It's all about the SUP

[Dragging this through the parking lot and over the dunes = extra credit workout]

For my last week I decided to jam in a few last minute activities that I've been meaning to do --- namely, take my SUP in the ocean. Unfortunately in order to do that we had to rearrange other scheduled events and I had to miss beach yoga.  Kinda bummed about that, but was psyched to SUP.

Running
We were scheduled to complete a 20 minute warm-up, four 1-mile repeats and a 10 minute jog. Since we planned to ocean SUP at 7:30 am-ish we pushed the run to 5:30 am and met at the Park. Seriously --- we are INSANE. The sun wasn't even up when we started our warm-up, but it was beautiful to see the sunrise over the Bay.

The good news is that my splits were very good (for me) again this time --- all in the low 8 min zone with the first one being sub-8!!! That is seriously wicked since I am known for being slow as molasses! My left knee was feeling "a little weird" but I was able to push on through.  I worry that that's gonna be a problem later.

SUP-ing
Lori and I have been talking about christening our boards in the Atlantic and more importantly surfing them.

I talked to Michelle over at Sommers Surf about setting up a private lesson for our first ocean adventure. Unfortunately, due to the bad surf break Michelle doesn't offer surf lessons right now in Fenwick.  Instead she offers lessons at Assateague Island.  After much hemming and hawing, we decided to launch on our own for our first ocean adventure and save our money for a SUP surf lesson later in the summer.

[Here we are getting the leashes attached to the SUPs]

Since in all of the state of Delaware's wisdom they decided August 1st was the perfect date to start tearing up the beach and dredging, we had to launch from Dagsboro vs James Street.  Bonus that the beach was a bit of a mess this morning as a result of the dredging and we arrived to a river of slippy clay that we had to navigate through before getting to the other side of the beach.

In summary, ocean SUP-ing was just awesome. After we got our boards and gear over the dune and through the river of dredged slime we pushed our SUPs into the surf, over the breakers and were up and standing in no time.

[Me & Lori getting ready to launch into the Atlantic for the first time! Notice the river of slime we had to cross before reaching the ocean.]

It is an incredible feeling to be standing on top of the ocean, riding over the baby waves and cruising down the coast.  There were some swells and it was still challenging to keep your balance as the waves pushed toward shore.

[Cruising down the coast toward the Maryland state line]

As we turned to shore we were a bit apprehensive given the bad shore break in Fenwick. The good news was that Lori had some good advice from her ocean kayaking experience.  I paddled toward shore, let the baby waves push me in and then easily dismounted in waist deep water in order to protect our fins/boards from the shore break.

We already are itching to schedule our SUP surf lesson.  I have a message into Michelle to determine if there is any way she can do a lesson before I leave.  I think it's doubtful give her schedule and that the beaches have limited times for surf/SUP, but we are crossing our fingers!

All in all...a successful adventure...and one I plan to repeat many, many times in the future.

She's Up and Then She's Down --- Repeat

[Obviously this is my fantasy surfing double courtesy of the Oahu Surf School webpage]

The morning was cloudy with a slight breeze and as I got in my car to head down to Malibu's Surf Shop on 8th & the Boards (see http://www.malibus.com/). I was a combination of excited and nervous for my first private lesson.

By 8:00am I was in my wetsuit and was headed down to the beach with my instructor JT. Here's a picture of JT in action from the Malibu's surf shop. He's been surfing locally for years and provides lessons nearly every morning.

JT spent the first couple minutes talking about the objective, proper positioning and how to maneuver the board from the safety of the sand. Within 5 minutes we were in the water and getting on the board. Talk about jumping right into it! Love it!!!

The water was a bit warmer than I anticipated and I was appreciative of my half wetsuit at that moment since I am a total cold water baby. I'm guessing the water was in the low 60's. I was fine until the last 15 minutes when my teeth literally started to chatter.

Once I got in the water JT lined me up for my first wave and so began multiple rounds of JT pushing me into a wave, yelling out when I should pop up and I would work hard to meet the basic goals --- pop up onto my feet as fast as possible and ride the wave into shore.

In short order I had mastered the art of getting to my knees and riding the wave into shore. Now...I just needed get out of the safe zone, pop up and get on my feet. It is much harder than you can appreciate. After numerous successful times getting to my knees I was able to get myself onto my feet once or twice, but then would immediately crash land off the board. DAMN! As JT said, "it's mental and all about balance." I just need to do vs. think. Easier said than done!

JT would surf a couple waves in so I could see his technique and when I was making my way back into the surf-line JT would body-surf a couple waves in. I don't blame him. It was COLD out there and you needed to keep moving any way that you could.

30 minutes into the 1 hour lesson JT shifted into making me do it all pretty much all by myself. He would still help me line-up and would tell me which waves to catch since I was still learning about the wave breaks, BUT I was paddling into the wave by myself, feeling the surge of the wave and a couple times actually got up on my feet...YAY...but then would crash land! At least I was consistent. I always crashed off the left side of the board.

I know that the things I need to work on are: popping up faster, using my arms to then balance myself on the board and making sure that my front foot is more perpendicular to the board so that I have more overall stability.

For my first time it was freaking awesome. I know why folks end up loving surfing now. I told JT that I would be back for more very soon.

Feeling Southern California

It would be sacrilegious to have a birth certificate that says you are from Southern Cal and not know how to surf. Body-surfing and boarding are things I've done, but it's just not the same.

With that in mind I did a bit of research about the local surf scene (aka, The Husband asked a local friend).

I got a great tip about Malibu's Surf Shop which is located at 8th and the Boards (see http://www.malibus.com/). Our friend knows Lee (the owner), as well as some of the guys in the shop.

I checked out the store and talked to Lee the other day. Got very good vibes about the joint. The result is that my first surf lesson is scheduled for next Monday at 8:00 am. Me, my board and my private instructor will hit the beach and then the waves.

Either I am going to freaking love this and will soon have a new surf board to add the collection of toys...or I'll be a bloody mess when I fall off the board and go in for a crash landing.

Here's to hoping for good weather, good sets and no injuries.