Since the surfing competition I've been keeping a journal of my surfing outings. Journals are great for tracking progress and tracking data. At times, I've kept food journals tracking meals or workout logs tracking weights and exercises; typically for four or eight week periods. But this surf journal's been a bit different, as surfing is less quantifiable than diet or exercise. It's more experiential and each time you go out, you really don't know what you'll get. The variables are too many: weather, wave size, other surfers, your own ability. Even your mood can affect your performance. I think to the general public (in the US at least), surfing is more of an escape than a sport. To them, surfers are drop-outs and druggies, not serious athletes. Also, I've found that most people have never heard of guys like Kelly Slater, Laird Hamilton, or Mark Richards. So for me it was a surprise to wander into the Surf Walk of Fame at Huntington Beach last week. And the messages from these guys were inspirational. From Laird- "Live large." From Kelly- "Anything is possible". From Richards- "Surf for fun."
I went down to Huntington on a whim because it's been bigger than all the other beaches recently. Everywhere from Venice to County Line has been 0-2' with Poor or Flat conditions. Huntington's been consistently 3-4' and Fair according to my Surf Report app. But when I went down there last Thursday, it was windy and small, even at the pier. There were maybe three or four diehard guys competing for what there was. I ended up going to a nearby surf shop where I came across these placards in front. It started raining and it was just a cool thing, these placards shining in the rain, reflecting the greats of surfing- from Greg Noll to Gerry Lopez to "Rabbit" Bartholomew, guys I'd never heard of even back in June. I've really sort of fallen into surfing and it's become a passion.
So I went stand-up paddleboarding on Sunday and rented a board down in Hermosa from Tarsan SUP. I'd done SUP in New York in September on a windy day in Rockaway Beach. This was different. The conditions were flat and not that windy, and I went out by the pier. Gulls passed by in v formations, and the only other people in sight were on the pier looking at me and into the horizon. It was meditative and different, though maybe a little slow. It's interesting standing on water and balancing can be tricky depending on the waves. I ended up asking the dude who rented me the board and paddle if he gave performance lessons on waves, and he said yeah, he did. We'll see. Maybe I'll tackle that with Joe.
Apparently, the surf gets big in LA in December, but for now it's just not there which, I have to say, has been a drag. I miss it. My friend said he might give me his 6'0 thruster which would be awesome. As of now, though, I know no one who wants to go out- another drag. I was talking to a drummer friend the other day who was like, "Yeah, man I used to surf. I used to be one of those idiots who went to Hawaii for the winter surf sesh." I was like, "Man, I want to be one of those idiots!"
So there's your update, gentle reader. Hope you guys are doing swell out there. Beyond the surfing, I've been back to strength training 3x a week, sprints, and core training with a new 6 week program. With the colder weather, I've been more attracted to carbs and starches like potatoes, rice, and bananas. According to Robb Wolf, there's nothing wrong really if you're training hard, but I'm not so sure. Check out
www.robbwolf.com for more. Here's an interesting article from an Australian newspaper about Shaun Thomson's book, The Code, which I mentioned in a previous post. It seems he's sort of an outlier in the surf industry and his positive life lessons learned from surfing don't jibe with a lot of folks' bad boy, surfer image. Aussies are one of the few cultures that really appreciate surfing as a sport.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/executive-living/getting-on-board/story-e6frg9zo-1226767225444
