rains were slapping into me.

I paddled out and I jammed out there.  I wasn't paddling especially efficiently but I zoomed out there.  I took a couple of smaller ones on the noggin.

There was so much water moving around.  You could see the potential out there though.  Some slabs were breaking, mostly unmakeable, but some to behold.  If you lucked into the right spot you could get a chocolatey cover-up.

I caught one right, maybe head-high and it fizzled out on me.  I was over it, I just FELT the beatings that were going to happen and so I went in.

I walked to the pointbreak and there were three or so dudes on it.  I had a fun time crossing the raging river.  It wasn't as gnarly as I've ever seen it, but top ten mos def.  The water flows quickly and since you can't see, you're just guessing as to whether your next foothold is a good one.  I remembered from my October sessions during the tropical depression to fight and prepare against the "foot drift" as the river's force attempts to make one due the splits.  I ended up slipping and, in slow motion, plopping down onto my posterior.

I had a little scare on the paddle out, when a pretty good-sized wave broke hard about fifteen feet outside of me.  Back in 2000 at this very spot in this very spot, a massive double-up detonated and knocked me hard onto my back.  I pinballed off the rocks as I was quickly swept up the dry riverbed.  I was humbled that day.  But today I was the victor!  I slipped a little as I jumped with my board and paddled hard with one hand and kicked as fast as I could.  Next wave/water cushion I hopped onto my board and paddled out without incident.

The waves were big but still pretty bad because of the bottom.  I had one really good turn off the top but the section in front shut down.  I probably caught about five waves total as the pack grew.

On the way in I did better on the river.

It's time for my big announcement...

We're moving back to SD County!  I will be going back into real estate full time and with renewed fervor.  I've spent the last hundred or so days researching how to be a better broker.  My wife wasn't able to find a gig given the tight constraints we had for said gig (being there when our little one was out of school and a very flexible schedule) so she will be joining me as a licensed agent.

A few reasons for the move:

1. Our property loses value as it gets closer to lease-end due to the will-they/won't-they renew the lease trepidation.  As risk goes up, reward must follow for any semi-intelligent investor to buy, so I will be doing a  1031 into something else.  I'd initially considered a mobile home park or a self-storage facility but I will likely be doing a managed apartment building someplace in the southeast, as the CA returns are almost as bad as the taxes and landlord laws.  Our monthly income will increase 30+% and we will be raising rents as the market allows, so that will be nice!
2. I grew tired of chilling.  I want to be doing something and boy will I be! I will be going hard in the RE game and I really don't have a choice.
3. My wife isn't a fan of the way of life down here.  I don't blame her...

Our unexpected awakening from the Nica dream diverted us to El Salvador.  I hadn't lived here since 1996.  I had a lot of emotional baggage from my time here due to the environment in which I was living.  I've gotten a lot of that worked out while here but there is still plenty on which to work once I get back to the US.

It's been really nice reconnecting with most of my family, from my sister and nieces to my uncle and first cousin.  Unfortunately my mom's remaining brother and his children have shunned me for reasons unknown.  Maybe if I ever start ripping they will love me.

So the blog will continue back from where it sprang!  I will be surfing with ear plugs and on a much more regulated schedule.

5.9.19 Balsamar for only my fourth session of all time

Balsamar is the coastal outpost of my sister's country club.  It is located down a river valley and has some little duplex bungalows one can rent for $50/night if they are members of the country club.  I've never seen anyone else surf there.  It is a dream surf camp scenario, as it's completely private (you'd have to motor in on a boat) and the waves can get good...sometimes.  In my first session here in 2002, I got the best backside barrel I had up until last year's Nica gem. Almost a year to the day of my last having surfed here, I got the opportunity to do so again.

Completely Private; One can see the sections-off in the satellite imagery

Last time, I was on an ancient board and I was having trouble getting anything going speedwise.  It felt as though someone was yanking on my leash upon pop-up.  I had assumed it was the board so I was excited to hit it on my Merrick.

This time I felt the same thing!  It's a bizarre feeling and I don't know that I've experienced it anywhere else.  My best guess is that on a high tide approach the sand's depth change is extremely gradual and possibly there is a deep-slightly shallow-deep-slightly shallow loop going on. This would be simpático with what the wave does on the surface.

Last time, I sat and watched good waves break with no one on them as I ate.  This time I ordered food as soon as we got there and wolfed down my bacon cheeseburger while the waves still sucked.  Surely the law of averages would even things out!

Before paddling out I saw one stand-out wave.  It was a frothing, nasty freight train of a barreling left which stirred my loins even though it was about as makeable as Waimea shorebreak.  I could see, from my angle, where the foam got dark into no-makeland.


I headed in that direction because there seemed to be a sandspit that was making the waves split so as to not close out nearly as much.

I paddled out and enjoyed the view behind me, nearly unfettered green peppered with the odd electric pole here and there.  I noticed as I sneaked glances behind me that I was getting farther from shore.  I had a real bitch of a time going against the rip, but it turns out that's what was keeping waves from closing out as quickly so I had to paddle the liquid treadmill if I wanted a shot at an open face.

The best wave I caught was a classic rip wave.  I was able to descend down and bottom turn around a flat spot, right into the maw of this angry, pitching right lip.  I slammed off of it, though not enough for it to count as an off-the-lip.  I got hung up and my ass started facing the water so I aborted and kicked my board out.

I felt forever frustrated by the rip and after about ten solid minutes of paddling freed myself from its tractor beam.  I caught a close-out in and walked up the beach to where I saw one wave out of twenty that had a corner.  I caught a couple of rights there but I couldn't get any speed going.

Eventually I caught a left and pumped away until a section hit me,  I should have gone around it because I was on the upswing of a pump.  I hit it in a layback snap attempt and blew it.

I went in after about ninety minutes out there, hoping the next day would be better.  Unfortunately, I came down with a fever/sore throat/nausea spell.  The good news, I guess, is that though the waves were cleaner they improved only marginally as the tide dropped.  There were some spitters out but they were almost all closing out.  If not, they would section off so as to eliminate any hopes of making it.

Taken around 5:30AM from the pissoir.  You can see the big section that just detonated and the other section down the line about to do so as well.

5.4.19 Solid La Bocana

The ride down was brightened by what I'm christening as a Sequenox.  This is the extremely rare instance in which a song on the GuyPod (set on shuffle) is followed by the song following it on a full-length album.  I think the last time this happened was in late 2012 so it was really exciting.

I was tired of the crappy pointbreak and the more-miss-than-hit beachbreak, especially with this morning's dropping tide, so I opted to surf La Bocana.

I parked at the hotel, then walked to the water.  They're doing some major roadwork in El Tunco proper and I was the beneficiary of the recently heavy equipment treaded dried mud.  This turned to just mud as I got closer to the main drag and it took me a couple of tries to get out of it as I not-so-gingerly levitated on to the cement sidewalk.

I caught about seven waves in two hours, which is pretty good considering the crowd and the shiftiness. 

My highlight was a head-and-a-half left on which board and I FLEW out the back as the wave closed out.  It was so much fun riding something with that much power and a semblance of a line.

A smaller left preceded it and I got a top turn and a cutback in.

I had a great right which I smacked and on which I did a faded roundhouse cutback.

There were about twelve people out, including three ladies when I decided to bail.  I caught one on the inside and pumped before I pussed out and kicked out.  About fifteen feet to my right was a massive rock menacingly poking its nasty texture out.

I'd seen on social media that Pando and Chuleta's mom was in town from Maryland.  I hadn't seen her since Pando's wedding.  She was there at the hotel and I gave her a hug.  We talked for about five minutes and I met her sister before I bailed.