Sometimes...

Sometimes the best pictures are the ones you don't take.

We have returned to our summer surf adventures. Once again we give huge props to the folks in Long Beach for providing such a clean and chill and well maintained beach. Happy to support such a smart system that takes care of who knows how many hundreds of thousands of people a year, we love it when we get to pick up our pass for the season and resume our day off sessions. Long beach has designated surfing beaches so us surfers are not banned from doing what we love like we are in most other surf towns around here. And I know, as a surfer you never reveal your favorite break to the masses, but um, well, the cat's already out of the bag as the increased crowds this year have already told us. But we get up at the crack of dawn by default these days so we get out of the house early and right into the water.

So far we have had a few killer days. The summer surf is small but we don't mind. It often means the "tough" guys don't bother paddling out so we get to work on our timing, seeing how fast we can pop up and catch a wave, maximizing the short ride. In some cases we get these little rollers all to ourselves like today. When it's totally flat we paddle back and forth between the rock jetties and at least give our arms a workout. Either way we're doing what we love and getting better at it. Krissy rides a 7'2" which is a much smaller surfboard compared what she learned on, but she has adapted to it in record time and has gotten some sweet rides. I have a 6'10" wave catching machine shaped for me by my best childhood friend Rory Knight so I have been rebuilding my confidence too following an all-too-long hiatus from this love affair with the ocean. We've caught some thrilling little swells and definitely have had some very funny, very ugly wipeouts. But the bliss of that dance with nature, the "experiential learning" as my anthropological mind would call it, that is the best stuff in the world. It's all about being there and being in the moment, giving in and immersing yourself in the experience to get the most out of it. It's not about hiding behind some gadget to have proof to say you've done something as much as it's about having that experience and knowing deep down how amazing it was. I guess maybe that's why for all the surf sessions we have had as of yet I have only taken one single shot. One morning post-surf, the "happy car" loaded up and the beaming wife saying it all...