Well, we hmmned and hawed Saturday night and opted for home turf instead of Daytona Beach Shores, and thank God we did.
The waves were almost perfect at Sebastian Inlet. High tide at the inlet moving to low in the afternoon, but a nice groundswell hip high to overhead on sets kept everyone entertained. The wind had died as well. It was foggy, making conditions at the inlet very nice. And for some reason the crowd stayed away. For the first two hours there were only ten or so of us out there.
We arrived with the whole family at just after 8:30 a.m. or so and didn't leave until 1:30 p.m. after Sean and I collided on a wave turning both of our boards into medical emergencies.
During the session my fat ass caught killer rights, with a couple of floaters. Imagine a 244 pound man on a 10.0 Walden carving down a six foot face right at you with no way to put the breaks on; hitting the top, and floating down the white water, sticking the landing and keepin on going.
It happened. Sean's ribbing may not have resulted in any weight loss on my part yet, but, my game at least has started to come alive, and maybe that's a start.
Sean tucked in near the jetty where the fisher people threatened with spoons and bluefish lures. The water was loaded with Spanish mack, whatever was chasing them, and the smell of marine banquet. Nervous? A little, but no worries. Just lift the legs at random every so often to put the odds in your favor, I tell him.
He blows me off on that. Also has callous disregard for how nasty some fisher people can be. There was one old clown looked like father time seemingly aiming his bluefish spoon at us. I seem to remember a guy just like him at Avon Pier North Carolina doing the same thing five summers ago. Did he follow us?
Sean's game has also come alive: three tubes, and he has learned to float on slightly heavier stuff. He sat inside the wedge for about an hour and surfed with some guy who really knew what he was doing. The guy kept going left toward the rocks, just because. It was a like a game, to see how many moves he could make before punching out. A couple of times the people on the pier could have reached right down and given him a high five.
Sean stuck to his rights, but, perhaps inspired by this nameless fellow, had no trouble dropping in on bigger, chunkier meaner looking waves and trying to make it out.
The worst came when I was just surfacing after a whipe out with my leash in my hand and Sean had committed to a wedge barrel. He didn't see my board and slammed right into it.
Thirty dollars in marine epoxy hardener, fiberglass cloth, sandpaper, gloves, and I am doing ding repair on both boards; my first ding repair since college. Also the Walden, for the time being, has become a single fin. His board hit mine right in the right, third fin, shattering it. The remains dug a dent in the bottom of his board.
I am rushing in an effort to have both boards ready by Wednesday morning, as the kids have a five day holiday weekend ahead of them. My head is full of fumes at the moment, and the boards are in the garage curing after my best efforts. I will sand tomorrow and see what we have wrought.
I had forgotten how messy working with fiber cloth is.
My daughter took a picture of me working on the boards but I didn't have my shirt on...and it's just too hideous. A man and his moobs, what will we do about that?
Lot of "self" work to do. But in this job market, all the time in the world.
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