Surfing Part 2
Not every paddling outing gets a writeup. Some just don't warrant it and some officially never happened. The first time
I took my Explorer surfing was one of those trips. I was fine, the kayak was fine, so it was a success. As with
aircraft landings, any surfing attempt you can walk away from is a good surfing attempt. Today was my second attempt at surfing.
This time, I was not alone. I was with Matt Carrier. He has quite a bit of experience surfing and despite his claims,
he seems to know what he's doing. I still don't.
Matt and I paddled out Masonborro inlet and turned south in front of Masonborro island. Matt noticed the smooth waves
and suggested we surf. I figured, why not? I have most of my earthly possessions on my front deck, my boat is for sale,
I'm way in over my head, what can go wrong?
My first run in went fairly well. On my way back out, I lost everything on my deck. Matt and I managed to grab
everything and I stuffed it in my day hatch. On my next run in, I decided to find a small wave. I found one and
somehow managed to not see the big on right behind it. I tried to roll back up, but I was still in the surf and it was
a waste of energy. I went for a swim and then rode the surf up the beach.
I decided that it was time for Matt to try out my HV in the surf. He loved it. I enjoyed watching someone who knew
what they were doing.
At this point, you'd think I'd do something smart, like say, stop while everything was still intact. But, sadly, no. I
had to give it one more shot.
I believe it's called wiping out. Not only was it ugly, I lost my nice sunglasses.
Matt and I headed back in the inlet and over to the mass of boats that had collected behind Masonborro to celebrate
Memorial Day. We greatly enjoyed the scenery. We narrowly avoided getting run over by drunk boaters and peed on by
drunk losers. We were mocked for our funny outfits by drunk bikinis, and made to look old and slow by some young punk
on a surfski. It was a great day.