Blackies was hopping this morning! Sunday Surf Day with the girls is the joy of my week.
Newport Beach is a big tourist location, so surfing in the summer months is going to have to happen early to avoid the crowds. Far earlier than the 9 am when I met Sherri and Heidi for our Sunday Surf Day appointment at Blackies. We will adjust next week for the holiday weekend. Today the lineup was packed!
I actually asked the question "Why does everyone get out there so early?" to a post in the Wahine Kai Surf Club Facebook group. Replies included:
Conditions are better early.
Less crowded.
Pay attention to the tides -- early may not be better depending on high tide or low tide.
Many tide apps for your phone. The one I use is Tide Alert.
Less wind. (Wind makes things choppy. We want glassy seas.)
And at Blackies, if you want to get a parking spot, then get there before 8 am.
I love this break. Blackies is a great beginner spot and everyone is so friendly. Best moment today was I caught a wave (on my belly) and at the end, a smiling Big Kahuna type dude saw me smiling and asked, "You catch a wave?" Yes! And I got a big high five from this perfect stranger. How lovely.
Reminded me of when I was driving to meet the girls for our first Sunday Surf Day morning. Surfboard in my car, I pulled up next to a van with several surfboards draped over it -- on the sides and the top -- and 3 or 4 young surfers inside, all crammed into the front seat. They saw me looking over at them and then they saw my board. I got a big "woot" and several hang loose hand signs which I joyfully returned. Duuuudes...
Yes, my surfboard travels inside my car. I have a 2022 Nissan Sentra and my 9' foamie fits easily. I could actually get a 9' 6" in there, but I don't think a 10' would fit. I initially googled several options for roof racks and decided having a surfboard strapped to the top of my car was both nerve-wracking and a recipe for disaster, so my board will be an inside traveler. Put the rear seats down and then recline the front passenger seat, removing the headrest, and the board glides right in through the trunk. I do cover everything with towels, so my wet board doesn't destroy the interior on the way home.
So much of beginning to surf is working out these logistics! The right board for me is probably a 9'6", but how do I get that into my car? (I googled the answer and decided the 9' would be fine.) And then where the heck do I put that in my home? My ceilings are 9' tall. Someone in a Facebook group said under the bed. Of course! Great idea. But that's not actually convenient over 9'. Honestly, getting the board in and out of my front door has been the biggest hurdle to getting out on the water.
Other things to sort out emerge every week. I was resigned to having a persistent soaking wet trunk, but Heidi had a great idea to put a big plastic bin in the trunk for when you strip off your drippy wetsuit. Then you carry the bin into your house or garage to sort it out. Brilliant! Wet towels go in there too. What do I do with my keys? Evelyn, another surfing goddess at 63 years old, best of us all, showed us a DriPac key pouch for putting your electronic key into when you're on the water. It goes around your neck and tucks into your wetsuit. Perfect. Other people slip hard keys in zippered pouches in their wetsuits. Do I wear something under my wetsuit? Sometimes. Sometimes not. They make changing robes, so you can get changed under a big poncho in the middle of the parking lot and maintain a degree of dignity and not get arrested for public indecency. Fab!
I lost my sunglasses in the water today -- it was inevitable. I have goggles and a hat that secures with a clasp under my chin, but I forgot to take off my normal sunnies this morning. I will need good surfing sunglasses, as the sun is finally shining at Blackies and the glare off the water will be tough for me. I am amassing good beach towels and can not get enough sunscreen to cope with my pasty skin. The care and maintenance of a wetsuit is a whole thing, as was finding a wetsuit that would fit me.
All of these details I joyfully discover and manage. I love starting a new hobby! The new STUFF and vocabulary and etiquette and history and skills to learn are invigorating. My social media feed is now packed with surfing sites and blogs. I am seconds away from subscribing to Surfer and Surf Journal magazines. I have watched every available surfing movie in the last two months and continue to find videos on YouTube that have me, for example, envying of the life of a young surfer named John John Florence. I am continually amazed by Justine Dupont, a French surfer, who takes on the 100-foot waves along with a few other women. And I'm disappointed by the abundance of sexism in surfing's history, if not the present. I am always grateful for the mothers and grandmothers who paved the way, so I can get in the water free of harassment today.
This is a lot to learn in only a couple of months.
Perhaps unsurprising, one principle of mindfulness that I struggle with is non-striving. Non-striving is the attitude that you don't have to get anywhere or do anything. You don't have to win. You can observe something and not act on it in any way -- you can just observe and allow things to unfold. No agenda. No goal. Non-doing.
Now, I am a recovering hyperachiever, so I'm not surprised that I struggle to grasp this. I've always had goals. There have always been things to achieve. In fact, when I graduated with my second master's degree, I really struggled for awhile because there was an absence of a big goal. So while I have been framing much of this writing about surfing in terms of goals, it's like the goals are reaching for me instead of me striving to achieve them. The next thing to do emerges gently and without me forcing it or driving it.
For example, I didn't seek out learning about surf history or sexism. I saw a post about the book talk I mentioned in an earlier post with Mindy Pennybacker and thought it was cool. So I went. And Mindy talked about the sexism in the sport. At the talk, someone mentioned the movie Blue Crush, so I watched it. Things keep coming my way. Sometimes I act on them and sometimes I don't. I haven't set any goals other than getting out on the water, so I have nothing really to achieve other than getting out on the water and seeing what happens. I think this is non-striving.
I am adding to a healthy longevity not only by exercising my body but by exercising my mind, making delightful friends, and meeting lots of new people who renew my faith in humanity. Having goals and a purpose propels me forward in life with a joyful vigor, but what I love so much about surfing specifically so far is this aspect of non-striving -- it's the ultimate individual sport with goals or no goals entirely of my own desire. Zero pressure or expectations to do anything, because frankly, what is a 55 year old overweight woman like me doing in the water anyway? Tennis has another person there. Yoga has a roomful of people. And those other people often radiate an achievement and comparison vibe that disrupts my pure enjoyment of the exercise. Surfing is a wonderful balm for my usually hyper-achieving, perfectionist self, and I am defying (crappy) societal expectations just being out there. Other surfers have been marvelously supportive of the "wherever you're at is awesome" vibe. Any day in the water is a good day. Blackies might be a really special place that supports us all in non-striving.
I enjoy floating on the water, waiting for a wave, no pressure at all to do anything other than enjoy floating on the water. After a big wavy day like this morning, I will lay my head down tonight to go to sleep with a satisfying exhaustion and still feel the feeling of bobbing gently like a cork atop the waves. I will slip peacefully into slumber. Saltwater for breakfast is perhaps the most nourishing thing I've ever had. It's delicious.
Join us! Sunday is Surf Day at Blackies in Newport Beach, CA.
Woo!