Water and Waves

Everyone is complaining about how terrible the weather has been, and yes, it has been terrible. There are a lot of fun things to do when it's sunny out, but there are also a lot of great activities to do when it is raining. The obvious ones are inside (movies, tv, reading, etc.), while time consuming and somewhat fun, these activities are just used to pass time until the sun comes out again. This blog is about nature and enjoying being outside, whether it is hot, cold, sunny, or rainy. All of my posts have been about fishing so far, but that is pretty much all I have done outside (other than work all day outside). But the other day I was in Portland (port city, ptown, pland, whichever you prefer) and met up with some of my best friends from highschool. They wanted to go surfing at Higgins Beach in Scarborough. I have been surfing before in highschool, but the waves were never really great and I never had a good opportunity to "pop up and get in the green room brah", if you know what I mean. We stopped by my friends surf shop, squeezed into some wetsuits, strapped down four boards, and headed to the beach in the overcast, drizzly weather. When I imagine surfing, I picture board shorts, sunny weather, blue waves, hot girls and of course brah's. But this kind of surfing was none of that. It was us and to my suprise about a hundred other surfers battling the cold water and astonishingly big waves. I have never been to Higgins Beach to go surfing (twice in highschool) where there was that many surfers and actually big waves. As I walked down the cold, hard packed sand, I was actually a little nervous, and excited. As I went deeper into the icy cold water, it became more difficult to get out to where the waves were peaking, but my adrenalin kept me going. Also, as I was trying to make it out past the point where the waves smash down on you, surfers were catching waves and coming at you with their pointed tip boards (which is not exactly welcoming). Eventually we all made it out, but ended up getting seperated due to the drag of the current and the smashing of the waves. It was so crowded that there was always at least four surfers in a 20 foot radius of you. I didn't feel very comfortable in catching a wave, eating it, and smashing into someone, so I tried to seperate myself a little. The first big wave I had the chance of catching, I did. I turned and paddled as hard as I could, and before I realized it, I was on the peak of the wave staring down eight feet at the quickly curving water. I was overwhelmed by the sheer force and quickness of the wave. I made a weak attempt to get up, fell hard, and was consumed by the crashing wave. When I was underneath the churning water, I just hoped I didn't slam into anyone or get hit by someone else's board. But I popped out of the water, took a breath, and paddled back out. Eventually I stopped trying to stand up during the first part of the ride, remained laying on my board (which is still fun) until the wave slowed, and then got up for the last five to ten seconds of the ride. I know that sounds pathetic, but given the circumstances, I was impressed with myself. The night continued on like this and when it was becoming dark, we all met up on shore and headed back to the car. There are many ways to experience what mother nature has to offer, sometimes we just need to grab a canoe, fishing pole, back pack, and in this case a board and get out there.