First day back in the ocean.

Last night I dreamed I went surfing, which would be the first time in years. Many years. I arrived at the beach to find big giant waves crashing directly on shore. There’s no way, I thought. No one else was crazy enough to be out there, so I wandered the beach looking for a better break to paddle out to. Out in the crazy waves, one lone guy popped up on a wave. “Wow!” I said out loud.

Then I woke up. The day had finally arrived when I would find a decent surf spot to make my comeback after a 5-6 yr hiatus. Mind you I have never been very good in the first place and now it’s been forever since I’ve surfed. Also, all the surf reports advised a 4/3 wetsuit and I only had a 3/2. The surf shops wouldn’t be open until after I got out of the water. Early morning is usually the best time to go surf, because that’s when the sharks like to feed.

To make matters worse, I have never quite figured out how to turn right on a wave. I’ve got the left turn down real well, but this right turn is another story entirely. It seems like all the surf spots out here break right. What the hell? Well I guess I’m going to learn to turn right.

I drove out to Santa Cruz with only a slight idea of where I was going (west right?). I had planned on heading out to a total beginner’s wave and start there. Pride swallowed. At first I couldn’t find it and drove up and down the cliff side road looking for a beach. Finally I typed in Cowell’s Beach into my non-updated GPS. Apparently Cowell’s Beach has been there for awhile because my GPS actually knew where it was.

It was flat. So flat it was ugly. After watching for awhile I got back on the freeway and headed south down the 1 to 41^st St, pulled into the small parking lot and walked over to the cliff to watch the surfers. The break itself was somewhat beachy, but mostly rocky. The surfers looked to have longboards which was a good sign since I was not in the mood to grapple with a shortboard local who didn’t want to share his wave. I have found in general that longboarders tend to be slightly more friendly than shortboarders.

The waves didn’t look very threatening, they were mostly small and infrequent. I watched a few attempt to pop up and then wipe out. Nice, they aren’t very good. I will fit in perfectly.

I saw some stairs off to the side and went to check out the entry. I am not a fan of trying to time waves and jump off rocks to paddle out to a spot. Thankfully there was a very small beach spot (and I mean very small) that had a clear line out and into the break. I wondered if it ever got blocked off in high tide.

I walked back up the stairs, got my wetsuit and booties on, grabbed my board and headed back down the stairs. My nerves were worked up pretty bad, but I figured I could paddle out just fine and if I was uncomfortable going for a wave, I didn’t have to.

Comebacks are hard. Apparently being in great shape in other areas of your life does not follow over into surfing. I have one of the easiest boards to paddle, the waves we laying low and I only had a short distance to go. But I was tired before I even got to the line-up.

I spotted some friendly looking people, so I paddled over, trying not to look like I was about to snake their wave. They all watched me paddle up, so it must’ve been obvious that I was heading straight towards them (a gutsy move, but being super nervous about the ocean, I was in need of an instant friend). As I got to them, I smiled and said good morning and asked how they were doing. They were friendlies. I was safe. I did not get the feeling like they were going to kick my ass, wax my windshield or slash my tires. I sat up and faced the ocean.

Since it was fairly flat, I took in my surroundings as I listened to the people around me talk. A big kelp plant swayed just underneath me. God I hope I don’t squeal like a girl when that thing grabs me. Don’t embarrass yourself Carrie. Two people took off and I started up a conversation with the guy next to me. He asked if I was new and I told him a brief version of my story. Which really helped explain away why I looked so pathetic when I attempted the next wave.

I forgot how scary the ocean was. I forgot how intimidating waves could be. And apparently I forgot how to pop up on my board. Enough so that the guy offered to let me try a couple on his longboard. I declined, saying the biggest problem was my nerves, which after 5-6 years out of the water is pretty understandable. And on the next wave I remembered why.

For some reason, although I have great cardiovascular fitness right now from my marathon training, that does not necessarily mean I can hold my breath very long under water. That is unfortunate. I picked the first wave of the next set since it was slightly smaller than the subsequent ones. I caught it and attempted to pop up, but due to some serious flaw in my technique, I completely bit it and got plunged hard underwater. These were certainly not big waves, 3-5 ft, so I was shocked to find myself pushed so hard under…and then held under. Immediately I felt panicked. I opened my eyes and saw light above me, so I swam toward it, reminding myself to stay calm, but also remembering there were several waves following that one that if I didn’t make it to the surface soon I’d be held under by the next one.

