Yep, Colorado's! Bought my ticket today. I'm in emergency workout-prep-mode. I swam 2,000 yards today at lunch, about a quarter of it underwater. I'm in better shape than I thought! I try to take myself to that panic stage every lap by swimming underwater as long as possible*. The goal is to be comfortable when it gets heavy and it can get heavy in Nica. I'm trying to simulate double sessions for the next 7 or 8 days and then I'll rest to be ready to go when I get in the Central American water 2 Sundays from now. Tonight, strength training and then Yoga. Cardio, Strength and Flexibility. Why? All for the possibility of getting in a little earlier, making a correction just a little sharper, feeling a little more confident to draw a difficult line and pull in. With strong offshore winds and shallow sandbars at Colorado's, late takeoffs are the norm helping to achieve the goal of coming as close to disaster as possible, which is a requirement if your are to instantaneously transform a few seconds into the unforgettable. I'll be just marginally more prepared, which is probably more mental than anything, but who cares. I'm mental, but I'm motivated.
Today was a little bit junky but fun. The achievement today was a couple of deep-dish bottom turns that resulted 2 really comfortable frontside snaps. It was probably chest to shoulder high on the sets. I caught a lot of waves in a short period of time again today. I had one really good right where I floated a long section and then powered off the bottom straight up into a rapidly diminishing shoulder. I have never been known for my chirography, but this is backhand maneuver is becoming my signature.
*The first time we went to Indo, inexplicably, Jason had the bright idea to buy a carton of cigi's for the boat trip ...ahh the Huey I. Also unexplainable, we bought something like 12 cases of beer to split between the 3 of us (I think we ran out about day 9 of 12). I think there are only 20 per case of Bintang, but I could be wrong, anyway it means we drank about 8 or 9 a day each - of course some days heavy and some light. Once again, I don't have a good answer, it really doesn't make sense to spend $3k and go around the world to sit on a boat drinking and smoking in a Muslim country! Of course the entire time we had macking waves. We were surfing Lance's left, me and one other guy from our boat, an Aussie, I forget his name but he was cool. It was doldrums calm and hot with double overhead+ waves. This typically is not that big of a deal in Indo, because you can usually stay on the shoulder if you want, out of harm's way. Well, I cannot control myself, I pulled into a 2x bomb, I was locked, I had come out of a less threatening one on the prior wave. Not this time. I got thumped. Not reef, but rolled. I started on the outside and stayed underwater for the duration, I came up on the inside. I don't know how, but I was just in the turbulence the whole time. I came up, after probably about 15 seconds which seemed like an eternity. Judging by the distance that I had traveled underwater, this is a good estimate. I don't know how those big wave guys do it! My thesis is that it probably comes down to preparation. Adrenaline + charcoal lungs, had me seeing stars, I didn't have much left in the tank, I wasn't relaxing, just burning oxygen as fast as possible. Remind you, there were only 2 of us out and it was perfect, but I had to get out! It seems that the lack of oxygen or the scare set in motion an excruciating headache, I could no longer surf. However, I was back on the piss (as Aussies say) that night and chain smoking, go figure. Fortunately, those days are past (drinking and smoking heavily) and I survived, but this memory is why I'm fanatical about being in shape for a surf trip.
The Huey (it used to be blue and pretty run down):
No comments:
Post a Comment