Yesterday I went for a paddleout with Collin and Darrin. You see, I had gotten this new (well not new, very used in fact) Ryan Sakal 5'7 swallowtail and had not gotten good enough waves to take it out. Checking the report Saturday night I saw that it was supposed to be about 2-3 feet and in complete desperation decided that I would take the smallest board I own out to give it a try.
About a week ago I had seen this 5'7 Sakal surfboard on Craigslist and decided I wanted to pick it up. The board was listed at 70 dollars, seemed to be in decent shape, and came with a new leash. When I got to the sellers house I realized that the board had quite a few dings, but I figured for 70 bucks I didn't mind putting on a little Solarez and seeing how things ended up. Well because I had to clean the board up real well to fix it up I decided that I wanted to take advantage of it and get my artsy side on. I always see these boards with cool designs and wanted to take my own chance at drawing on one of my surfboards.
Current partial quiver with the new Sakal on the far left...
It seems as though all my other boards are either too clean or not the right idea for drawing on. Given how it came out and how fun it was, I may want to start hitting up all my boards with designs ;-)
We got to the beach and checked to surf to see that while it was not flat there was not a whole lot going on. Its never reassuring that you picked the right stick when you walk to the water's edge and you clearly have the smallest board in the water. However despite my worries I paddled out with everybody else. A small little wave came my way and I decided to go for it. To my surprise the 5'7 Sakal did well to take off and catch the wave. The next few that rolled through just closed out not allowing me to really test the board out. Then just as I was figuring the day would be a bust, I saw a good right headed my way. I took off on the wave and shot down the line with ease. A nice backside turn with a little bit of spray and I was given hope for the day and the board too. I grabbed my board and paddled back out to the line-up. Just as I am getting to where I want to be a nice left shows its face. Even though I was a little tired I went for the wave to find that every section on the wave I tried to make was done with ease. The 5'7 Sakal was easier to push into pockets on the wave then anything I had ever ridden before. I would love to say that we had spectacular waves, but that's just not the case and unless I became a way better surfer over night, the board was doing work. This started the next hour of a "constant catch a wave and paddle back out for the next one" cycle. It has been a long time since I caught so many waves that I was too exhausted to paddle back out at a beach break.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I watch videos of pro surfers that take off right underneath the lip all the time and they never have any trouble with it. Well for the first time in my life I knew what that was like. Yesterday I could take off on the wave as late as I wanted, hit my feet way behind the lip and still make the sections to get back into the pocket of the wave. Probably the best day of surfing I have ever had in my life...the 5'7 Sakal absolutely killed it yesterday.
Maybe there is some merit to Surfing Magazine's rule #55 "Order boards for the surfer you want to be, not the surfer you are now." Riding a board i thought to be beyond my skill set was actually the best thing I could do....
Until next time...praying for surf. And less stingrays....
