Surf: 5.9 ft at 17.4 s from WNW at 290°
Last minute SC new years eve camping trip in the van! 😀
Surf was okay. Crowded, but I got a few fun long ones. It was hard work.
Afterwards, a little hot tub time, some Japanese food for dinner, then smores. Slept in the camper van.
Super chill NYE.
At the end of November, I spotted this article in Surfing Magazine: http://www.surfingmagazine.com/blogs/surprise-apnea-for-surfers/#.ULeAVgSxckI.twitter
This article got me thinking. I’ve spent the last year struggling with my surfing, mostly struggling with fear. I took a few pretty good beatings last winter. One where my ears ached, where all I could see was dark water. One where I gasped at the surface only to suck in foam. More than one where I felt lucky to be all right.
I’m not sure if it was the size of the wave, the character of the break, or the fact that I was being drug through the wash by my longboard, but it felt like an eternity under water.
I don’t have the most confidence in my lungs. I’ve had asthma on and off. I get barking coughs with the slightest colds. Having my lungs tested by brute force was a bit terrifying. Sure, I made it through the hold downs from last winter, but part of me wonders if I could make it through the next. That part of me pulls out of waves I should have made. That part of me sits too far outside for my little board. That part of me is frustrating the heck out of the rest of me.
This class seemed like exactly what I needed.
There are much better articles about what you’ll learn from Hanli’s class, including this one by Cynthia. I’ll spare you the lecture (it’s better first hand anyway) and summarize what I learned instead.
Hanli teaches you an amazing amount about what your body does to survive under water. She focuses on yoga, relaxation, the mechanics of the dive reflect, and some swimming intervals. I highly recommend reading up on it and catching her class if you can.
From this class I learned I have a much greater capacity to hold my breath under water than I thought. I managed to go two minutes before I started having diaphragm contractions (the first hurdle one much get over in holding their breath.)
My first attempt was cut short by my typical roadblock: the mind game. I went through the breathing exercises. I waited fro Hanli’s go ahead, then took a big breath, belly, chest, and shoulders. I flipped over and waited. Maybe a minute or less, I started feeling like I had to swallow. Crap. There’s no good way to swallow in a dive mask. Now I’m thinking about swallowing. I’m thinking about how I’m laying face down in a pool. I’m wondering how long it’s been. I’m distracted and I’ve already started to fret. I gave up. I didn’t even get the time from Hanli. Shoot.
My second attempt I worked much harder on the mental aspect of it. I watched the seabirds fly overhead while doing my breathing exercises and tried to keep that image in mind while floating face down. This attempt went much better. Again, I didn’t get a time, Hanli said later it was about 2 and a half. Wile it may have been closer to 2:20 and certainly the shortest out of the whole class, it’s sill much longer than I’ve been able to hold my breath (while counting, who knows how long I was down on some of those waves.)
The interval training kicked my butt, I should probably start lap swimming, but overall I left the course with greater confidence. I now know that if I can stay calm I can last about two minutes. Hopefully I won’t have to.
Even with the class, I’m still struggling with fear. Even telling myself it’s going to be okay, I’m still feeling like there’s a big bubble of air in my gut and I can’t breathe. I’ll take some work. Hanli sent us homework to do to keep in breath-holding shape and I’m hoping to keep practicing the yoga exercises.
The greatest challenge will be the head game. Still, it’s nice to know I’ve got a little lung power on my side.
Wow, I can’t believe it’s been almost two years since I picked up my Isurus wetsuit.
I gave this suit a review at about a year in: Isurus I-Evade: Durability Review
At a year I had a few tears, but overall was plenty toasty. At two years I have bigger tears (didn’t quite get around to fixing them) but still plenty toasty.
Here’s the rundown:
Suit: I-Evade 4-3-4, Hooded. Small-Tall.
Purchased: Feb 2011
Session surfed: ~220-250 (or about $2 a surf)
Care: Almost none. Rinsed if off after surf when I could. Often dried in the sun hanging off my car.
Me:
5’10, 150lb, female. I surf 2-4 times a week, early mornings before work. I just wear one suit rather than rotate suits in and out.
Note for other women: They’ve put the women’s line on hold. If you can fit into a men’s I’d still recommend this suit. If you can’t, well, don’t hold your breath for a women’s line 🙁 Things to watch for with fit: thighs/hips. The chest seems roomy enough but the lower body is less forgiving.
Performance:
Still good! I’m still nice and warm and I can get the suit on and off much easier than when it was new. I usually wear the hood to protect my ears, but I can skip boots most days.
Durability:
Overall, the suit is in decent shape structurally. There are cosmetic things here and there (the chevrons are a bit peeled and the logo has seen better days) but almost all of the seams are in great shape. The shoulders are still in nearly the same shape as when I bought the suit.
Where the suit needs repairs is primarily in the knees and the inner leg seams.
I’d highly suggest pulling the suit up as high as you can in the legs. Too low and the legs shift slightly while you’re surfing. I worn a hole in the neoprene just above my right knee pad and the left inner thigh seam has torn almost completely. I’m not sure if this is because the thighs are cut for men or just all around too tight. The seam along the butt did not degrade any further than it had a year ago, but if I get around to taking this suit in for repairs, I’m certainly going to repair that.
