Last Day on the 11'

I surfed last week - first time in a month! (The conditions have been horrible.) Last Wednesday was a gorgeous day weather-wise, and I got a call bright and early from Jules. When I picked up the phone she said, "You'd better be in the water." I told her I had my bathing suit on and was half-way out the door.

The coast was just beautiful. The temp was around 45 and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The town was getting dressed up for Christmas, and I just can't explain how great the vibe was. The sun was just beating down and there wasn't a whisper of wind, so even with low temps it didn't feel all that cold. I used my regular 11' softie (for the last time!) and went out for a couple hours. I surfed for about 45 minutes, took a 30 minute break and then got back in for 30 more. I did some great rides on my knees, practiced popping up the right way (wow, I fall hard when I do that), and paddled around a bit. I was so damn beat by the end - I wanted to take a few more rides, but I could hardly lift myself up by that point. My arms were shot. Time to go in.

That night I came home with my own beautiful board, which you've seen. It was the first time I've driven any real distance with a board on my car and I was a wreck. What a mess. Even though the shop owner helped me secure it on some soft racks on my car, I was certain it would come loose and torpedo the car behind me. I drove no faster than 40 the whole way, so what is usually an hour-and-15-minute drive became an almost 2-hour drive that I was certain would end with casualties. Agony.

On Saturday I finally got up the guts to wax my board. I was just certain I'd do it wrong and I didn't want to screw it up, so I was stalling. I set it up in my garage on some plastic storage bins, brought down my MacBook so I had just the right waxing music, and then I went for it. I'd read about waxing on a bunch of sites and even watched a couple YouTube demos to get a feel for what I was supposed to do. To my surprise, besides having a really tired arm, it was very easy and I think it turned out perfectly - with the deck covered in tiny, sticky bumps. I did get wax everywhere (!) but it smells so yummy that I didn't mind. And now my garage reeks of it.

This is getting long. Part II soon . . .

Update: Something I forgot to mention that I want to be sure to remember is that there was frost on the mountain pass this time and SNOW on the pass on the 6th. A new and strange experience to drive through snow with my bathing suit on with the intent of getting in the water. Also, on the drive right before the mountains I noticed a tree in the woods with Christmas decorations on it. :) And then another. And another. All in all I counted 15, but there are probably more. It was really cool to see that someone had dressed up some trees with holiday cheer.