By the time we got there, the beach was getting a little bit crowded, too much for surfing at least. So what's left? Body boarding. Had to buy one but a small investment for some good rides. Or maybe.
In actuality, the waves were fiercer than anything I tried to ride in the past with a board, and relentless too. The kind where, after recovering from the last wave, you're about back to where you were before the next big wave comes in and sweeps you back. It's like putting your finger in front of an ant always. The little guy's just gonna lose, every time, but eventually he'll make it somewhere. Here, these waves? Trying to fight mother nature? No no no no ... not gonna happen. Even diving through, especially with the body board, was a bit tricky.
To tell the story, I busted out the water paints. Reiko added the pen work. Here's me waiting for a wave...
So basically, I noted that there were three kinds of waves I was getting for potential rides. The best and of course hardest to find was what I would consider the good ride wave: the incoming wave picks you up and pushes you in for a good slick ride that can be 25-30 yards or more on a good boosty. These are the reason to ride waves obviously.
The second kind, a new phenomenon to me was what I call the "alley-oop", which essentially pops you up on the brink of the wave, giving you maximum view over everyone else in the surf, a peak-a-boo if you will, before pulling you back, behind the wave. An interesting view, but a cheap thrill, and usually wasted because the one after it might have been "the one".
Third, and most common, was "the dredger": you get locked in and perhaps a good ride for the first half a second, and then shit! the wave spills over with a sharp push that brings you straight under, and drags you to shore, underwater in the wake. These are not only disorienting, but downright dangerous because you get the shit kicked out of you, can't breathe, snapped neck, and even scraped knees. And there were lots of them. I let my buddy Chris try out my board, who promptly returned it to me after getting caught in one of these. And this is the kind of chaos you'd have to make it through to get out to the breakers.
The other thing that was interesting about the beach was that it would see weird cycles of relentless surf, followed by a calm patch, and then the waves would start breaking way out there. Wrecking any chance for a ride, of course, but at least giving something to play with.
All and all, the surf was awesome but a bit rough for riding. Felt awesome for swimming, and I could easily dive through the waves. But I bought the board and will definitely hit it up once more before summer's over. The beach man. It's there. It's eternal.
4 comments:
yeah. i think eventually I'll join the crew and live on the east coast. Although what really does it is "the mollusk".
awesome illustrations! Thanks for the cold beer afterwards too. Lemme know when you're ready for round 2(waves and beers).
Hopefully soon! I'll check with R. I know our schedules get kinda funky soon, so it might have to be on a Sunday. Or a Friday, and I'll just take off work. Because waves >>>> worky.
Love the illustrations! Also know exactly what you're talking about. We are hoping to hit the beach this weekend, although Bill may make the water too crazy to do much. Last time we tried swimming with a hurricane in the Atlantic we just got beat up.
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