This is for last Friday. Finally got some real, proper rides on the Mandala. It finally accepted me. I think I broke its spirit.

I took a look at a crowdy spot, then another crowdy spot (off in the distance) and gambled on the less crowdy, in-between spot. GREAT decision. I joined a 5-person lineup that dwindled to the two of us after one set. It was like our little secret in plain view. We kept waiting for the crowd to show up while we tag-teamed the sets. It turned soft with the high tide, but I already got what I came for.

Saturday AM, delayed postage.
Took a kookier friend out to the Bo'. He'd been attempting to learn on Huntington beachbreak and was amazed that surfing could be easier than that. I witnessed probably his first and second rides of any note. Felt good.

"Yup. Started at Jack's house, paddled north. Stopped when I got to a clean break. Happe ..."

Friday late AM session, delayed postage. A friend and I made the drive on my day off despite expecting waist high sets. Had a first: took a wave immediately upon paddleout. Didn't stop to sit up on board, just spun around and went. Took another one as soon as I got back. Two waves in two minutes? Didn't step on anyone's toes, either. Just right time/place, so why wait?

Thawed my toes after about an hour and a half, then switched to my friend's log. Man, did I bring the wrong board / skill set. Had more fun in 40 minutes on the log than I've had in my last 7 or 8 sessions trying to figure out the fish. Admittedly, it had picked up, but damn, that was fun.

Yay, wet! Boo, one-hitter. Yay, paddling! Yay, pummeling!

I was out 10-1130 or so, bigger end. One crazy set took nearly everyone down. Yay, not me (though it would have its revenge)! The people's were all a talkin bout it.

Good to be wet and awake, as opposed to the usual wet and asleep. The kind of day when I second guess my vow not to ride the log until I figure out the fish. Knee high shorebreak with the super low tide. Some of them actually had some shape if you are a pygmy. Another day trying to unlearn my faulty log low-lunge pop up.

"I was in the low lunge rut for a while, it's a slow pop up often resulting with my front f ..."

"the kiosk helps. thx. "

"This is kind of hard to explain so check out how Kelly does it at 1:20 in the video below. ..."

"Got better as the day wore on and the tide came up. Tiny and soft, of course, but fun in a ..."

"If you'd like to get to your feet in a quicker and smoother fashion, like Kelly Slater, st ..."

This is a Sunday afternoon post-post.

Crowdacious. Day 3 on the 5'11" quad fish (usually ride my trusty 9'2"). Learning to hate longboarders ;)

Woo! Small enough for me. Soft, but see prior sentence fragment.
Got my quickie/nooner. Definitely one of those [frown -> hand waves upward over face -> smile] sessions.