The current flat spell in southern California has been going on for WAAAAAAY too long! I’m finally off work for winter break and even have some days when both boys are in school, yet the waves have not been cooperating at all for over 10 days! To poor salt in the wound, the boys’ grandmom had them at her house for 5! days, so Steve and I had all the time in the world to ourselves, but no surf. The downside of no waves is the itch I just can’t seem to scratch when I don’t spend time in the ocean. The upside is that other things actually happen around our house, and that I take the kids to fun and interesting places besides the beach. Here’s a snippet of what happens around our house when there are no waves, in mostly chronological order:
- check Surfline a bit obsessively to see if the 1-2’ report has by chance changed to 2-3’
- go visit komodo dragons at the zoo
A friendly Komodo Dragon at the San Diego Zoo.
- visit the lagoon to look at birds and count fish jumping
- walk the dog every day and for longer than usual
- decide to go for a run, which I don’t do much anymore, and slightly tweak a knee
- go to yoga, which I love, but is second in my heart to surfing
- catch up on yard work and other very necessary house activities
My husband working hard while I “supervise”. I actually helped him after snapping this shot.
- work on artsy projects, which I also love, but don’t make much time for
Crafty stuff- my current obsession with succulents and vertical gardening!
- tell stories about surfing
- go look at and drool over new boards, but use the excuse that there are no waves, so why spend the money?
- plan Blacks sessions that I don’t follow through with, since even Blacks is flat
- incur a few less wrinkles each day I don’t go out in the sun/water
- head and ears have a chance to dry out
- finally go free diving instead, just to get some salt in the veins and take a look at what’s under the waves
- write a blog post about the lack of surf, since I haven’t had any surf inspiration ;), after asking husband and friends what I can write about when there are no waves!
As you may have gathered after reading, sometimes a lack of surf can be good for the family and home (e.g. catching up on yard work) and sometimes really unfortunate (e.g. tweaking my knee). The moral of this story is that for a surfer, life really is more balanced when there are at least some rideable waves. The forecast shows a tiny bump for later this week, possibly beginning on my birthday, so crossing fingers and toes (but not my hurt knee) that the wave gods will send some our way! I have to add that this lack of surf has also made me feel very fortunate for how rarely events like this actually occur in SoCal- we are able to surf so many days of the year with relatively warm water and at least a bit of swell to bump some fun waves in!