Surf Report # 5

Location: Grand Haven, MI – South Pier
Time: 9:15 am – 1:00 pm
Air Temp: 59 F
Water Temp: 54 F
Wind: From SSW 11-16 mph
Waves: 3-6 feet
Gear: 5/3 wetsuit, .5 mm hood (first 30 minutes)

Oh my, have I ever been putting my body through the wringer over the past few days. Played three hours of flag football and lifted for an hour at work on Tuesday. Yesterday (on some incredibly tight hamstrings) I hobbled through two hours of basketball. Then I topped that all off this morning with a day in the water. Didn’t really notice the pain this morning though once I was in the water.

Beautiful day. Top to bottom beautiful. Almost 60 degrees and sunny, in November, in Michigan! Waves were similar to Sunday. Lots of fun. Easy to catch. I stood up and rode the first four waves I went for. Always a good sign. Waves weren’t particularly clean, but that also had to do with the fact that I was playing around near a sand bar and seaward rip current. I’ve been getting better at catching and riding the faces of the bigger waves (as opposed to flopping into the whitewater). The speed. My goodness the speed difference is spectacular. Now I’ve just got to work laterally, though I know that is going to take forever to get right.

After today though I don’t feel like I’m necessarily surfing how you’re supposed to surf though. I watched a guy paddle out, who obviously knew what he was doing. He coasted right through the breakers I was playing in and cruised out about twice as far from shore as I was, bobbed up and down for a while, then gently stood and rode a wave over half the way back to shore. Caught another wave back to shore then walked down the beach and started all over again. He did this twice and was waiting for a third during the last hour that I was in the water. I guess that’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re good. I don’t know if I’m going to have the patience for that when I’m good though. I’m more of an instant gratification kind of guy.