JUNE 24, 2006
Judy and I headed to the coast, the Oregon coast, to Short Sands. We got there in 4 hours which is pretty good. Trying to find the rest of the pack was a bit tricky, the hike to the beach was longer than I expected and of course the whole lay out of the area was different than I imagined but that's always the case.

We did find them eventually, so I trekked back to the van and suited up in my wetsuit, only to unsuit up cause it was really hot and the trek to the beach was long, so I put everything in a bag and walked back. We found Todd and he and I went back to the parking lot to retrieve the 9 ft. SuperSoft board for me, and I then proceeded to suit up, with Judy videotaping the whole long process of putting on a wetsuit in a public beach.

Todd and I went into the ocean, further then I ever had gone previously and I was a bit scared of the heavy crashing waves, but I kept going with his coaxing. Almost reached the impact area where all the surfers were, including fellow mates, Ron and Derek cheering me on. Todd told me my wave was coming and to jump on the board, which I tried to do. Jumping on a board in the ocean up to your chest wasn't that easy and I finally managed to get on and cling to the rails and was whisked away by the wave, which was a lot faster than anticipated, but fun, so I went back to where I was and tried a few more, until I totally pearled and wiped out and gulped a throat full of water and was worked by the wave, and I had no idea when I was to surface if I was going to surface again. Somehow I managed to get back on my feet and my ears were so clogged with water I couldn't hear for awhile. By that time I had enough and wanted to take a break, and went ashore. Failure again I thought, but at least I'm trying ... learning to surf is hard!

Later, Todd and I went down the beach and just attempted to dive in waves and get the feel of the ocean before attempting the board again. I have a long way to go.

But camping out with the pack that night was fun, drinking beer and eating hot dogs and just being part of the pack, finally after a year of hanging at the surf shop, I was out with those guys in a different environment.

Next day, I was a bit frightened of the waves so I just gingerly waded in the ocean and started doing my analysising of predicting which wave was strong, which one wasn't and in so doing, learned that you can't predict a wave and I still have a long way to go.

APRIL 30, 2006
My 1st real life surf trip, man what a day, a long day. 4:30am, getting up, really, did I sleep? maybe an hour or two, I was too something... stoked maybe? anxious maybe? both..if I don't know who does, so probably both. It started out weird, 4 people in a van, true surf living, no seats in the back because of backpacks, wetsuits, surfboards, so cramped is the word I'm looking for. 50 miles of cramped is hard on the legs, and adjusting periodically is torture, but you know the old saying, no pain, no gain. But once at the beach, and out of the van, it was ok. Toddler, Rhoadster and fellow kook Doug all suited up once out of the van and headed for the surf. Cautious me, walked the hike to the beach to check it out, I wasn't sure if I was really gonna suit up or not, but once I got down there and watched those guys get battered by the surf, I decided to hike back to the van and suit up, which takes a bit of time, especially in a van in a public parking lot, strip down and suit up, then try and figure out how to close up Toddler's van and have it all safe and whatnot.

So, after sealing myself in the wetsuit, I got out my beginner's board, the "softserve" and hiked back almost a half a mile to the beach. What started out as a windy, cold day at the beach, became unbearably warm in the suit with the hoody, so I "dropped" my softserve, which is bulky and heavy, especially walking on rocks and slippery sand and took off the hood to get some cool air to stop my overheating. I finally managed to get to the shore and drop the board on the sand and motion for Toddler to check out my wetsuit and see if it was zipped correctly so I wouldn't freeze, and tell him about the van, etc.

Then into the water, to check the force of the waves, this is the first time in over 20 years I ever entered the Great NW ocean, I do Hawaii, Florida, California, all the warm water places, but NW is cold, even in the summer, I guess, never been to the beach in the summer in the Great NW..so what do I know. The waves were tolerable, not too damaging to the body, so I picked up the board and walked further down the beach where the waves were peeling off away from the rocks and "real surfers" and to check out the board on the ocean, way, way, way away from anybody, which as I was walking down, thought, what if I drown, they're so far away to save me, oh well, I'm playing in white water, no prob.

Leashed up and put the board in the surf and jumped on to get the feel of the whole thing. Not bad, maybe I'll go a bit further, not bad, hey, maybe I'll kneel on the board like the old surfer's use to do like Greg Knoll and feel that, not bad. Okay, I'm having some fun now, just testing it all, getting knocked by the waves, little ones, not so little ones, watching the surf to see the sets come in, which ones were mellow, which ones I wanted to avoid, and got the feeling I wanted of surfing on a board, I might not stand up, but I got to see the shore from the water's view, which is always what I wanted to see and dream about, and to get the sensation of surfing, which is pretty cool being sweeped by the waves.

Next test was the leash, will it hold if I'm off the board or will it break loose and what kind of tug will happen, so that was ok, no prob. so I continued to play in the surf, my endorphins started kicking in, that was fun, but I promised myself to go easy this time and not over do anything, so after a while of floating and being knocked off the board a couple of times, my nose was getting a bit numb and cold, so I called it a day at the beach. Picked up the board and hiked back to the van, unsuited and waited the day out watching my "wave hound pack" surf for hours. Then back in the van, after chatting with other surf dudes and eat, eat, eat, man I was starving!, stopped at "McFrugals" a burger drive up in Port Angeles and back on the ferry to Seattle. Drop the boards off at the shop and walk the 50 feet back home to my bed.