ocean

June 16th, 2007

there is something so incredibly serene about the ocean. i went surfing this morning at carolina beach w/ my fave-rywhi. the waves were nice, 2-4 ft, glassy, and coming in perfectly spaced sets. the sun was barely overhead and you just saw this sprinkle of glitter about 150 yds out. it was absolutely perfect. we were the only people out there at 9:00am. it's been awhile since i last went surfing so this was one of those fun experiences relearning what it's like to be in the water.

when you take your first step into the water, the break crawls up your legs and it tickles as it pulls away back into the ocean. the sand draws towards the water and forms a small moat around your feet. as you put the surfboard onto the water and balance yourself on the board and begin paddling in, the waves crash, refusing to let you paddle out. continually, you duck dive or turtle your way through the breaks and eventually make it out about 100 yds off shore. from there, you hop up on the board, cycle your legs to remain balanced and watch as the waves come in. sitting there, in the serene area between the onset of waves and the breaks, you can get lost in your thoughts.

i found myself floating along for the first 30 minutes, just watching the water and enjoying the bobbing motion of the longboard beneath me. finally came time to catch a wave. i paddled (not hard enough) but the longboard caught and seconds later i was thrown on shore and back at the beginning, forced to paddle out again. the entire cycle is brutal and incredibly tiring, but so perfectly rewarding that it's worth every minute of it.

hanging out in the peaceful waiting area, i met a few new friends. a couple of guys were ripping it up out there today and it was great chatting with them. today was a great reminder of how much i have missed the friendliness of people in the south, the chill attitude of the surf world, and the kindness that people all seem to exhibit in wilmington. i love it. i'm going to miss it...

thanks for a great day, ryan.

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and on a completely different note, i promised pictures from wisconsin so here:

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this is a cool tunnel shot we got on the drive up to wisconsin

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this is at mile marker 62 in indiana where the timezone changes. my phone (the sprint phone on the right) switched first, while the two verizon phones stayed on eastern time (8:03) for a bit longer... so cool!

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