I’m outty.

One word.

WIGGIN!

Bookmarked.

Wanna see what I’ve bookmarked this week that I check, like, every two hours?  Fiji weather update.  Hah!  Crazy thing is that the forecast shows pretty much the exact same temperature every day – high is 86 degrees and low is 66 degrees. I keep checking it because they update it every two hours, but it never really changes.  The low is actually a little lower than I expected, but is perfect for sleeping at night.  Water temp is around 82 degrees.  Ahhh.

Surf forecast – well, Surfline calls for modest SWW swell over the weekend (when I arrive) with a nice swell due to deliver head high + waves by the middle/end of next week – right when I’ll be in optimal reef break surfing shape.

Bought a pair of reef booties even though I loathe the idea of wearing them.  Everyone I’ve talked to, however, said I definitely want to have reef booties because depending on the tides, it can get very shallow on the inside and if you wipe out, you can get stuck standing on the reef and you don’t want to be standing on the reef barefoot.  Ok.  We’ll see if I end up wearing them.  They just won’t look very cute in pictures!

They’re back.

My beloved Chargers are back with a solid win over The Jets.  My beloved LT scored two touchdowns, and their d, while allowing 29 points, did put some fierce pressure on Farve and kept him scrambling and throwing interceptions. I wasn’t worried. Let’s not forget they started out last season 0-2 as well, and then came on strong with an AFC Championship finish. 

Bi-polar surfing.

More emotional surfing this past weekend.  Saturday I paddled out at the pier and had a terrible session. While it was very challenging conditions as my buddy, John, was trying to console me – head high + super fast, dumpy waves -  there were guys making the drops and getting rides. I just plain sucked. I took out my high performance short board which I haven’t ridden in close to two years because I am bringing it with me to Fiji and wanted to try to ride it at least once before leaving. I just could not get dialed into that board. It has a very pulled in nose with alot of rocker (hence “high performance”) and I was having a really hard time paddling into the waves.  It is also very squirrelly (hence “high performance) and I was having a really hard time popping up and landing the sweet spot.  Just all and all very frustrating.  I don’t really take much solace when someone tries to tell me “it was really hard out there today.”  No.  That doesn’t work for me because it wasn’t hard for say, Jamie Perez or Scott Anderson, who were out freakin’ getting shacked and throwing big spray off their turns. No.  That doesn’t work for me.

I redeemed myself, however, on Sunday and had a really good session (or at least a decent session) at a point break up north.  Ah, point breaks. Piece of cake. I brought out my usual board so was comfortable.  There weren’t too many people out so I caught plenty of waves without any real hassles, and while the swell had dropped, there were still plenty of decent waist to chest high waves.  I caught a few really long waves towards the end of my session where I worked the face and pumped through the sectiony part and connected to the inside.  Fun.  I didn’t suck.

Like I said,  Bi-polar surfing.  Do they have meds for that?

Emotionally spent.

Managed to get myself up and out of bed this morning for a surf. Paddled out at VBW and, well, it didn’t suck.  Set waves were in the head high + range and the shape was fair.  I got two pretty decent waves right off the bat when I paddled out.  I was feeling quite cocksure of myself at that point.  There were only about three guys out.  Then I slipped into kookville mode and proceeded to face-plant down the face on my next two waves.  Then the internal chatter started with the what the fuck is my problem this morning.  Then I let two good set waves go by. Then I popped up too early and missed the wave. By that point, I was ready to pull out a Morning Star (Medieval Weapon of Torture) to begin the self-flagellation you’re-not-worthy-to-call-yourself-a-surfer torture.  I was pretty much the only girl out in a pack of guys and I so wanted to rip hard.  Everytime I paddled for a wave, all eyes were on me.  But the harder I tried to rip, the more I sucked.  I wanted to say to each and every one of them, “You should have been here earlier. I had two good waves.  Really, I don’t totally suck.”  Then, the clock-ticking started as I looked at my watch and realized I needed to get out and get to work. Shit, shit, shit.  I started dreading the unthinkable – the paddle of shame where I would have to paddle in if I couldn’t catch one last fucking wave in.  I think I hate more than anything the paddle of shame.  It will take what might have otherwise been a good session and end it on such a downer.  Fortunately, I was able to avert the paddle of shame and managed to catch one last wave in to shore.  Whew.  For only a 1 hour and 15 minute session, I sure experienced a rollercoaster of emotions this morning.  I’m exhausted.

