Current mood:	cheerful
Current music:	Time - PFloyd
Entry tags:	surf exercise

Return to the womb
Against some odds, I entered the Great Frozen Pacific again. It’d been almost three years since I’d surfed. Three years! By far the longest dry spell in the last 25 years. Growing up in Santa Cruz and focusing a large portion of  the energy of  youth into surfing, I will never really quit, there are just extended flat spells, debilitating injuries, or inland incarceration. I’m healthy and out on probation, bring on the swell!

After enjoying the warm water of Costa Rica (2001? I really need to fill out my personal timeline to augment my feeble memory), and before last Sunday,  I had been in cold water maybe once since that tropical freedom. But with the sun shining at noon in a 3-4 suit and carrying an extra 40 lbs., it really wasn’t cold at all. I'd been remembering a winter dawn patrol session at the Lane with 49 degree water that's warmer than the foggy air. I’ll acclimate in the next couple months before facing that reality, hopefully faster than losing my warm layer of blubber.  As much as the cold, I’d been dreading the restriction of 4mm of neoprene, but when you catch only one wave and paddling is more like plodding, it’s not much of an issue.

Rear shoulder and back muscles are painfully sore, I’d mistake it for joint issues if I didn’t know better. The ribs below my sternum are tender from propping up my head and arms, even with my thick pad of fat. It’ll be a couple days before I head out again, and I certainly will. I've modified my eating routine to include a protein trickle so my muscles can recover properly.

I definitely had been missing playing in the waves and exercising without sweating. I even had a very close encounter with a couple sea otters. Who knew their little hands had such dexterous stubby fingers? I watched silently as they swam within a couple feet in front of me, until I attempted communication with a whistle. What, they aren’t birds? I need to work on my otter cluck.

One of the great things about surfing is the feeling afterwards. There’s a palpable glow that surfers exude, something about the negative ions, saltwater scrub, nasal flush, relaxed exhaustion, and having harnessed liquid violence of nature (6’ swell whoo hoo!). I was feeling it the rest of that day, and want to the rest of my days.