Good surf; not so good crowd

Did the Diamond Head thing once again on a funky south/trade swell combo. The surf was in the head-high range, with no winds to speak of. Also, the tide was bottoming out nearly to zero, making the waves back off and shift quite a bit.

Since I had to again run around town, I was riding my bodyboard, trying to make the best of it. A longboard would have been perfect for the back-offish conditions, but sometimes you just can’t use the right tool for the job.

From the get-go, I felt like I was just being dissed in the lineup. I sat deep with the longboarders and took off behind everyone. However, many in the crowd (not the regulars) proceeded to ice everyone, dropping in on the shoulder and burning people, especially, it seemed, said sponger.

I think I got dropped in on on my first five waves (about ten total). This one big guy on a tanker just unfailingly went for every wave I was on, blatantly running ahead of me, leaving me in the whitewater.

Because of the continuous assault, I started getting some serious surf rage. I actually started plotting the scenarios on how to handle the drop-ins. I methodically thought about knocking the guy down by going rail-to-rail or even pulling his leash. Then I thought about what I would say on the ensuing dialog, to the point of which swear words to use and not to use.

Even though I had all these evil thoughts, in my heart I knew I probably wouldn’t act on them. It’s one thing to think about them, but takes a whole ‘nother level to do it.

People may not realize it, but I actually was one of those very passive types when I was young--the very type that bullies *sometimes* targeted back in school. I’ve grown quite a bit since those days, both physically and mentally. Also, surfing has definitely made me a much more assertive person, in and out of the water. So I’m very sensitive to being pushed around.

Still, it would definitely be out of character for me to do anything adversarial. Sometimes just thinking about it can give you a small amount of satisfaction.

The session ended just as it had begun, with lots of drop-ins on me. It was a totally frustrating and unsatisfying go-out. Little did I know that it would be a prelude to my next session.

Aloha from Paradise,