When the current and wind are just right, the waves break over a sandbar. Ride a wave over the bar, then paddle around to catch another one, repeat.
July 26, 2009
Rolling. It seems like it is what separates the real paddlers from
the plastic bathtub jockey's. I believe that today might be the day I
finally earned the right to call myself a real paddler, at least
according to those that value rolling above all else.
I was looking forward to a long paddle up to the north end of Wrightsville Beach, but the humidity and impending
thunderstorms made me reconsider. The wind was calm and the humidity high. I decided to work on rolling.
I struggled with rolling for a long time before finally figuring it out last summer. I never developed it to the point
where it was reliable, I fell out of practice, and I eventually lost it. The last time I was at the beach, I spent some time
upside down and eventually developed a fairly consistent sweep roll. Whatever muscle memory I developed then seemed to
have evaporated as the sweep roll was again elusive.
Between my morning and afternoon paddles, I spent some time watching Nigel Foster's
Rolling and Bracing and decided that I was making
it too hard on myself. As soon as I hit the water, I nailed a C to C roll on both my on and off sides. It felt very
natural and effortless -- just like I thought it should.
July 26, 2009
The weather was in the low 80's. The wind was blowing just enough to keep everything cool. A perfect day for a trip
out in the ocean to the Johnny Mercer Pier and back.
July 04, 2009
The plan was to paddle around to the front of Masonboro Island and do
some surfing. Let me put it this way, I chickened out.
July 03, 2009