The Beauty of a Clean Ride

So, we finally went surfing again!  Waves were pretty bad all week, so we stayed in, but yesterday Bryon approved a surfing adventure.  We went to El Porto, as apparently we're giving up on Venice.  I don't think I agree with them that we have nothing more to learn from Venice, just like I don't agree that they have nothing left to learn from their 7' boards, but we go to El Porto and they ride shortboards nonetheless. 

Before I talk about surfing, the most important detail of the day:  There were dolphins!  Lots of them!  We haven't seen dolphins in a long time, so I thought maybe they had left for winter, but yesterday there was a big ol' pod, and two of them were playing in the shallows.  So while we were suiting up and waxing the boards and figuring out which break we were headed for, these two dolphins were chasing each other around, leaping clear out of the water (Full Breach!!!!), and generally making a splash.  Naturally, by the time we were ready to surf they headed out for deeper waters, but whatever.  It was a delight to watch them.

Now, to the surfing.  I'm still riding the Queen of Ween (although I'm thinking of buying a cheap shortboard today so I can work on both fronts at once), the 7'2" funboard of Lee's, and she treated me well.  I had a nice dry paddle out, which made me absurdly happy.  There is nothing quite so glorious as getting to the line up with dry hair.  I was really surprised that I managed this, though, since the water was super choppy and the period was really short.  Long story short, there were absurd quantities of waves breaking alllll over the place.  So, the dry paddle out was lucky. 

The waves were breaking pretty slowly, so I had issues catching things.  You could paddle hard for a wave and miss it since it was taking so long to break, but then you had a long paddle to get back out again since the wave would drag you along without letting you have a ride.  Bummer.  But I did have a few decent rides, and one AWESOME RIDE!!!  I caught the wave RIGHT at the corner (see image below; I caught the wave at the equivalent of where this arrow is),

and it was a beautiful left that I actually rode across the face of.  Too bad none of my friends were around to see it (there was a strong southward current, so we were pretty spread out).  Nonetheless, it made the day worthwhile.  I caught another really nice wave but my feet got tangled in my leash and I got launched.  It was funny. 

Toward the end of the day I tried riding Lee's shortboard but didn't catch anything but whitewater.  Sighs.  I'll have to try again with faster breaking waves.

Overall on the day, I'm sad because I missed some great corners because I was afraid that the wave was too big and about to break on me.  I need to work on reading the waves betters, cause there were at least two gorgeous rides that I missed because I was afraid.  Sad times.  I'll just have to be a smidge bolder next time.  Still, I had the glory of one sweet ride, and that made the whole day pretty awesome.