Boo: I had a great surf day!

Bunny: You smoked it, then put it your pipe and then smoked it again!

Boo: Yup

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photo by flickr user laangels

This is Boo and today is my first time writing on our blog – I’ve clearly been remiss, leaving the task up to my prolific Bunny P. She pointed today out that since my memory isn’t always at peak performance, I should remember this day of surfing with a little blog writing. So, here I am.

While the title of this post might easily be mistaken for some sort of political call to action, it is in fact describing the days’ surf experience for this odd breed of surfer – a regular footer who loves to go left. I love lefts! I go left on lefts, I stupidly try and power through a good right by going left, I just love to open up and take a sweet left. I ride a Robert August 9′0 – I wonder if Mr. August is a goofy and bred that into my board?

That said, today everything changed. It was kind of chilly today, cloudy, cool, water and air around 60 degrees. I “borrowed” Bunny P’s supersuit – the Roxy 3/2 Cell and was perfectly warm (except one lull where it got a little windy). I love that suit! It feels like I’m wearing a super warm rash guard – so amazingly flexible, I just want to wear it all winter. Anyway, things started out a little slow and I was having trouble catching waves. I’d paddle my ass off and nothing and was getting a little frustrated. It was a little bigger than yesterday and I didn’t want to get caught in the falls, so I think I was being a little cautious.

I finally caught a wave and what a wave it was! I went right and immediately got solidly right in the wave. I’m just starting to get comfortable judging the wave while I’m in it and looking at the wave and making adjustments to stay in it. This wave just kept going and going and it was the closest I’ve ever been to getting barreled. If I would have crouched just a little more, I think I could have gotten a little coverage – that would have rocked. But I was loving this wave even without getting barreled, I was trimming away, I’d drop and turn, drop and turn, and the wave just kept going and I thought what the hell, I’ll just take this thing to the beach – and I did! Afterward I did my happy dance. I do one of two things after a good wave – I giggle under the water, or I do my happy dance. Today it was all about the happy dance.

That was the first of probably 10 or 15 decent rights – and I am NOT a right-y! But I might be after today It wouldn’t have been a great day of surfing if I didn’t have a good left – I definitely got a couple of those in too – happy dances all around. So all is not lost with my precious lefts.

Today was a great day of surfing – three hours with my BunnyP, our friends M and S and a varying crowd – at one point it was just the four of us and one other woman – the girls club – and other times it was up to maybe 12 people – not crowded at all. All I know is that we were out there longer than anyone – our arms definitely fell off today! We didn’t see dolphins today but Bunny and M saw a seal – M thought it looked like a lab at first.

The sky was really interesting today. We could see rain all around us – up toward Santa Monica, out toward Catalina, but we never got hit. There was a point when it was super tough to read the waves because the waves and the sky were the very same color and completely blended with each other. I got thrashed a couple of times cuz I didn’t realize just how close the wave was.

At one point Bunny was getting a little frustrated with not being able to catch waves. She was having suit issues, paddling a lot and not catching anything; I could sense her frustration – she wasn’t her happy, smiley, “I’m so excited to be out surfing” self. So I paddled over and asked her if there was anything I could do, could I help her with her wetsuit, something. She said no and told me she wasn’t catching anything and clearly bummed. Sometimes it just takes a little word of encouragement to move things in a different direction. I didn’t want to be all schmaltzy and say – Oh, it’ll be okay, you’ll do better, keep at it Bun. So I just said, “now’s the time.” Bunny looked at me a little funny and we paddled off our separate ways and she proceeded to get her first kick ass wave and many more kick ass waves followed. I’m not saying I’m responsible, I just gave her a little nudge, a little different way of seeing the day. We had a great day!

This is Bunny: today I had my very first cross step. It was only one small step and I got up about 6 inches from the logo on my board, but I was stoked. Oh…and after that wave I caught that Boo magically bestowed on me, as soon as I got off my board, I didn’t do the “happy dance” or “giggle”, I threw my fists up in the arm and said “Thank you God!”. Appropriately, on a Sunday.

2 weeks ago, Boo & I went to Puerto Vallarta for a friend’s commitment ceremony and of course, of the 4 days we were there, we spent 3 of them surfing. We checked out a bunch of spots, but it was small every day and the only thing breaking that we were willing to try out was Sayulita.

We could have taken one of these boats out to surf some other spots, but when we talked to a girl coming in and she said that sometimes, they just bring you out to a spot, that there’s no one else around and that they leave you there for a few hours, we got visions of “Open Water” but surf style.

