Last Saturday morning, I set out early for Jetty Park, navigating through thick fog that seemed like a wall of smoke. Careful not to lose sight of the road, I finally reached the beach where, luckily, there was plenty of parking. With my surfboard under my arm, I crossed the boardwalk and walked through the dunes, eager to meet up with my friends from the women’s surfing group.
On the beach, I scanned the shoreline for my friends. On the shorline I found the waving pink flag that tells me where my friends are located. I noticed that most of them were already out in the water. I took a few minutes to take video and pictures of everyone surfing before waxing my board.
I was wearing a wetsuit, but this time I did not have to wear my wetsuit booties like the week prior. The water actually felt perfect. It wasn’t too cold even though it was 62 degrees.I didn’t get too hot even though the high for the day was 85 degrees.
I took a few minutes to search for my buddies and said hello, then worked on catching my first wave. My first wave was very small and I was a little slow to get up on my board, but that’s not unusual. It takes a bit to find your rhythm.
Yeah, actually I did catch quite a few waves. They came in in sets and eventually the waves kind of stopped for a little bit. So I decided to go behind the lineup and paddleva little further south.
I took a few attempts at waves there and that’s where I caught the wave of the day. Although the waves were small, this one I could tell was coming in with nice form. I turned in the direction of the smaller side of the wave so that it would crash behind me and not in front of me. I was able to ride it down the line, which I’ve not done in quite a while.
Still a little out of practice, the day doesn’t go by as quickly as it used to, so I actually had to make myself stay out in the water and keep trying to surf. I decided I was not going to go in until at least 12 o’clock.
The waves picked up and I was able to catch a few more. I left the water about 12:15. I did not wipe out one time. It was really just a lot of fun.
For me, it’s less about the size of the wave and more about enjoying the ride.
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