Surf Report

August 16, 2008, 6:00AM - Bolsa Chica, CA

Dex, Henga, and Jeric. I woke up at 4:00 AM to be at Dex's house by 5AM. Henga and I both had plans to be back by 10:00AM.

Dex caught a fish on his surfboard. The wave placed the small silver anchovy on his Blaster. Looks like the ocean wanted to welcome him back. Dex was hungry again today and said he could have eaten that fish. Dex's paddling is improving, he's paddling way ahead of the waves now and getting more chances to stand. Dex also paddled out to the "line up" today, I tried my best not to make my concerned face, but he definitely paddled out with confidence. Looks like his classes are almost finished so he should be able to surf during the work week at El Porto. Nice!

Dex has been talking about his paddling lately. He says he's trying to fix his left stroke:

Right stroke smooth, left stroke "splat". haha you'll get it next week for sure.

Henga's doing very well, best surfer out of the crew right now. He's picking up paddling quickly and he's even learned how to turn the board while sitting - all in one day. I saw Henga catch real waves a lot today and last week. By real waves, I mean the waves you catch at the "line up". Henga's getting extra surf time in during the week with a coworker at Zuma beach. Good luck to you mate in Zuma.

Jericho is doing very well for his second day out. He's getting the hang of Eric's board BUT needs a shorter leash. The leash gets tangled around his legs, poor guy can't stand with out getting "bear trapped".

Jeric's tip: "I got my suit on Froghouse.com. Free shipping on a suit that I've been looking for"

http://www.froghouse.com/home.php

Jeric mentioned he might look towards purchasing a board. I have plans on rewaxing Eric's board for Jeric before the Big Pacific Beach trip on Saturday. I will also look into finding a shorter leash for Jeric. Jeric's make improvements on his paddling and developing his instinct on reading which waves to catch. Keep going man.

Yours truly, I still nose dive and I am still paranoid of sting-rays. I really held on to Dex's advice to put out 2 extra strokes before popping up. It's made all the difference. The 2 strokes give me the push I need to stay ahead of the wave and give me the ability to look left and right before going down the wave. I also find that the 2 strokes let give me the time to pop up correctly and go down the face. I was able to catch one down the face and see the white water break behind me.

Then the ocean said, "Don't celebrate early". I ended up closing the day with a nose dive and a fall backwards with 1 foot in the air pose. Not cool.

The rest of the day I was moody because I need to sleep. I don't know if going that early is worth it for me because I'm grumpy the rest of the day.

Kev is back from his 2 week trip. He celebrated a wedding with his family in West Virgina. West Virgina, New River rafting, running, and New York, all in one trip. Sweet.

Kev's itching to surf today. Looks like I'll be surfing during the week again. JOY!