The pier this morning.

Did a quick surf check. There is still quite a bit of swell in the water, but shape was still questionable at the pier.  There were a handful of the usual suspects out trying to find a corner, but in the ten minutes or so that I was watching, I really didn’t see much of anything. Nice head high waves, but nowhere to go. Sun was out with no wind.  Nice morning.  The call is a familiar one – head north or head south.  There you have it.

Too Laze.

Tried to get up this morning to meet Annika for a dawnie.  I mean I really tried. Hard.  But I just couldn’t do it. When the alarm and the coffee maker both went off at 5:45 am, I was up and out of bed…for about 15 seconds.  But as quickly as the momentum to go shot me out of bed, it rapidly dissipated and I turned off the coffee maker and the iPod and crawled right back into to bed. Just couldn’t do it.  It was so dark and gloomy and I was just, well, so tired.  I couldn’t even muster the wherewithal to send her a text message to say that I was flaking.  Just crashed. Hard.

When I finally managed to peel my eyes open at about 7 am, I sent her the text I owed her… “2 laze.” I did a quick surf check at the pier about 8:15 am to see what I missed.  Absolutely nothing.  It was utter and total lamesauce. Size is back up and shape is way down.  Close-out city.  Damn SW swells.  Please, please, please can we have some NW swells already.

And for those of you monitoring the countdown – one week from tomorrow and I’m off to Fiji.

BBQ festival coma.

Much to cover this morning so stay with me, folks.  Firstly, did a quick surf check this morning at the pier and it looked really fun.  Really fun. Decent shape with little peaks up and down the beach. Sun was out and there were only a handful of guys out.  Size is down (only about waist to chest high) which is helping the shape, and tide looked about right. Damn. Wish I had paddled out for a dawnie this morning.

But had lots of water time this weekend. Stayed local both days and had some fun sessions. Surfed the pier on Saturday morning and it was definitely about wave selection. Most were closing out, especially the bigger waves, but with a little patience, there were some quick corners on the smaller waves.  Nothing great but surfed for about two hours and had alot of waves.  Made a couple of biggish drops for fun on the close outs and just stayed low and went straight.  Kind of like that feeling of having the wave smash behind you as you make the drop and then straighten out…

Surfed Santa Monica with Erin on Sunday and had another long, fun session. Again, hit and miss with the shape, but there were some shoulders on the smaller waves.  We stayed out for over two hours in order to work up our appetites, because after surfing, we skated up to the Santa Monica pier to check out the BBQ Festival. It was freakin’ awesome. The best bbq restaurants in L.A. had booths set up in the parking lot next to the pier and each stand offered up a specialty dish – pork ribs, beef ribs, mac n’ cheese, brisket, baked beans, did I say mac n’ cheese already?  Soooo good.  We hung out there for a couple of hours feasting and drinking, and then skated back down the beach and jumped in the water again for a quick sponge session. Super fun day.  Too bad the sun never came out really, but still a blast.

Now for the venting. What the fuck is up with the San Diego Chargers?  Losing two games in a row with the opponent scoring game-winning touchdowns in the last seconds of the game.  Fuuuuck.  Can they get some fucking d on the field please.  And what’s up with that bullshit bullshit bullshit call?  Not a fumble?  Motherfucker if that wasn’t a fumble. Excuse my language but a girl has to say what she feels, right?

Better than the gym.

Paddled out at the pier this morning for a quick dawnie with Erin.  It wasn’t good but at least it wasn’t board-breaking heavy.  There were about five guys out on the north side of the pier and no one on the south side.  We started on the north side and Erin picked off a decent left that kind of held up.  After a few more close-outs, we decided to paddle over to the south side and each caught a couple of more waves.  No shape but it still felt good to be in the water.  Beats going to the gym.

Wearing a fullsuit now but the water is not cold.  Not sure where to surf this weekend. South swell is fading but there still might be some head high sets. Hmmm.  Secret spot might be the call.

Watching the contest footage at Trestles this past week just bummed me out because we never get waves like that around here.  So badly want to surf a good, uncrowded wave.  Soon I hope….