Thursday - Short period paddlefest with stacks of small waves. Short period stuff in the offshore winds at sun-up proved to be fun but Cthulhu help you you you didn't power-paddle right back out immediately after the ride, though I found if you blew it on wave selection, you were gonna pay extra calories to get back out. Nothing remarkable stands out except that some people seemed awfully cranky or upset. 2 hrs later, homeward bound for a cleaning and off to Petaluma to the in-law's.
Friday - Rising swell (6 at 17 seconds) showing with single bigger peak showing randomly. Timing was a little off for me on half my attempts and flailed mightily. Paddled away from good peak to lick my wounds only to find myself right in the impact zone of that bigger peak thing I mentioned earlier, except it was a legit set 5 wave set. Lands about 10 ft in front of me, I bail, get picked up, over the falls, toes brush something, board/sand/fish/back of my head/something, start wondering when buoyancy will overcome the decreased density of bubble filled water, start to climb leash, and turns out I was not that deep after all, just sort of sloshing sideways thinking I was deep. Next few waves more insult to injury but was panting pretty hard when it was over. Made it back out for the redemption attempt and found the thrashing had messed up my psyche a little so when the redemption set came, shoulder hopped it and rode it too far in to get back out easily so then just went for an insider. That was a poor idea as it was a doubled up mess, but after a while, lucked out with a small gut high one. At the car found out 3 hours had passed since I suited up. Seemed like only 1 hr.
Saturday - 8 at 14 seconds. Arranged to meet Friend #1. He said he couldn't wait and would be on the 8' Bonzer (new). Got there, suited up, went out and surprised myself with a two duck-dive paddle out, and then the long slog to the outside. Most forgiving rip ever. Proceed to have much better time. Being on a 7'6" helped greatly. That board is like 15 yrs old ; I thank the double 6 oz deck and single 6oz bottom for the longevity. Sun-damaged pigment has change the green at the nose slightly blue, while the red half looks fine. More consistent sets make lining up easier, less people means I can be choosier too, which in turn makes paddling back out after rides so much easier. Am noticing some fatigue from day before, and decide to not fight current so much, saving muscles for the waves. Best ride was one of those where you paddle a whole bunch from too far out where you have to angle in from the shoulder, and you think, "Why am I bothering, not on the peak, shoulder hopping it, and f*ck, am I using a lot of energy to catch this." Then feel the lift, the glide, dip the head to move the weight over the nose ever so slightly, quick pop up, offshores puff you back but not enough to stall, the peak then begins to wall up and bowl as the swell feels the sand, then down, and, no curl, just wall, and going left with right hand on the rail almost needing to grab it and effortless zinging down the line. The lip is ever so close to pitching out in front of me, and I want to look back but fear my coordination would fail, so future looking only. When I kick out, rest of the set had gone south, so easy paddle back out. Worst wave was getting pitched in the middle of the pack. So much for any imagined cred I had. Never found Friend #1. No crowd at all...at first I was thinking, "where is everyone? Do the wave suck and I just don't realize it?" Find out at the car, 3.5 hours have gone by. Guy walking by confirmed that the waves did not suck at all.
Sunday - Decayed swell makes it unreasonably tough to get out. Well that and overall fatigue from previous days....ok, mostly fatigue and what happened to the nice rip? Friend #1 is absent. (Later find out he tweaked his back paddling out on Saturday and didn't get out because of said tweakage, now taking more days off). Smaller waves coupled with occasional leftover, dropping tide, lots of current, much more people has me being more particular about what I go for. I don't get stuck inside at all, even with the shallow bar, which could mean I wasn't pushing myself, wasn't going for much, was getting good rides, being lucky, wasn't choosing close-outs, not as tired as I though, had the right board, etc. Knowing the shoe will drop eventually, I don't look too hard at the whys. Best rides turned out to be the weirdo double up that started with me going right, then seeing it double up and come towards me, so hard carve to go left, pump and go around the section, bobble a little in the flats, wave stalls a tad giving me time to get to green water on the other side, then off to the races again. Luck is with me! Worst wave was second to last wave. Nice on the peak take off, kinda too deep, but I figure there is 33% I can get it and the a drop-in makes than 100% negatory. Am tempted to kick board at back of his head for a moment and impulse is forgotten when I realize my leash isn't long enough and I am way too slow...that kind of utter dickishness needs instant commitment. So a split second later, just straighten out and then watch the wave munch him.....I was being way too optimistic with the 33% and glad I have a modicum of self-restraint. Catch insider, shortly plopping to belly board it in, nearly getting tangled in fishing line. 2.5 hr surf.
Monday - Took day off. I tell myself it is good to recover more and mitigate possible harm to self by being too fatigued to surf well. Am expecting any moment to hear from Friend #1 as tide drops: Where are you? You're blowing it!
Anyways, surfed for a couple hours and then called it. Pulled the rest of the toenail off, including part of the live section of it, and it was indeed a bleeder. So that was probably a good idea to save that fun for after the session.
Read this, looked up how best to treat this sort of thing now-a-days, found my way to You Tube, and holy hell, there are people pulling off perfectly good toenails for whatever reason they want to rationalize. So went from curious-maybe-I-can-help to cringing pretty quick, and then there was the ladder fall. Double ouch! Heal up quick Kento.