Another Special Day

On Saturday, I did some shopping at Walmart on my way to the gym, but I changed my mind and decided to hit the beach instead. I called my house and talked to my daughter Jordan and she agreed to come along, but she wanted to go to OB to see the tidepools. It was going to be a good day for them because there was a -.72 low tide around 3pm and we'd be there by about 4pm or so.

The surf was excellent. Every time I go to OB, it looks a foot bigger than PB. The form is generally good, no matter the tide. Today it was 6'+ and the form was good.

The water temp was around 58 degrees, but it didn't feel very cold today. I wore my full 3/2 wet suit and 5mm booties and gloves. Everything doesn't really make me warm, but it makes the water tolerable for an hour or two.

As I was preparing to get in the water, there were about 30 people with surfboards nearby. They obviously knew each other and probably weren't from around here. For some reason, they paddled way past the breaking waves and got into a circle. I could hear them talking or chanting or something. Pretty odd, but at least they weren't getting in the way. Eventually, they dispersed and most of them simply paddled in while some tried to catch a wave or two.

Since there are extra rocks on the left side of the pier, I entered the water on the right side. I performed my typical routine as I walked until I was about chest deep, then put on my fins. Jumping on my board, I began paddling out. After a couple of minutes, I was deep enough, so I went through the pier to my spot. I waited about 20 yards from the pier and watched the set roll in. There were 3 or 4 good sized waves in each set. They were plenty big enough to shoot me through the pier, although some of them closed up a little, so I had to watch very closely and carefully as they approached me.

After catching waves for 80 hours since October 1 (not to mention a similar, average number of hours since March), one may think that nothing new could happen in the water. Well, a couple new things happened (as they always seem to do). This time, I ran over two surfers (which I've done before), but I was actually able to launch off the back of one of them and catch a few feet of air! He didn't seem to mind too much, but I couldn't have avoided him anyway. I shot the pier, rode the wave another 20-30 yards, then launched off the surfer and rode another 20-30 yards before hopping off the wave.

Jordan found an awesome little starfish in the tidepools!


I can't remember seeing one quite like this one. It had five pencil thin tentacles and its body was probably the size of a silver dollar. She wanted to keep it, but I ensured her that we'd only kill it if we were to take it home. I explained how the ocean had the nutrients it needed and how we'd never be able to give it everything it needed to survive. It took a little reasoning, but she understood and we returned it to the sea. I was proud of her for not crying or throwing a fit because I could tell she really wanted to keep it. I suppose that's a good measure of love; caring about someone (or something) else so much that you'd be willing to part with him to keep him alive.