ESA #3- the Inlet New Smyrna Beach
- October 6, 2011
- 0 Comments
- By Story/Photos By ren
Dateline: September 10, 2011 ESA #3 at the Inlet New Smyrna Beach Well the contest was September 10th, but I am finally uploading my story and images today October 4th. Better Late than Never? We’ll see. I didn’t surf as much as usual this summer. I guess there wasn’t really a lot of swell, but still, I usually managed at least once or twice a week on some kind of board. It’s weird how you can just fall out of it if you don’t keep at it. Anyway, I started getting back in the water in September and to make things easier on myself I stuck with just one board—my 5’7” Mayo Tug (see photos for one similar to mine). It’s been great not having to decide what board to bring, just like when I was a kid and had only one board. On the day of the contest I snuck in some waves before working and it was a blast. They were lining up nice with long open faces. I caught this one wave that just opened up and set me a line. At one point during a bottom turn (you’d think the Tug would force a high line, but it doesn’t), the big 9.5 inch fin gave a little shimmy and that rekindled a lost but familiar sensation that reconnected me to a memory of the first board I ever had. It was a single fin garage board with no laminates, delaminated blue deck with green rails and a yellow bottom. My parent’s got it used and gave it to me for a birthday present. I think I was eight: I loved that board. So long ago, yet I still remember everything about that board. That single fin would break away sometimes on the bottom turns, just like my tug did that day. Later on, the night after the contest, I ran into a kid I know (I think he’s ten) and we started talking about the day’s waves: he and his dad went to Ponce so he was asking about how the waves were in NSB (apparently it was so glassy and clear and uncrowded at Ponce). He was telling me how much he loved his 5’2” Motor Boat and I was telling him about my Mayo Tug. During the conversation it struck me that I’m decades older than this kid yet we can talk as peers about boards, waves and water with the unspoken connection being the joy—the joy surfing can bring. Surf Expo was in town last month when I started writing this, so I feel obliged to utter the worn out “surfing is a multi-billion dollar business now.” But really is that surfing? It is such a small part of it. So many moan about surfing being too commodified, about its culture being appropriated by corporate monsters. I just don’t see that part of surfing that often—I more often just see people out in the water having fun, experiencing the joy and that is a good thing. Even when I’m watching surfing at its most serious self—surf contests—I still see the glimmer in most pro surfer’s eyes when they are talking about good conditions and how fun the waves are… Uh…I guess I’m rambling. Oh well. The contest had some great waves for the surfers to work with. Several tube rides (see the photos). The dual heats were confusing and I don’t know how the judges were able to keep track of it all, but they did. I finally got to see someone use a Meyerhoffer surfboard in competition (see photo section) Thanks to Guru for my super stretchy new Rusty baggies made from recycled water bottles—they rock!!! Thanks to the Professor for sending me to the perfect spot to surf before the contest. There’s a contest this weekend at the Inlet, I’ll try to cover it and post in a more timely fashion. Peace.