What I've learned about surfing...from not surfing

This blog is on special report from the sunny beaches of Santa Monica, CA. I came down here on Friday with the intention of doing three straight days of surfing lessons. Today SHOULD have been my third day out. Sadly, there has been no in-water time. But there has been instruction. In fact, despite the fact my toes have not touched the water, I have learned an incredible amount from resident surf lady, Mary.

Mary is a great person to talk to if you can find a way to schedule three surf lessons that will be cancelled. She hung out with me for about 4 hours total over the last 2 days. We putz around the beach, talking to emerging, waterlogged surfers who just laugh and shake their heads at the conditions out there. Today we talked about the anomolies of public administration, the difficulty of working as a contractor for the city, the implications of the living wage ordinance on her business this summer, and a host of other rather interesting topics that city planners like to push around whilst on vacation.

Back to the beach: Conditions from the beach don't look that bad to the novice. But I guess when waves are coming in EVERY five seconds, nonstop, it's not good for beginners. It's not good for the experienced surfers, either. According to Mary, it's nearly impossible to "get to the outside" with a wave interval cycle like we've been seeing. The "outside" is the place just past where the waves aren't breaking. Surfers paddle out to get to the outside, then find a good wave to ride in to the inside, as far as I can tell. But conditions lately are such that getting to the outside is an almost impossible feat.

Today we watched a big guy, Steve, get pummeled by "maytags". Mary said that he usually has no trouble barreling through to the outside, but not today, apparently. Steve emerged, all 6"2 and 225 pounds of him, looking rather solemn. He said I'd be smarter to wait it out as a first-timer.

So I will meet Mary tomorrow at another location, Manhattan Beach, for a last go at it. She's positive that it will happen. I would like it to happen, too, especially since I've told a bunch of people that I am doing these lessons. They will ask me about it when I return, inevitably, and right now I have no material to talk about.

More about the Los Angeles trip to come...