RIP Doc 3

Actually, I had a feeling it was going to happen when I suited up. Chilly in the parking lot with Sis and CYT.

Big wave, I was too far inside. Turtled and had a moment when I considered holding onto the board and cartwheeling with it, which I've done before, but never on SUCH a big wave. So I let it go. I was jerked back and dragged under water with a lot of force by my leash. While I was cursing the leash, all of a sudden, I wasn't being tugged quite so hard and I knew. It wasn't a surprise when I surfaced to find myself attached to half a board.

What I don't get is that obviously my board was in one piece as I was being dragged. Not quite sure what happened to snap it in two while I was still under water.

Oh, well. I have to stop abusing my sanded glass boards. I love them because they're light, but I'm starting to think I should go epoxy at this rate.

So, it's a beater board winter for me! If you see a short round Asian girl frowning at a Raw 8'0" she inherited, that's me. I really dislike those Raw boards. No reason, really. I just find them incredibly plain and ugly. They look... functional.

I had promised my friend that I would fix the dinged up nose and the shattered tail and sell the board for him, but I never got around to it. Instead, I'm going to give him some cash and thrash the hell out of it on some winter waves. Should be fun.

Engagement Ring: His

We are talking to someone about my engagement ring. A hint.

So, I wasn't crazy after all.

Forgoing the zoo of Big Wednesday, I was looking for something like a Mellow 6-Foot Thursday this morning. I got up when the dog alarm went off at 5am. Usually, Otis will go back to sleep for an hour and a half when you give him a sharp command, but today, I decided not to snooze the dog alarm and took him for a quick walk in the dark and off I was to see what the popular point was looking like. Mushy on the high tide and not that appealing.

So I headed back down to home break and thought I was going crazy because I SWORE I saw corners. But maybe my brain wasn't working, maybe there was not enough light for my feeble eyes, maybe it was a trick. No, there it was again. A corner.

And a curtain of water fell in the following set wave. But it wasn't really a CRASHING, HOLLOW sound. It was a high tide sound: a loud, but mushy sound, like a sumo wrestler stepped off the side of a pool and fell into jello.

Still, though, I thought I was crazy. It wasn't until Mr. Love came around with his enthusiasm that I decided standing around getting cold was ridiculous when I could be paddling in and seeing for myself.

That first paddle-out wasn't too bad. I waited for the lull and was able to scratch over the rolling waves.

But then I got frustrated. I sat and waited and paddled for rollers that wouldn't break. I pulled off of things that looked like close-outs. I was starting to think I'd have to take one of those if I wanted anything. Finally, Sensei J told me that there was shape. "Even the ones that look like close-outs, there's shape, just get on it and you can go down the face!"

Okaaaaay.

So a perfect example popped up. It had just enough shape as it approached to make me turn around to paddle into position. As it got closer, it loomed over like it was going to close, but I took the advice and just went. Speed speed speed and I was turning into the bottom turn going frontside when I realized that I could look up at the wave. And I could see that I wasn't fast enough or in trim enough to make the shoulder.

But it was good enough.

I got caught inside in a hole on a set, so I gave up trying to paddle in at that spot and walked out and back up the beach to a spot with easier entry.

The next right was much better. I actually had some shoulder time.

Started paddling back out when I saw a rogue wave rising out of the water. The giant curtain of water started to come down and I was in exactly the WRONG SPOT. There was no way to duck or turtle, so I ditched my board and dove through the wave. (When was the last time I ditched my board?!) The wave pushed me down and took the board, so I was being dragged underwater by my leash. (When's the last time I wore a leash?!)

No fun! (But in a way, it IS fun!) Woo!

I may not understand the need for speed on two wheels, but I totally get the thrill from dropping down a nice-sized face of water.

Two-wheelin' it

The timing could not have been better. After a first big wash of rain on Friday, I was not about to get into the ocean until the prescribed 72-hours was done. Luckily, my fiance (yes, that's right, we're engaged) had signed us up for a motorcycle riding class for the weekend.

I've always wanted to learn and he got revved up by some riding co-workers when he expressed interest.

The class we took was really great. Highly recommended if you're just thinking about riding for recreation because it scares the bejeezus out of you. Basically, we learned how every element out there on the road is out to get you. After the classroom, you get about 10 hours on the bike over two days. The first day it was thrilling. I found out that I am good at going fast around corners, but I suck at the slow, tight figure-eights. My wrists and forearm muscles started getting stressed because the clutch and brake levers were too wide for my tiny hands.

By the second day, I think the novelty wore off. I was really good at finding neutral whenever we were idling because my left hand started having spasms from gripping the clutch. And, by the end of the day, even though I finally started getting the hang of slow, tight figure-eights and got to blast through off-set weaves, I couldn't help but see riding as a really expensive hobby.

I'd love to hear from Whiff or Sis's husband or any other riders. I'm sure I'm missing something about motorcycles. I had fun and am glad I learned the basics, but I didn't get the bug, that's for sure.

On the other hand, I had the bug for surfing even before I caught a legit wave.