First time competing - what a great time

Thought I'd post a note about the surf festival last weekend. In previous years I've been down to watch others compete and hang out in Santa Cruz on the weekend of the surf festival but never really thought that I'd participate. I can tell you that it was a lot of fun.... much more fun than just watching even if I'm not a pro at the "A" site. I'll let Buck and Anders speak about how it was to surf there. I'll talk about the "B" site, home of the "extreme novice" and hope that Donna, Joanne, and anyone else who participated add their $0.02.

First off, there was a complete sweep of the novice production plastic boat (river kayaks) category by WSK'ers. Knowledgeable surfers predicted that Donna would do well in her RPM. She backed it up with a screaming run down the wave of the day both Saturday and Sunday. Joanne made some aggressive moves close to the rocks to score well. I found some good waves to take off from but couldn't match the skill of the ladies when it came to actually surfing. Results were in that order and I had the good fortune to be surrounded by Donna and Joanne as we received some nice medals at the end of Sunday. Our friend from a surf clinic, Mike, came in fourth. There were two others that entered that we didn't know. Regardless of how we placed we all had a good time.

Looking at the forecast earlier in the week I never would have guessed that it would be much fun to surf last weekend. Saturday was predicted to be totally flat while Sunday was predicted to be like a washing machine on agitate. As it turned out, the waves on Saturday were quite small but you could find something to ride especially if you were willing to get close to the rocks. We paddled out for our heats with more than bit of nervous energy. We could see some friends gathering on the cliff above. Once the horn sounded we just lined up, took turns, and did the best we could. It really was nice to have a cheering section!

Sunday, the wind and waves in the bay were going off... but there was just a nice wrap around predictable wave that reached our surf spot. It still wasn't great but gave us plenty to work on. The best part about entering in the festival is that you get to line up without competing with 20-30 others for the best spot. At most there are only 2-4 people at a time. The heats were 20 minutes long which can seem like a really long time. At the end of the day I felt like I did as good as I was able.

I highly recommend giving a try at participating in the surf festival in the future. It really gave me something to focus on while building some skills and experience over the past few months. Now I know that I can survive in the surf zone and catch some waves. The next thing for me to learn is how to actually surf a wave rather than just get moved forward. I don't expect to be good anytime soon but I'd like to get a better taste of what it feels like. It is addictive!

Apr 11, 2009