Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Ambivalence


Last week, especially 22 May 08, the surf at The Shores, at least in my surf world, was pretty darn good.

The paddle-out was not a lot of fun, in fact my offer of paying someone, anyone, the big $$ just to paddle my board out and leave it far outside the lineup went untaken.

Anyway, I finally did make it out [far south of the lifeguard tower] and as I paddled north towards Outside Emmett’s, I passed more than one longboard surfer.

Luckily for me, if the waves at The Shores even approach a few feet overhead, most of the longboarders [JALs (Just Another Longboarder)] who surf there [The Shores] don’t make the trek to the fun area in front of The White House – whew –

However, since my trek thru Archie’s to The White House started south of The Tower, I had to paddle through a number of JALs.

A pretty decent wave came thru and one of the JALs paddled kindda half-ass for the wave – no success in catching the wave.

I was in a pretty good mood [for me] that day, so rather than call the JAL a ****** or ****, I offered a friendly bit of advice: “Dude, you gotta paddle like you want to catch the wave.”

The JAL’s response: “I was really ambivalent about that wave.”

I didn’t know what he meant by ambivalent, so I just kept on paddling north.

I waited until I got to work later that day, and Googled ambivalent:

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
ambivalent
adjective
uncertain or unable to decide about what course to follow; "was ambivalent about having children"
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

Anyway, I began to think – ouch – about the 2 sentence conversation earlier in the day.

I thought: how could anyone be ambivalent about the surf that day, or even more puzzling to me, was why would anyone be ambivalent about most things in life?

I won’t bore myself with my musings about my life’s lesson learned, but I just gotta say, if one is riding a longboard, with a leash, you are taking up a radius in the lineup of close to 20 feet [10 feet of surfboard + 10 feet of leash].

My suggestion: Please take your 20 feet of ambivalence and find a place where you can surf with like minded friends, and please stay out of surfing areas where those in the water always want to improve their surfing skills – meaning every wave one catches has a purpose, and finding that purpose will help you to get better, stronger, and more skilled in the lineup.

BA

Monday, May 12, 2008

Opening Season 2008 in La Jolla

Well kids, it's that time of year again -

Summer is almost here and the La Jolla beaches will be packed with:
Stingrays, boogers, cell phone [while looking for a parking place] yappers, beginning surfers [we all used to be one], JAKs [Just Another Kook] [I, for one, tried to get out of the JAK Class as quickly as possible], surf schools [we're all jealous 'cause we ain't making any $$ on the wannabe surfers], checkered flags, screaming kids, screaming lifeguards...

Anyway, the Unwritten Rules of Surfing have been printed many times over, here are a couple of my favorites:

1. The shoulder of the wave is not the on ramp for the wave -


2. Hold on to your stupid board - you're roped to it - it [the board] ain't going anywhere

AND - most importantly - if you're surfing La Jolla Shores and you DO NOT see any kooks in the water - YOU are probably the kook - please stay out of the way!

Oh - I almost forgot - The La Jolla Reefs are packed with hostile locals, the waves are NEVER any good, and for good measure, the water's always polluted.

Oh - I almost forgot 2 - there is a BIG difference between a KOOK and a BEGINNER - if you gotta ask what the difference is, I'm probably not the one to ask!


BA