This morning the waves were a bit messier than this - onshore, mushy, no shape with the occasional closeout on the shallow bank. But am I complaining? No way. I was only perfecting my technique of surfing on my knees anyway - just to get in the water and get some exercise while resting my foot after being out of the water for a week.
Last Sunday the ocean swell was finally getting in. When I first got in the sets were closing out quite dangerously on the shallow bank so I stayed inside to try and get the occasional working waves on my hybrid 6' 10" fish. The side-shore rip was fairly strong and with the nasty closeouts (where the ocean sucks out until you think you might be surfing on sand any second) it was difficult to stay in any kind of position. I was almost going to get out. But the tide must have come in enough to bring the water levels up, the closeouts were less frequent and even started working near the tenuous channel - a bit like like the pic above but with closeouts twice the size.
I had such a good time. It was a relief to get a couple of steeper takeoffs and see a clean shoulder, go down the line and get a couple of small turns in. It was the first time since my injury nearly 5 months ago that I tried surfing 'properly' - and although it felt alright at the time, I have been paying for it ever since.
Previous sessions have consisted of going out on Robin's 10 ft single fin Warren Thompson board, mainly just paddling and taking about 3 small waves, no turning, just gingerly putting some weight on my left foot - and going in. So today I had regressed again and I opted to stay on my knees. It was still fun because I got a few waves on Robin's 9 ft Walden (with bevels, which I really don't like - I get much more radical turns on my 8' 4" hybrid without the bevels). I found I could lean into the face while on my knees (because it's a triple fin as well, unlike the Thompson ) and grab the rail. After the last week I am so grateful to be back out there - on any craft at all - that surfing on my knees was absolutely fine.