My head popped out of the water and I sucked in air and looked out to the next wave. It was nearly on top of me so I took a couple quick breaths and dove under, waited until I felt the tug on my board and popped up again. Another wave was coming, so I gave a quick tug on my leash to get my board back into my hands, flipped my board over and paddled toward the wave. Just before it hit I rolled over onto my back and pulled the nose of the board under. After I felt the wave pass, I rolled back over on top of my board and paddled out. I was crazy out of breath and felt exhausted. Holy moly, how did I ever do this?

I sat up on my board to catch my breath and looked out into the sun (by the way, just like in Santa Barbara, the sun rises in the west in Santa Cruz). I saw a big black fin pop out of the water and go back under. Man I hope that’s a dolphin. I kept watching and it came up again, this time with a friend. They looked to be dolphins and they didn’t seem interested in us.

When my new friend, Billy, got back to the line-up I mentioned the dolphins, which led to a shark discussion. He said it was too shallow for great whites at this break, and if one came into it, it would have plenty of other tasty things to snack on first. There were seals, dolphins and sea otters that frequented the area. I asked if the sea otters attract sharks like seals do. He said if I saw any otters around I was perfectly safe because those guys would scatter if a great white came about. And anyway, when it’s your time to go, it’s just your time. Whether it’s a car accident or a shark.

That brings up an interesting conversation I had with a guy in my lab the other day. We were talking about great whites (that live in the area). He was saying that it was like if grizzly bears could just fall from the sky and attack you. That’s what it’s like with the possibly of getting attacked by a great white. It’s not at all that you’re likely to get attacked by one, but the fact that they would just come up out of nowhere, completely unseen and unprovoked, and eat half of your body with one little nibble. You would just be sitting on your board, waiting for the next set and suddenly, BAM! You’re hit by what feels like a semi-truck, and as you’re thrown into the air, you’re probably with it enough to realize that that truck is actually a shark and it is about to pull you deep down to the bottom of the ocean and finish eating you. Gnarly.

So anyway, Billy had to head to work, so I was left alone with my thoughts with just a few other surfers out in the line-up. I looked over to my left and thought, Oh now what the hell is THAT?! I squinted at the thing coming towards me and decided that at least it was not coming with any great amount of speed. Maybe it’s an otter. I watched it for awhile then looked around at the other surfers who seemed to not see it. 

Snorkler? Hmmm. I continued to watch it as it got closer and realized it was indeed an otter. I remembered what Billy said about the otters being there meaning there’s no great whites. As he lounged past me on his back, chewing on something between his paws, I wanted to beg him stay. Just to hang out beside me for awhile so that I would know there were no great whites.

By this time I was getting pretty cold. My hands were numb and I was shivering, which is a good indication that I should get out. One more wave. I waited around with my hands shoved into my armpits until I could catch another wave, which I stood up on but then had to sit back down as it rolled under me. Ok, just one more then. You can’t leave without catching a wave.

This continued another 20 minutes until I was shivering uncontrollably. I still had to paddle to my exit, this wasn’t one of those spots you could just ride the next wave in. I decided to call it quits and go buy a warmer wetsuit. I paddled in and as I walked up onto the sand I reached down to unstrap my leash. My fingers were so numb I couldn’t grab the tab. I tried again. Nope. Damnit. I took up the slack in my hands and started up the stairs and realized my feet were completely numb as well.

When I got to the jeep I set the board down and made a few attempts at the strap until I finally got it. I shook my key out of the pocket and grabbed my towel. I tried to rinse off but the cold shower was not too welcome on my freezing body. I attempted to get my wetsuit off but it wasn’t going to happen until I warmed up a little. I dried my hair as I stood in the sun and then rested my hands on the hood of my car to warm them up.

It was so hard to get my booties off that I almost went up and asked a stranger for help. God Carrie, don’t be so embarrassing. I wrestled them off, one by one and then still shivering like crazy, went to work on my wetsuit. Ten minutes later I was out, and with my feet still numb, went to the bathroom to change into dry clothes.

When I got to the surf shop I was still freezing, had a down jacket on and my toes were still completely numb. It was maybe 60-65 degrees out. The guy in the shop was shocked I had surfed in a 3/2. Uh yeah. No kidding. I didn’t warm up until I was halfway home. Then I took a hot shower to warm my bones. I’m ready to go back out again tomorrow. The only problem is I also have a 6 mi run to do tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes after a couple hours in the ocean.