Stoke

Since I have an aversion to catching hepatitis, dislike of paddling around and duckdiving in Inland Empire runoff, and swimming in motor oil and every other chemical dumped on the byways and highways of Southern California, I have not surfed for weeks. So when yesterday I learned we had a decent swell running AND a third straight day of sunshine, I decided to pull the trigger and surf today. The decision was actually music to my wife's ears. See if I go too long without getting in the water, I get, shall we say grumpy, she says unbearable.

A funny thing happened when I decided to surf for the first time in weeks. I got that feeling I used to get as a grom. You know that feeling of anticipation as you meticulously waxed your 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th hand shred stick the night before in your room. The room with all those mutilated surf magazines because you cut out all the pics of your heroes and plastered every wall of your room. You couldn't get much sleep, because you didn't want to sleep through the alarm that was supposed to wake you and you crew of misfits sleeping on your floor. You had to make sure you caught the very first Magnolia Street bus, so that you could spend the maximum amount of time at the beach, since you only had Saturday and Sunday to soak up as much beach time as you could. It would be another five days til you would be able to do it all over again. You would have to make the memory of each good ride last all week, your bros would surely remind everyone of the bad ones. I am pretty sure that feeling is simply called 'STOKE'.

Today I was stoked. No need to spend all day at the beach though, it is amazing how fast the muscles atrophy after a few weeks of inactivity. Had some great waves and some pretty decent turns. Best of all is that feeling driving home. You know, that feeling of exhaustion, soreness, recharge, and calm all mixed together? I can't wait to hit it tomorrow, I hope I can sleep.

I had to take out 'Big Russ' the session saver, to insure a fun session. He was able to make the inside connections with ease, while all the light footed shortboard shredders were bogging.