mybestkungfu's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- step into face plant
day 2 taught to catch unbroken waves which means reading the water to see where the rips are and jumping on them to get past the breakers. so more paddling. paddling! so you stand on the beach and wait for a lull (a momentary respite from breaking waves). the reason for this is because it's going to be difficult to swim with your board very far if you're going against the waves - they just push you back to shore. so what you do is use the riptides to pull you out. but if you still encounter waves, you can dive underneath them - so instead of being pushed back towards the shore - they roll above you. and you keep going like this until you get in behind where the waves are breaking - meaning - where they're just ROLLING - not crashing. because waves break only on shallow water. the tricks to get under waves are: duck diving - diving into a breaking wave with your board by doing something that looks like 'the worm'. (we can't really do this one as the boards we have are foam core - and are too bouyant). eskimo roll - involves diving headlong into a breaking wave - but taking your board and flipping it on top of you. (similar to the position change - from 'woman on top' to 'missionary'). throwing your surfboard above the wave and diving underneath. -so many people were doing this! don't do this! there are a million of us (a MILLION of us surfers) on the beach - you're going to hit somebody! so we finally get out to non-crashing green waves. the water here is freakin' murky and it's freaking me out. i hate not being able to see into it. i'm a little shark nervous as 2 people in the past 2 weeks have died due to shark attacks. the second kid - there weren't even any pieces left - an effing huge shark just grabbed him from his surfboard and swam off. but i'm not that nervous, so i sit back on my surfboard and hope i look cool and genuine surfer, straddling my board, looking out into the horizon waiting for a choice wave. i only get to look cool for a few minutes before a surf instructor swims up and says, 'get on your board, i'm going to give you a push'. (crap! - i'm not ready! - the waves out here are HUGE compared to the 2 inchers i've been riding). 'what are you afraid of?' he says, 'it's only water!'. he has a point. if i fall, i only get wet. and i don't want to look the fool. i don't have a choice but to slide into the sweet spot. this is the position you take on your board where you prepare yourself for take-off. a wave looms up behind. my nerves are a wreck. 'get ready!' he cries the water heaves. he pushes my board in the direction of land. 'get up!'. i feel the board steady as the wave grips it. i stand up for a few seconds and when see the tip of my board dip into the water i know that nosediving is inevitable. if the wave is too steep - you have to turn off to the side - but we haven't learned turning yet, so i crash headlong into the watery depths. ie. i got caned. (water up your nose - with force - is not comfy). but none-the-less. i am the first one to get up on a green-water wave. take that Laird! 3:34 a.m. - Jan. 06, 2005 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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