The boats that can take you out to “Open Water” surfing.

I’m hoping that one day, we’ll be confident enough in our abilities to try one of these excursions some day. Of course that also means figuring out some way to fend off motion sickness though.

On the first day, we unfortunately got there late in the afternoon because we took the red eye, checked in, took a quick nap and immediately hit the road in search of surf. After checking out a couple spots around Punta De Mita and seeing nothing but lake-like conditions, we ended up at Sayulita. It was small, crowded, but really fun. As crowded as it was, I think because it was filled with tourist who were clearly just stoked to be in warm water surfing, the crowd was super mellow. We could have stayed out there for hours, but by the time we were really getting our groove, it was getting late and we had to head back.

We did however pack the new Olympus and even though we had problems with the makeshift arm band holder, we got these fun shots and even got some quick clips too.

Hola…more sitting, than surfing in Sayulita.

These are the crazy kind of accidental shots you get when you’re holding the camera in your mouth and trying to get footage of yourself surfing.

Boo, knowing there were chips n salsa waiting, trims down the line.

The second day wasn’t as good as the first, but we still got some rides in before we realized we to go and get ready because we did have a wedding to go to. Darn those pesky weddings getting in the way of surfing! Some of the same cats that were out the day before were out too like this dude I practically rode tandem with on a wave was very nice. We talked about the Malibu fires because he had friends there and made some chit chat.

Bunny: “Oh hi…yeah, sorry about yesterday…did I drop in on you?”

Sayulita dude: “Oh, no, no problem…it was kinda cute, actually.”

You gotta love a guy who is cool about riding the same wave and is obviously comfortable enough with his straight man-ness to use the word “cute” when talking about surfing. Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I would have gotten his name. I think Boo and I need to start actively making more friends in the water. We see so many of the same people and sometimes I wonder why we don’t just say hi and get their names because the ones we have introduced ourselves to seem like old friends when we see them in the water. Maybe that can be one of our new year’s resolutions.

Bunny positioned in just the right place .

The third day was total crap. Blown out, small and pretty much worthless. The food at the restaurants was icky and we were both in kinda crabby moods, but it was still good being out in the warm water. Plus, when you think about it, who can be crabby when you’re vacationing and are at the beach, right?

I know there’s a girls surf camp in Sayulita that’s gotten mixed reviews and being in PV really made me think that about trying to coordinate a surf trip with my surfer girl friends instead of doing a surf camp.

I remember when we first started surfing and I bought the Roxy Learn to Surf DVD and there was a line from one of the girls about the whole idea is to surf and travel with your friends. We were both bummed out that our friends from the wedding couldn’t have come with us to try to surf for the first time, but I’m hoping they might make it to when we go to Hawaii because traveling with Boo and surfing new spots is so great. I can imagine traveling with friends and discovering new spots together would be another milestone in our road to becoming “surfers”.

One of my favorite views from the trip taken when I was riding the same wave: Boo taking a right-Olé!

2 days ago, I skipped out of work early to get in a sunset sesh and I’m convinced this is the ocean ratting me out for playing hookey. Of course the week I can actually start work later and end earlier to surf is the week that the conditions are crap. At least for me and my abilities and the fact that I don’t have another surf girl out there with me for safety.

Tuesday I went out and the pictures tell the story: Windy, windy, windy and super choppy, strong currents, weird big sets coming in closed out.

(Windy!)

It was so windy, someone even brought their kite out. You can also get a sense of how windy it was by looking closely at the stair rail where someone’s flyer is pretending to be Superman.

I don’t know what I was thinking going out alone. I think when I saw two other girls suiting up with longboards, I figured since they were going out, I’d be fine. I tried out my new contraption with the neoprene ipod arm band with the new Olympus waterproof camera in it. Of course it worked like a dream in the living room, but since the I was paranoid about the camera, the waves, being out there alone, oh, and the fact that I forgot to take my ring off, I think being preoccupied with all that put me in a funk before even paddling out.

In fact, that last time I was preoccupied with something other than the here and now was 2 summers ago when I got skegged and cut my knee while taking in a fun wave. I cut my knee and came in only to look down and see my leg covered in blood. It probably looked so much worse cos the blood mixed with water. I went to the lifeguard tower to get it bandaged up confirming the fact that I can go back out only if I promise to rinse it out thoroughly when I got home. I was so worried about it getting some kind of infection (because of course I went back out cos it was such a fun sesh up to that point), that I wasn’t paying attention to much else other than the band-aid that I wiped out too close to shore and twisted my ankle.

