First Day of Surfing

For the last few days the waves have been enormous, constantly crashing on the shores, shaking the earth with every blow.  Since about a month ago, when my friend Tim Boethin came down and insisted I start surfing, I have been dying to go.  Well today I had all my airport runs done by about 1 o'clock, and it seemed as if the the surf was up, (which was pretty cool to say) so I decided to try my hand at surfing.  I have been trying to go with Derek but he never seems to be available and I was sick of waiting so I went alone.  Well Jerry's son JP is a huge surfer and has a bunch of custom made surfboards.  In the past people were allowed to use the surfboards but after a while people beat them up so much that they are now all locked away and no one is allowed use them, but Jerry does have one foam board people are allowed to use.   So I headed to the surfing beach and saw the largest waves I had seen since have been in Cabo.  The best part was that there was no wind so the water was pretty much flat except where the waves rose and fell.  It was a beautiful day and the sea was full of surfers and boogie boarders.  I made my way down the beach as far from other surfers as I could and still get some decent swell.  Previous to this outing, I was told on several occasions one should spend a whole day+ learning to paddle before they really ever try to surf.  Well paddling sounded boring so I just jumped in and hoped for the best.  Before I knew it, I was out in the ocean, having 10+ft waves washing under my board.  So here I am, out in the ocean, on a surfboard, large waves washing by, and no idea what to do.   Well after resting from the paddle and watching a few other surfers catch some waves, I decided to give it a shot.  I spotted one wave, waited for it to come, began to paddle, and it washed under me...spotted the next wave, waited for it, began to paddle, and it washed under me.  Well this happened about 4 more times until I finally caught one, but by this time I'm so close to shore that the wave has already curled and I was stuck in the wash.  Now I don't know if it was determination and desire to not let this wave go by without a fight or rather staunch fear that if I let this board go I was going to be flipped and tossed into the sea, but I clung onto that board like I was a single mother holding onto the Last Cabbage Patch Kid at Toys'r'Us on Christmas Eve, 1983.   So I am riding this wave, feet flailing behind me, and the surf is splashing up into my face so I can only open my eyes for portions of a second at a time, and for those split seconds, all I can see is the shore coming at me like a massive "wide load" semi.  Well after what felt like ten minutes but was probably about 10 seconds, I decided the shore was close enough and it was time to jump ship.  I let go and don't really go anywhere, so I have to lean into the wave and I just get tossed. Now this is where I am happy I don't freak out when I'm about to die because otherwise I think I would be dead.  So I am underwater, I have no idea which way is up, I'm being dragged by my board attached to my ankle, and I feel salt water go up my nose.   I panic for about half a second, do the quick calculation that the sea is salt water, I'm mostly fresh water, my lungs contain air, therefore, given enough time, I should float to the surface.  I go limp, and sure enough, I make it to the surface safe and sound.   Well this was a thrilling enough experience that I felt I might not need to do this again, but I made it back out there and gave it a few more tries but never got a ride like I did the first time.  Eventually, I just headed home.  I think it was successful first day of surfing.