This was over a week ago! And I haven’t surfed since, which means one thing: LOSER.

Anyway, rolled down the spit to check what I figured would be too small, but with the lack of wind, at least glassy. I was happily wrong about the former and perfectly right about the latter. Hallelujah for the longboard — that was a smart purchase, that 8’0″ Taylor cruiser. And that’s what I did: cruised. It was small; the sets arrived all of waist-high and paddling for anything in between the sets resulted in frustration. But the ocean… how to describe “glassy” without using that same word repeatedly?

The northwest wind ruffles the sea nearly constantly through the spring and into summer. When it tapers off, pauses, the change in the ocean is as if the scene suddenly comes into focus. The water smooths out, waves rippling through clear blue satin. The sense is of being welcomed, for once. Of peacefulness. Which, given the cold rough sharky powerful vibe usually emanated from our region of the Pacific, is especially lovely.