So, after having that flashback, realizing I still had on my ring, tying it up on the lanyard thingie with the camera, I paddled out. I suppose I should post the video on YouTube and have the link just so I can reference how crappy it was, but it wasn’t good. Plus about 3 min. into it, a strong wave came and shoved the arm band (with camera and ring) down my forearm and I caught it just in time before it slipped off.

I stayed out for about 25 minutes, came in, sat on the beach and watched the other two girls, who were splashing around in the mush, and decided to come back in. I haven’t come in from surfing in anything less than an hour and a half (and that was dawn patrol), in years. It was very humbling, although I felt a little better because there were some shortboarders out not getting much of anything either. It was a definite reminder that winter was coming because I was cold, the waves were much bigger and without sounding too cliche, there was definitely something in the air.

It feels like forever since I’ve really been in the water…the withdrawl is still lingering. I’m hoping that Friday, taking the day off and driving down to Doheny to surf that little break for the first time will make up for it. And if that doesn’t feed the need, next week at this time, I’ll be in Mexico, resting up from the red eye hoping to try Sayulita in the afternoon. What’s sad is that the days of pre and apres work sessions during the week are over because when we get back, it’ll be daylight savings. Plus, I just know that this week was a fluke with work and with everyone getting back next week, it’s going to be back to the regular grind.

(GGS)

It’s not what you think. This is a surf blog and you might be thinking “Holy cow! Bunny P surfs with her Grandma!”. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Both my grandmothers have past, but now that I think about it, they were both very fiesty and I bet that if they lived here when they were young, they probably would have been surfers. No, the Grandma I’ve been spending the day with is “Grandma” the brilliantly insightful and hilarious author of Grandmas Gone Surfing.

It’s gray, I’m still cold from this morning’s dawn patrol, I’m sleepy and slacky and feel like doing nothing but eating bad food, watching corny Demi Moore movies, and reading Grandma’s blog. The bad food and channel surfing isn’t very satisfying, even though the Tivo is backed up with at least 6 hours of programming that’s been neglected from working ate. Maybe it’s my own body telling me that I should take a mental break. Maybe it’s cos of the weather, but I can’t bring myself to get any work done, nor to get myself fired up to go back out in the water again even though the surf cam is showing some cute conditions. It doesn’t help that I just read this:

El Segundo — On September 3, 2007 Robert Popa was surfing 150 yards North of Lifeguard Station #45 at the Chevron Refinery & Power Plant in El Segundo. It was 3:30 PM and he had been on the water 2.5 hours. The sky was clear with a few clouds and an air temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The sea was calm with waist high surf and a water temperature of about 68 degrees Fahrenheit. The ocean floor was primarily sand and 8 – 10 feet deep with similar visibility. Popa recalled; “I was approximately 50 yards from shore paddling to get into position for the sets. My marker was the ‘Keep Off Rocks’ sign posted to the right of the Chevron Refinery in El Segundo. I noticed a dark shadow approaching beneath my lower left side. The water was clear and the sky blue, allowing me to see the sandy bottom clearly, which is rare for that area. A dark grey shark, that was about 8 feet in length, swam 2 arms length away from me on my left side along the ocean floor. It continued to swim along the ocean bottom in a relaxed manner towards the shoreline. I sat up on my board and watched it swim for approximately 3 seconds before it disappeared into the backwash. I could not believe my eyes and called out ‘Shark!’ to make the surfers around me aware. I pointed towards its direction then paddled down the beach in the opposite direction.” Please report any shark sighting, encounter, or attack to the Shark Research Committee.

Oh boy.

So here I am at home, half paying attention to emails, and pouring through all of Grandma’s blog posts and comments finding it more satisfying than when I played hookey in college to finish reading Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.

Yeeeeeessss!! Speaking of satisfying, FedEx just delivered the new underwater camera we ordered! There goes work for the rest of the day.

-Bunny

(Monday morning dawn patrol)

The wake up call, the cell phone alarm, went off at 6 and by 6:40, this was the view from my car. I was still half asleep when my surf girls waved good morning. I think they were still asleep too when I pulled up by them in the parking lot. They were half way in their wetsuits when I realized OMG…I have to get out of my warm clothes to get in mine too.

