Seventeenth Blog - It is not writers block...

I know I have not been as good with the blog writing as I should be, but the truth is that somehow, this lady of leisure who has nothing she HAS to do has been really busy! Now that my body has gotten somewhat use to the abuse I put it through I no longer have to spend my waking hours horizontal and in agony, so the sewing machine is out and the bungalow is a creative mess... I made a beach dress a couple of days ago and one of the expats here fell in love with it so now I am making her one... and then her friend wanted one too and before you know it my place has turned in to a sweatshop :-)

The surf has been small for what seams like an eternity! Although I am hungry for bigger and faster, it is a great opportunity for me to practise catching the waves myself and I have been paddling my little heart out the past few days. Catching a wave is all about timing. The last 6-8 stokes are what makes the difference and what you have to put every last bit of power in to, so you want to conserve energy by minimizing the amount of paddling you do before those last strokes. Most people when they start out would normally try to catch the wave too early and paddle for a long time just to watch it pass them and break 20 meters ahead. When you are surfing with Alvaro however, you don't waste your time on those kind of mistakes... :-) Instead, you get to practise sitting RIGHT in the break and your decision is when to start paddling for your life... start too early and you have about 2 tons of water breaking down on you as you enter what I call the "tumble dryer". Paddle too late and the wave has already past you. Get it right and you catch the wave just as it breaks and maximize the size and speed of the drop. I have about a 50/50 success rate currently, which means I spend a lot of time in the tumble dryer... I find the best thing to do in there is to curl up into a ball with your arms over your head, pray that the board stays out of your way and just enjoy the roller coaster ride :-). Unfortunately my leg and Juanita's fen decided to have a bit of a run-in yesterday when I was caught up in a wave and hence the latest surfing injury on the photo (there is another cut further up the leg and one on the arm as well..). Could be worse though, like for the girl who got caught a bit later and popped up with a board that was snapped in half....