surfed

feeling a bit better of late, so i went surfing today for the first time in 2+ years! south swell, high tide garbage (i.e.: boil). rode the 7'0 egg. hit the water around 12:30. pretty crowded but i noticed alot of people sitting outside and saw a couple sets, so things looked promising.

no problems paddling out. not long after i arrived in the lineup, a typical 2' set showed up, and i got a nice lined-up right to the inside reef shallowness. didn't surf great and it had a bump on it, but i did get a couple cutbacks and got slotted to the inside. after that, i got a few lefts which i didn't surf as well (need to remember to bend my freakin' knees!), although i never fell.

got another wave on the boil where one of the older women spongers apparently wanted to backdoor the left. i said i was going right and heard her whining as she pulled back. it was another fun, lined-up right, but when i paddled back out she gave me crap saying the wave is a left. i told her the wave is a peak, and i split that one with a shortboard kid. so she resorted to the tried-and-true bullshit of saying i was obviously a newbie because i didn't jump in the water from the correct spot (say what?), and she had never seen me before, etc. (seriously?) i was being vibed by a woman on a bodyboard at inside garbage. i told her she didn't know what she was talking about, which prompted one of her buddies to come to her defense. well, whatever. i really didn't have anything to say after that and certainly did not want to get into an argument.

shortly thereafter, i accidentally shoulder-hopped this asian woman who i thought was going right. oops. i got out her way and kicked out immediately, but i knew my infraction was noted. i apologized to her, and she was cool. not much later, bodyboard woman who so kindly lectured me paddled hard for one -- calling me and a shortboard grom off -- and then proceeded to miss the wave! then her friend -- some short-haired longboard woman -- called me and another kid off the left as she dropped in at the peak. and then she went right. utter ridiculousness.

by that time -- after not even an hour -- i was already really tired and realized i was in no condition to compete for waves with these folks. and in truth, i was quite rusty and didn't want to be labeled a kook. so i headed in. couldn't get a decent wave in, so shoulder-hopped a mushball insider and paddled the rest.

headed straight home to get an ice pack on the back. took my usual "as-needed" dosage of 1 gabapentin, 1/2 tramadol, and 1/2 naproxen. plus 1/4 flexeril for good measure. so far, i'm feeling ok, but we will see how things are tomorrow. even if i feel great, i must say that i'm not super-motivated to get back in the water. too many people and too many knuckleheads.