When I was waxing my board, I realized that the dimensions and shaper’s signature were on the deck and not the other side. That’s when I noticed his name. A week ago Boo and I were at one of our surf girl’s b-day parties and we finally met their friend who shapes boards locally for a major surf brand and for himself. He seemed kinda urban myth-y because the girls had talked about him so much and how cute he is. Sure enough, I decided he was my new crush because he looked like Andy Gibb- if Andy Gibb were scruffy, a surfer dude and had that constant Spicoli glazed-eye look. He had mentioned that my board might have been shaped by him. Going into the cold water felt a little better knowing that Andy Gibb had shaped the best board I’ve ever had.

I was still half asleep when I paddled out a few minutes later, but awake enough to dread the first wave that would wash over my head with the cold water. Why is that first head dunk sooooooooo cold? After I got over it and ended up in the line up, I was surprised to realize it wasn’t that cold. Gotta love that new “Super Suit” (aka, Roxy’s 3/2 cell suit!). The waves were funky. Some bigger sets would come and close out, but when I almost didn’t make it over one of them and my heart was pounding, I realized THAT was the real wake up call of the morning.

It came just in time for me to see about 2 sets of dolphins. I’m convinced two of them were mating about 25 feet in front of me because I saw a bigger fin (assuming the male) thrashing around and the smaller one was jumping around and then rolling around on it’s back and the other one was swimming on and over it. It’s always a great day when you see the dolphins, but I felt a little embarased seeing them doing the “deed”.

I caught about 5 rides, 2 of them decent, the others sloppy. I like to think the sloppy ones were because of the closed out conditions. I also realized that all the chitty chat catching up on the weekend with my surf girls was 1- a good distraction from getting scared being out there in gloomy, cold, ominous conditions, but also 2- a bad distraction from getting in my zone.

My last wave, probably about thigh high, a short right, slightly trimming, was my wave of the day. Of course, despite being not so stoked about being out there an hour ago, that one ride made me want to come back out later today. Driving through the half empty lot, feeling pretty surfer-like for having done dawn patrol on a Monday, I spotted Andy Gibb checking out the conditions. I pulled over and proudly told him that my board was one of his. He asked if I liked it and even if he weren’t so Andy Gibby, I still would have said what I said “I LOVE it!”. He noticed my board was scooted up a little forward on and offered to move it back. (Sigh….). The funny thing is that he said “You didn’t have to turn your car off.” So I told him it’s cos it’s a hybrid, which he loved. Bonus points for me!

Anyway, not a bad morning. Dolphins, Andy Gibb, oh, and one of the best things I saw on the beach…a cute Euro-Asian surfer with a cute green fish picking up a huge piece of plastic trash as he was leaving. When I was waiting for the outdoor shower after him, he had a big smile when said “Have a nice day”. I said “you too”, then realized he was the one I saw with the trash and said “Hey, and thanks for picking up the trash.”. I think the smile he had shared back was definitely the highlight of the morning.

(aprés surf)

One of the most memorable things I think I’ve ever heard about Laird Hamilton is that when there’s a long stretch without monster waves, he gets depressed. Zif I’m anything close to Laird Hamilton. But each weekend that goes by that I don’t get in the water, I feel the weirdest, itchiest, most uncomfortable sense of withdrawl.

I’ve never had any “addictions” other than Sex & the City, but this must be what it’s like. The analogies with surfing = drugs is pretty much a no brainer. Not that I know about drugs, but from what I hear, it’s just as bad. That need to get that fix is horrible. I think the more true analogy is surfing = love. And like being in love, you get distracted when you’re not with the object of your affection. Like love, you look forward to the weekends knowing you have all the time in the world to spend together. And like love, distance makes the heart grow fonder, but when you can’t get it, sometimes you end up getting your fix watching a movie to remind you of what you’re missing. Hence, Boo’s favorite analogy, surf movies = Bunny’s porn.

(The Ultimate Surf Porn)

This weekend, being in the dessert, thinking about surfing and coming to grips with the knowledge that I might not get my fix, I resorted to watching surf porn (SP) on iPhone. Thank God local surf buddy texted an invite to dawn patrol tomorrow and that I’m “working” from home. If I didn’t have this to look forward to, I think I’d be using this laptop for “SP”. Although, the SP is also good to fall asleep to as well.

Boo’s Sunday Mass

We were reading some surf blogs and realized that we wanted to document our experiences because when we’re old and creaky and can’t walk, let alone surf, these are the moments we want to remember.