The last few days with my foot injury I have been going out on various other craft, boogie board and even the blow-up mat yesterday which is all fun because I will tackle bigger sets without my hardboard. I have to admit though that after being on the mat and taking off on some big clean powerful ones the other day I am keen to try it on the board, just as long as there is no-one else around so I can bail and dive deep if I need to. I hate surfing in a crowd because I feel trapped and anxious about getting caught in the impact zone with my hard board and too many surfers around so I can't let go of it. I don't even mind the skull-drag when the wave takes the board and drags you backwards in the breaking wave - its just having other people around mostly. Though of course there is a limit to what I will attempt.
Anyway against my own advice to stay off my foot for a week I did some hard board surfing today, plantar fasciitis and all. You couldn't blame me. It was a balmy 28 degrees, wind light and offshore, sea aqua and swell small with some lovely clean sets from the local seas in between some head high closeouts. Off the point slightly, on a wave nearly all my own.
I gingerly put pressure on my left foot, trying to put most of the weight on my toes instead of the heel. I was quite careful and in being gentle with myself I was gentle with the wave. I didn't tramp into it the way I do sometimes and I felt its nuances so much more. I still managed several big rounded cut-backs to the white water and some quick rail to rail flicks to get some speed along the face. All in all a really lovely experience. I will see how I pull up tomorrow!
