Weekend Warrior

When you’re a surfer and have to work Monday to Friday during the winter months,  we become weekend warriors. This can be both frustrating and exciting. Frustrating because we rely on the elements aligning, the wind, the swell, the tides and the motivation for the weekend.  I say motivation because as you get older, or this might just be me, we become more selective as to when and what conditions we surf.  Personally, I  work out the ‘effort to return’ ratio, it has to be worth it. Long gone are my days of surfing when it just looks like all I'll catch is a cold. 

Then there’s the excitement  knowing that those elements are aligning, or have been aligned all week, but will remain so for the weekend, when it's your turn. The weekday surfers, those who have actually made the effort and found employment that allows them the time to surf whenever they want, (sense the jealousy here) but my procrastinating self seems to have put off, but for now settled for a job that you really enjoy but you’re not self employed or working for yourself. Therefore, during the depths of winter, weekends are all we get. It's a cruel balance, frustration versus excitement. 

Anyway, let me briefly tell you about the excitement of my weekend surf. This past weekend was one of those weekends when I managed to get in the water both days. I had great surfs, both days, not perfect surfs, but I made them great. On Saturday, the tide was dropping, some may say (my wife) closing out. For those who don’t know this term, it’s when the wave just shuts down. But I saw an opportunity, I saw a race track, a speed run, from take off to the sand, I saw fun and was lucky to catch a few. I pumped my longboard from start to finish, rising and dropping along the wave, generating speed from the middle of the board, no cross stepping, no fancy turns, no noseriding, just get to the middle, and let rip. So much fun on a longboard too. 

Sunday saw South East winds gusting in the high twenties, but I couldn’t resist the conditions. An empty, far from perfect left hander at my home break, which for the most part I surfed on my own. Knowing that those who were in there already, had not got to grips with the rip current that was begging to be used, they were sadly stuck in the impact zone or having a paddle fest trying to reach the take off for the left. This doesn’t happen to me often but I managed to get in sync with the set waves and the rip current, and whilst the wind and currents kept the tourists at bay I surfed my little heart out. In fact, the wind was horrific, a real eye-stinging wind, but after my first wave I used the rip to perfectly drop me back to where I needed to be,I wasn’t at all bothered, as I was just in time for the next freight train left. On take off they were head high, shapely, fast, windy, speed crouching left handers that peeled into the safety of a deep channel and rip current. Sadly the deep channel forced the wave to fatten up, but nonetheless, a great wave on a longboard, and I was stoked I’d chosen the right board. A different design from the  previous day because there would be more turning involved, and as a result, I had an absolute ball. In fact I would go as far to say that for two hours, although  I did not stop paddling, I felt that during moments of that session I was in that total flow state. That beautiful mindset when you are in the zone, where your mind is transfixed on the activity, totally in the present, and that added to the perfection of my surf. Like the day before, I was just happy trimming and pumping the board to get the most from the wave. Cutting back to the curl when I needed and going again to the next section, no fancy business, just centre of the board, hand jiving fun.  

This weekend warrior went back to work on Monday, knackered, content, and so stoked that on Wednesday I had my first post work surf for 2023, so I suppose weekend warroir status is now coming to a close. I'm looking forward to what this weekend might bring, but as I write this it looks like the elements don’t align for our local, so I guess I’ll go looking elsewhere or simply ride my bike. Absolutely win win!

How was your weekend?