Monday, October 12, 2009

surfboard dreams

I have noticed that I obsess about one thing for a month and then its on to the next thing. So inopportunely, in October (although it is a HOT one), I am lately obsessing about having a surfboard for myself and daughter. We may have permanently given up hiking due to the chiggers, as even I cannot muster the enthusiasm to have a nice walk in the woods after looking at my scabs. However, I do love the beach, and I do love the waves and I recently saw the coolest Dad ever. He was on his longboard with his three year old son on the nose. He didn't even get up, but he was able to catch the wave so his son could do some nose-riding. I thought, "Hey, even I could do that!" Daughter is game, too. She is enamored with the new Toon network series 'Stoked' about six teens working at a surf resort and catching waves in their very spare time. Its like 6-Teen but way cooler, funner, and has some really beautiful (although simple) graphics that just make you want to smile and...SURF! Plus a kickin' theme song which I sing to her every so often just to make her grin. Do I think I have a real surfer girl on my hands? Will she turn pro at age 15? I seriously doubt it, but this would be a fun thing to do together that doesn't involve bug bites, whining, or anything more expensive than a tank of gas and a mcdonalds lunch. Well, except for the
Surfboard.
Yeah, I don't have one anymore. I DID have one about ten years ago. Okay, it was 1994. I was a lot more phat and a lot less fat back then. I had a seven foot pointed-nose board that I bought used with a few duct-taped dings and tried like hell to ride...and I never managed to stand up on it even once. I was so upset that I couldn't make it work in the waves off Crescent Beach. I had learned to surf like every other tourist - in Hawaii, off Waikiki beach on a ten-foot wooden board that would have floated a sumo wrestler. So, I didn't consider that a performance board would require a lot more effort to catch a wave and would sail like a kite when caught by the repetitive pounding surf and offshore breeze that is hallmark of the Matanzas inlet. I never managed to paddle, push or drag it past the break point of the waves. Again and again I was rebuffed and humiliated. It didn't occur to me that I didn't have to go that far out or even stand up to have a fun ride. I saw a pair of surfers having a great time surfing the mild breaking waves and basically using their logs as oversized boogie boards. Why didn't I think of that before?!? No, I got sick, bought a house, grew up and yard saled the old board for 20 bucks.
And, now I am shopping for a new one. Actually, specifically, not a new board, not a board with a pointed nose, not a short board at all. I am haunting craigslist, garage sales and everything else I can think of to see what I can find. Maybe its the time of year, the weather, or something, but there are some longboards out there and interestingly, there are several other longboard-seekers too.
I figure I will find the perfect log...just in time for a cold front and twenty-degree drop in ocean temperature. And, I will have to put my current obsession on hold for six months, and jump with both feet into some other thing that will probably cost some money, singing the famous chant, "Just wait til next year!!!"

2 comments:

  1. That sounds like a lot of fun! I am not very good at athletic challenges, but I do understand what you mean about finding a new obsession and then abandoning it a few months later. How many times have I spent a ton on all the equipment to start a new craft hobby, done maybe one project and then dropped it? It's something that bugs me about myself. I'm a little bit good at many things, but a master at nothing...

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