Surfed My Longest Wave So Far

[SUPcheat]

In my short (10 month) stand up surfing career, I have caught some fair rides.  Santa Cruz around Shark's and Privates sometimes have some fairly long ones from the main breaks, which I typically don't inhabit unless they are nearly empty. I go outside and wait for whatever is out there most of the time.

I have had a cold. In this old gomer, even a mild cold means pretty shot balance and loss of body spring.  Yesterday was ridiculous, I really fell off a lot but still rode a few waves.

Today, I felt better, took an advil, and my balance started coming back in the water..

 About 70 percent into the session in my customary spot outside the Shark's break (which was packed today), avoiding the surf school ducklings etc. , I saw swell that nobody seemed to care about.  It was a gift wrapped present from Neptune.  I caught it without falling off, and the ride took me almost all the way to the beach on the Shark's side of Privates, about 65 percent of the entire Shark's cove. I couldn't believe how far I had gone when I looked back.

The strangest thing was about half way along this ride, I kept wondering when it was gong to be over, and them my mind just snapped and went into a trance and I had a kind of out of body sensation for the rest of the ride.  It was really unusual and rather hard to describe, almost like a petit mal experience.

Don't know if I had an existential ocean experience bonding with the ocean or i am just still a little sick and was weirding out, but it was nice. 

Maybe what DavidJohn feels ilke in his perpetual wave spot in the Australian paradise.

[supdiscobay]

Surf Stoke just went up to another level.

[Zooport]

Uhh, how many Advil did you take? 

[southwesterly]

Hey Carl,
I see you get better everyday. Look how far you've come since the first time out there.

The best waves today were the ones that swung wide of the pack. Glad that you got one.

[SUPcheat]

Uhh, how many Advil did you take? 

My hippie neighbor told me it was advil.  It was on a little square of blotter paper with a stamp.

[Zooport]

Uhh, how many Advil did you take? 

My hippie neighbor told me it was advil.  It was on a little square of blotter paper with a stamp.

LOL!

[mik911]

"like a petit mal experience.".......but in a good way
Stoked for you!

[stoneaxe]

Stoked for you indeed. I remember those early waves well...wasn't that long ago for me. Inside I felt like yelling to ask if anyone just saw that but managed to keep it cool, like I did it all the time... . I had a shit eating grin for the next week at least....actually had people ask what I was smiling about days later.

[The Kernel]

Always great to hear about the rush from a good ride.

In terms of time length for a ride, my brother and I hit Dogpatch a couple months ago on a weekday.  The wave forecast was totally flat, so we brought big volume boards to be able to catch whatever scraps were there.  We were prepared to just flat paddle for exercise if necessary.

But lo and behold, there was a teeny bit of peeling mini swell out there, and it began rolling from far outside.

So with a 10'6" borrowed from my neighbor and my brother on my 9'8" UP Sports board we started catching little 1-2ft rollers from a couple hundred yards out and riding them as loooooooooooong rights to the nuclear power plant beach.  We were playing around, laughing, surfing backwards etc. since it was so small and gentle, but we had a blast!   It was a gorgeous sunny day also, with lots of visible sea life (no, the "landlords" weren't around as far as we could see.)   

Then I remembered the guy on Youtube who timed himself for about a minute ride at Ralph's in San Diego, so i started hitting my watch timer to clock rides to see how ours compared.  I quickly got several that were 57-59 seconds long and they were NOT the longest rides of the day.

Just curious if anyone has ever timed their ride or someone else's, and how long it ended up being.  And where it was--although I understand about not wanting to disclose a well loved secret spot.

[SUPcheat]

Shark's tends to shoal and un-shoal in an irregular way, especially off the points, so for the ride to go that far, it must have been a very particular wave in a very particular direction with a very particular strength. 

At least I got one in my lifetime, hopefully more in the future. Longer rides would make it a lot easier to practice foot position and turning.

[surfercook]

Points awarded for length of ride. Long ones are the best! Short and furious does it too though!