Life Can Make You Tired

Today I went surfing around 3pm. Low-tide was around 2pm and there was talk of a swell coming in tomorrow, so I thought I might be able to catch a few lucky early sets and have some fun. I walked down to the beach and the wind was blowing a lot harder than I had expected it too. The surf was around waist high and it wasn't quite blown out chop, so I decided to go for it. Though, who am I kidding I would have gone out no matter what the conditions were. I really needed some salt water.

I paddle out and the waves are very uneven and messy, but I manage to get a couple of really fun rides. In fact, one of the best rides yet on my new board was today. It surprised me, but I turned and paddled back out yearning for more. There were a couple other guys out too, though it was a little more chilly than normal and with the wind blowing, surfers were scarce.

As I'm paddling back out I notice a larger set coming in, so I paddle out quickly to get over the first wave and make it just in time. My large nine foot board makes it very difficult to duck dive under the waves so I try my best to get over them and use the board's speed to my advantage. I get over the first wave but it still pulls me in about ten yards. As it peaks and I look over I see another, not abnormal so I just paddle out again. Normally a set will have 3-5 of these big ones and calm down again, but instead they kept coming. They were getting bigger and I was getting really tired by about the fifth one. I raised up on a peak and sat up and saw that there were at least ten more coming, so I said "Shit." and let one tumble me into shore a bit.

The combination of the wind, low tide, and these random out of nowhere chest high waves were draining my stamina a lot quicker than I was comfortable with so after getting bashed on the head by about three more waves I finally road one in to shore. As I got onto dry sand and turned around to look at the surf, I realized that Thursdays swell had arrived early. The surf had gone from messy knee to waist high sets to chest high plus and dumping like nobodies business. Low tide and big waves do not mix at this spot. It's always a funny site. I walked back to the beach where I found that my $5 sandals had been taken by someone. I presume they thought they were abandoned. I don't mind, hope they are happily aboard somebody's feet. I walked back to work barefoot and dug back in to my computer.

A few hours later we headed down the beach again to the Ocean Park tennis courts for our Wednesday session. Brian, Than, Tom, and myself all played a bunch of games and leveled up our tennis a bit, but ultimately they beat us each time. 5-7 and 4-6. Blargh!

I am damn tired. Minutes before I hobble to bed and drown myself in Zzzz's and Sonata Arctica, I felt a quivering need to write a little. I hope my five paragraphs were an acceptable expenditure of your time.