Surfing is Hard

I think most people have an impression of surfing that is a bit ideallic. That any beach bum could do it, playing on the waves, carving it up.. how hard could it be. I think the truth is closer that you NEED to be a beach bum to become truly excellent at surfing, it isn't a great casual sport.

Unlike almost any other sport, surfing never lets you practice a particular skill over and over under the same condition. When learning how to mountain bike, you can always pick the bike up carry it back over the log and try again under until you master it. When surfing, if you don't nail your pop up and slip off the board, you instead have to fight your way back through the crashing waves and wait for another wave, who's circumstances will be completely different and only slightly relevant to your last try. It's a sport where do-overs are non-existent and persistence alone isn't enough, you just need to spend tons of hours in the water.


Until Joya arrives, I'm the one with the most experience, but that isn't saying much. Getting hammered for a month straight in Hermosa last December mostly just taught me how not to drown and maybe a bit on how to stand up quickly, but I still can't ride a wave worth a damn. And although Eric and Jen have much nicer conditions to learn the art, it is still a steep slope. In short, we all pretty much suck.

An atypical and highly successful two hour outing might involve us catching two or three waves each for a few seconds of riding. But for those three waves, we fought to catch a dozen more, were called off a dozen more and probably bailed on half a dozen as we were getting up. There isn't much positive reinforcement going on.


But I'm not complaining, being out on the water and splashing in the waves makes it all fun, and those few seconds you ARE riding the wave make it all worthwhile. We all look at the incredible surfers about and can only imagine what it must feel like to carve through the waves as they do, to fly off the lip only to land back into the wave, to slide down the face backwards after a cut back. To reach that level, I think you really do have to be a beach bum, but sometimes it sure looks like it would be worth it.

That big package from the store.. (Pt 2)

In our continuing quest to figure out what to do with our excess of bland chip like doodads, Jen decided to use them as building material for a sail boat. Not too surprisingly it floated quite well in the bathtub, though I'm not sure how much longer it would have lasted before losing its integrity.

Any suggestions for what to do with the remaining eighteen? We must use them somehow, and clearly they were not made for eating.

Shredded Feet

Earlier this week it seemed I couldn't go to the beach without coming back with some new lacerations on my feet. Amid calls to not put my feet down when I get off the board, I was pretty adamant there was little I could do to avoid it. The further north you go on the two waves in Sayulita the closer you get to the shallow entry covered in rocks laced with flesh from my feet.

The safest bet for me is to constantly make sure I'm working the southern shoulder of the wave which serves two purposes -- staying out of the locals way and leaving less blood in the sand when I leave. The dog and iguana population have ensured that the roads here aren't exactly the cleanest surface for open wounds, so I'm glad I seem to have found a way to avoid getting new ones.

Tiempo de Cerveza

There is one interesting side effect to having endless days of sunshine and humidity: a seemingly bottomless thirst for ice cold cervezas. It's no surprise that most Mexican beers are light and refreshing, they are perfectly suited to dull the edge of the incredibly hot and humid afternoons and evenings. They are also so easy to drink that Eric and I find ourselves polishing off a six pack per day, and that's when trying to exercise some restraint. Meanwhile, Jen was born with some kind of immunization against beer and prefers the water.

To this I say "Nonsense", when a bottle of beer can be had for 80 cents (compare that to bottled water) it is simply a fool's game to drink anything else!

Salud!

Surfing Etiquette

Probably the biggest thing I was concerned about coming into this trip was dealing with experienced and/or local surfers.

I had worries that a newbie as well as a blindingly white tourist would do a lot to cramp their style. I'm totally okay with a fair amount of localism. It's only fair really, I could imagine living and surfing here and constantly fighting with new surfers who know little if anything about the sport. Nic coached me a bit on the finer points of surfing etiquette and my pal google tried to fill in the gaps.

The most important thing is to not drop-in on anybody. This basically means whoever is closer to where the wave is breaking (and on his feet) gets the right of way. At the same time, some level of respect should be given to the local surfers who are capable of ripping up every wave they come across. It is generally bad form to join a lineup of experienced surfers if you are just learning, so it's better to hang out on the shoulder of the wave or closer in to shore and try to gain balance there. The problem here is that the good surfers use the entire wave and pretty much any time there is a surfer to your left -- which is almost always, you are considered to be dropping in on them.

I was starting to get frustrated to the point of not wanting to surf after getting called off 4 or 5 consecutive waves which I had caught. Thankfully it turns out there seems to be a bit of an unwritten rule out in Sayulita -- or perhaps it just works out this way naturally. The early morning is apparently gringo hour. There is only a handful of surfers and only a couple pretty good ones. None of the really aggro guys are out which makes it much more mellow and fun for a beginner. By starting early, the day's schedule gets bumped up and your post-siesta surfing can then take place while everyone else is resting. But man, there are a few REALLY good surfers here, and not coincidentally they are the most aggressive as well.

That big package from the store..

Remember that huge package of non descript chip like things we bought? Well it turns out they ARE chips, but not for breakfast (which was my original hope) but instead just an alternative to the standard fare. Problem is, that although they come in a delicious looking 9x11" size, they are actually quite bland. We tried to choke a few down with some guacamole, but compared to their real chip brethren they didn't stand a chance.

Which left us in quite a quandary, what to do with the remaining 20 some giant sized chips that nobody wanted to eat.

We still haven't figured that one out, but in the meantime, we are having fun with the giant tasteless wafers, without further ado, behold our house of tasteless wafers!



PS. Yes, Jose does get a little chunk off of one every morning too.

Timpano Roto

So as on every morning, we went out today to catch some early waves. It was a nice change in that most of the locals weren't out and it was mostly mellower gringos out on the water. The past few days have brought some big swells (~9ft) to Sayulita and that seemed to bring out many many locals who were all incredibly aggressive in catching the waves. This made it a bit intimidating and frustrating for us beginners, any wave worth catching was always claimed.

But this morning was much better, fewer people, less locals and more surfers at approximately our skill level. I started getting used to the long board I decided to rent after giving up on the shorter and thinner board I bought at a bargain earlier in the week. Things were starting to come together nicely until as I bailed off a wave I hit my ear perfectly against the water. Much pain ensued along with the new found ability that I could exhale through my right eardrum. Hrmm, this didn't bode well.

Sayulita has been developing over the past few years, lots of real estate offices are a sure sign that a town is not only long discovered but being developed quickly. One nice side effect of that is that there is now a full time doctor available, who also happens to speak great English. After breakfast and after deciding that trucks driving by really shouldn't set off an echo chamber in my head I headed on over for a second opinion.

As I had feared, it looks like the water pressure from my oh so imperfect dismount caused me to blow out my right ear drum. It sounds worse that it is and I guess is fairly common. The only real blow is that I have to stay out of the water for three days to prevent infections as it heals and seals itself back up. Oh and I have to live through the humiliation of having Jen and Eric put eardrops in my ears thrice daily. (how you are supposed to count ten drops in each ear yourself I have no idea)

So a reminder of something I already knew, be extra aware of your dismounts as you jump off the board. I suppose this gives me some time to catch up on the work I have been too tired to do up to now.