Surfing Santa Cruz

I woke up today feeling good about surfing. As I drove down from San
Francisco I was hoping for some decent waves. Little did I know the
temperature would be in the high 80s. Apparently others did as traffic
was heavy and it took me almost twice as long as usual to get there.

The selection of rental surfboards were pretty bad. I was tempted to buy my
own but I found one which was a bit too small for me, meaning it was
designed for someone with more advanced skills. The dude who rented it to
me said I should be okay as he's seen me surf. I took a chance
thinking the waves might not be too big. I was right until low tide.
The waves were breaking 3 to 4 feet. Bigger than what I saw at the US
Open at Huntington Beach earlier this year.

Naturally my first few attempts on the bigger waves ended up as
wipeouts. My final wipeout was a bit nasty. The wave came in slower
than I expected so I paddled slowly. Either that or I read the wave
wrong and as I went to popup I realized I timed it wrong. I went to
kneel to catch my balance but then Mother Nature decided to work my
sorry ass. As I hit the water I heard "OHs" and other exclamations
from nearby suffers.

A local girl said I had the wave and didn't know why I tried to
correct my center of gravity. I explained I was using a board beyond
my skills and wasn't quite comfortable surfing it. As we paddled back into
the lineup she gave me a couple of pointers. She's a typical California
surfer girl - blonde, tan and beautiful. I'd think her husband would agree.
Oh well.

Santa Cruz is a big surfing town. You can find surfers out in the
water pretty much everyday of the year. Today was no exception and the
amount of surfers out in the water was crazy. Considering the board, I surfed
Cowell's beach because the waves are rather gentle. It's also where surf
lessons are given. There must have been about 20 people learning how
to surf. They tend to get in the way but I didn't mind as everyone was
a beginner at one point and deserves a chance to learn. I'm always happy to see new people of all
ages learning how to surf.

While I was surfing the smaller waves earlier in the day something
unusual happened; I saw a dolphin. It came right next to me when I was
trying to catch a wave. At first I thought it was a shark but saw the
dorsal fin bobbing in a circular motion. The dorsal fin of a shark
moves evenly on surface. Nevertheless it startled me and I slid off
the backside of the wave. The dolphin circled back and looked at me as
if to say, "Dude, that was a beautiful wave you missed." I was
surprised we was curious enough to come close to me and two other
surfers. We all patted him on his head then someone yelled out,
"shark!" I realized everyone was looking in our direction. The dolphin
swam around for a few more minutes then disappeared. It was incredible
and I never thought that I'd experience something like it.

Even more odd than that was a wedding was taking place on the beach. A
wedding on the beach isn't unusual but I was one of five people asked
to pose with the bride and groom. How could I say no on such an
occasion?

As I left the beach I realized I've been surfing over six hours. It
was then my arms turned to jello. I had to carry the board on my head
because I couldn't carry it by its rails. It was a great day but now my
body is telling me I will pay for it.