Inside

There's a decent swell working it's way in, followed by another, so I figured today would draw more of a crowd out in the surf than this last week. Also, today is a holiday. I do not know what took me so long this morning, but I was drinking my coffee by 5:15 am, but for some reason refused to get out the door until the sun had just barely started to light up the sky. Oh no! You're late!

Gar. I drove South by Southwest and drove down 41st St. There were cars already lining the street and turning down residential side streets. Seriously? Already? What is it, epic out there?

It was not exactly epic, but it was exactly crowded.

 All those little dots out there are people. And one seal. Notice how the sun is hardly up...and also notice what I mean by the sun rising in the west up here. This is California, people. Sunrise in California.

I am not a fan of crowds, but I certainly did not come all the way out there to turn and and go back without surfing. I walked 3 blocks back to my car and got changed. It is misery stripping down to a bikini when you can see your breath. And again, I failed to put my key into the key pocket of my wetsuit before I pulled it up. It would be going into my leash pocket once again, which one day will bite me in the butt.

I followed the line of people going down the stairs to the beach. The tide was low so I could be a little more choosy about where I paddled out. I definitely did not want to paddle out into the biggest crowd out there. One guy was walking another guy toward the stairs, where he sat down and shook water from his ears. The guy asked if he was sure he was alright, and satisfied with the answer, walked away. I looked over at the guy who sat there, slightly stunned looking.

"You wipe out or something?" I asked.

"Got hit by a board" and pointed to the side of his eye where there was a marble of a bump.

"Oh yeah, you got a little bump there. Quite a crowd out there".

"Yeah, there's less of a crowd on the other side but the waves are better here."

Not being familiar with "the other side" I decided to just stick with this one for the day.

I looked left along the shore and just saw crowd after crowd. I picked a spot and headed in...only then realizing I was walking on a rock shelf. Great.

 I paddled out into the arctic water and sat to the far side of the line-up (the crowd that's lined up hoping to catch a wave at or near its peak). After paddling for, and missing, the smaller reject waves that the line-up passed by, I moved towards a group of older guys and sat in the empty space between the two crowds.

I watched a seal sit and stare out at the group of surfers. He was maybe 20 feet from me. He disappeared under the water and I hoped he wouldn't decide to bite me. Those things can be ferocious. I saw a great wave and knew I was in a good spot, so I went for it. As I caught the wave, I realized it was going to pitch sharper than previously thought, but decided I was going for it anyway. As I stood up I saw the very tip of my nose go under water. It was too late. That front foot planted and shoved the nose down even lower. That's right Carrie, push that nose under. Shit.

With the nose of my board underwater and the weight of the wave curling up behind me, I was tossed abruptly off my board and into the path of the crashing wave. My board got thrown up behind me and as I went under I threw my arms above my head to keep the board from hitting it.

When I surfaced, I pulled on the leash to retrieve the board, endured a couple more waves and finally made it back out beyond the break. My head hurt and I noticed my ponytail had been jerked down and around to the side. My hands were too numb to do anything about it. That wave must've hit me hard.

I saw the seal pop up next to a kid that was paddling towards me. The kid looked over a couple times as the seal just floated and stared. After the kid went by, the seal took to staring at another guy sitting in the water. They stared at each other for a few minutes and I had to laugh. The guy had such a straight face, how can you not laugh at this seal just sitting in the water staring at you?

I saw another great wave that looked perfect for me. I started to paddle for it and noticed a guy off to my right.

"Go girl, it's all yours! Paddle for it! Paddle hard!"

I smiled and took off.

"Yeah kid go!" I could hear him shouting as I paddled into the wave. When I felt my board pick up speed I popped up, nose stayed out of the water and I was up. I looked right and saw people bailing off the wave. I was the only one on it. I steered my board to the right as best as I could to follow the path of the wave. Right turns are not my specialty, but I'm learning. I got a nice long ride out of it as it passed around another point. When I figured I was getting close to the rocks, I jumped off the back.

Unfortunately I was then caught on the inside of a set of big waves.

Inside and outside: a brief tutorial. Inside is on the shore side of a breaking wave. Outside is out deeper in the ocean than where the wave is breaking. It is a pain in the butt to get caught on the inside of a set.

And I was.

I jumped back onto my board and paddled toward the crashing waves. I rolled under the first and it lifted my board and spun me around. I rolled back up, paddled towards the next crashing wave, rolled under and made it. I got tossed around by at least three more waves before I was finally able to get back out to the break. I lay face down on my board with my arms at my sides, resting. God, my head hurt. But that was an awesome wave!

I sat up and watched others catch waves, paddled out when bigger sets rolled in and scooted back when they disappeared. I closed my eyes and pointed my face towards the sun, feeling the warmth.

Two old guys paddled by me talking about the waves they were getting.

"Yeah, we'd take the first wave in the set and take 7 more to the head!" One guy was saying. Yeah, I know the feeling.

My hands were so numb I couldn't even wipe the snot off my face. I splashed at it a bit and wiped my hands down my face. Good enough. I shoved my hands into my arm pits.

I caught another wave and crashed shortly after standing up. As I went under, the pain in my head shot up again. Damn!

I popped my head up and looked out to the other waves coming in at me. I was exhausted. And I had an entire set crashing down on me. I tugged my board closer and after getting hit by the next wave, pulled it up to me, and just before I spun it around, got hit by another wave. As I surfaced, I looked to the next wave. It was quite a bit bigger, so I just dove under and let my board fend for itself. The wave passed over me and after it released my board, I surfaced again, grabbed my board and rolled onto it. You're going to have to get aggressive here or you're going to get your ass kicked.

I paddled out towards the crashing waves, once again, my arms aching and stiff. I rolled under the next one and felt the pain in my head again. I rolled back over and onto my board. It's the cold! You're having immense ice cream headaches! Well I'll be damned. Heave several thousand gallons of freezing water on top of your head, and what do you get? An instant, massive headache. There's something to be said for those silly looking neoprene hoods I bet.

Wave after wave hit me as I struggled to paddle out. I finally made it out, once again and decided I was done. Being unfamiliar with the lay of the ocean floor here, I didn't want to paddle back in on top of a bunch of rocks. I paddled over to the familiar entry point that I had gotten out at the last few times I was here, but there was already another set coming in, and the big crowd sat right in front of the nice beachy spot. I was going to have to take another way in.

So I turned and paddled toward where I had seen someone else successfully make it out. I did not hit my aim though and ended up on some rocks. I'll just take it slow. Good thing my feet are numb and I've got booties on. A wave hit me from behind and I let it wash me in. I tentatively placed my feet down again...and got nothin'. I noticed a guy watching me from the shoreline. Carrie, you're an idiot. I had washed myself onto some rocks, and then right back off into a deep pool. I smiled at the guy to let him know I was not hurt. I let the next wave wash me in further, found the ground once again and waddled with my numb feet over to the stairs.

As I bent over to undue my leash, half the ocean shot out of my sinuses. The other half is still in there, hours later. After getting my wetsuit off, I drove home with the heater blasting the whole way. It's funny how at first, everything besides ice cold water feels warm, but once you start to thaw, your body figures out it's not really that warm and you start feeling really cold again.I got home and took a long hot shower. I think I'll hang my head over the side of the bed for awhile to get that water out of my sinuses.