The 3 mil neoprene and the neoprene in the shoulders started to get a little thready. This has reduced the warmth a little bit. Back in October I felt a little chilly sitting in the water for the first time since I first picked up the suit. The suit is meant for you to be moving around a fair amount, but even then, this was the first time where I felt cold.
One of the ankles flushed around that same time, and was also the first time that had happened (at least when I wasn’t doing something completely stupid like going over the falls.) I imagine there’s a little bit of stretching that’s happened in the cuffs, but no tearing.
The suit also stopped drying as fast as it did in its shiny new days. When it was new it’d be dry by lunch, now it occasionally has damp cuffs the next morning.
Wearing a suit every single session is pretty hard on it. I’d say this suit has held up well given the use and abuse I’ve dished out. A cheaper suit might get you 4 years, but no suit I’ve worn has been as light or as warm as this one.
Summary:
I’m still very happy with the Isurus i-evade. In fact, I bought a second back in September. Now that it’s cold, I’m using that as my primary suit and this suit as a backup. I was going to wait till the first suit was in tatters, but with the break in at Aqua, I figured I’d give them my business and get one early.
A few notes about the new suit: they changed the chest entry to make it easier to get on. This lets in a little more water, but not a considerable amount. I noticed it more bodysurfing than stand up surfing. Also, the elastic that cinches the hood pulled out on mine. The hood is tight without it, but I’ve got a full ponytail wedged up under there.
Other than that, it’s warm, it doesn’t flush, it’s light, and it dries lightning fast. Everything I’d expected.
I’m trying to be kinder to the new suit. I rinse it after every session and have not dried it in the sun at all. I’m hoping this will help the suit last longer.
So there you go: Two years in and it’s not too shabby.
Tired of boardshort rash and tramstamp sunburn from my short/rashguard combo, I decided to give the very stylish Seea suits a try. I picked up a Waterstripes Swami’s Playsuit off their site and tossed it in my boardbag bound for mexico.
The short version of my review: I love this suit! 😀
The long version: I love this this suit even though it has a few tiny hangups.
A few stats:
I’m about 5’10 and about 150. I ordered a medium and a large, the large fit perfectly.
The water was around 90° and the sun was about as unforgiving as it gets.
Surfed about 3-5 hours a day. Even bodysurfed in it.
This suit did exactly what I’d hoped. No trampstamp sunburn and no horrible chaffing from my board shorts. (My previous boardies were fancy pants a “no chafe” men’s pro model that shredded my legs. One of my guy friends mentioned that it wasn’t your legs those board shorts are looking out for, but your balls. Great. Gotta love men’s gear.) My upper thighs did get pretty sunburned the first day or two, but it was a huge relief not to have seams cutting into me.
As far as warmth, I was cooking in the 90° water, but I’m sure they’d be fine in water in the 70’s. The shorts are lined and the top has enough coverage that it should keep warm in semi-tropical destinations. I’d still wear a bikini underneath both to make it easier to hop in and out, yay more boob support, and because the top is clingy (like any other rashie.)
Comfort: Totally comfy.
Cuteness: A-freaking-dorable
Style: Tons. I half joked that with the retro superhero style and my retro singlefin shorties, I might just rip a hole space/time and fall into the late 70’s surf scene.
The nitpicks: I only had two tiny little hangups.
One was the zipper. While easy to get in and out of, the zipper isn’t very robust and un-zipped itself while duck diving a shoulder/head high set. When I got outside, I tied the zipper cord to my bikini strap and that seemed to solve the problem. I’m thinking about sewing a little loop or something to it to keep the zipper in place.
The folks at Seea recommended the Hermosa One Piece as it has a tie instead, but I love the look of the Swami’s. I’d prefer the superhero style over the girlie style.
Second: the waterstripes are not exactly colorsafe. The medium I bought had a little bit of color stransfer from the stripes and, as you’ll see from the photo: they faded in the sun.
I’d mentioned it to the Seea folks and they said they’d already addressed the problem with newer fabrics and patterns.
I’m planning to wear this suit till it wears out. It’s a great little suit. I’m not deterred by the zipper or the faded stripes. I’ll probably pick up a second suit if I’m looking at a longer surf trip.
Another plus for Seea, their customer service was just fantastic. I chatted with a few different people in the whole purchasing process and all of them were just lovely. These suits are California made by good peeps.
Thanks, Seea!
Surf: 6.9 ft at 10.8 s from NW at 305°. Low Tide.
I probably should have quit while I was ahead, but of course I went for another surf before the Holiday. Today was a mix of long lulls and some stomping closeouts. Uff.
I got plenty clobbered almost right off the bat. Was in the wrong place looking at a close out folding over and no were to go. I tried using some of my free diving course techniques. I got a big breath. I tried not to blow out any air while tumbling around. I kept telling myself: “I’ve got at least two minutes. I’ll be okay.” But in the whipping around and, what I’m pretty sure was me getting sucked backwards over the falls, I was still pretty scared. Coming up, I couldn’t really get a breath. It felt like there was a big bubble in my gut and I couldn’t get much in. The second wave, I wasn’t feeling as confident. The third, even less. I belled in, hacked for a while, then headed back out.
Once back out, I didn’t make much of myself. I missed a lot of waves.
I dunno. I’ve been having a ton of trouble. I’m pulling out of waves too early, thinking I’m getting into them too late. I think I’m just scared about getting stomped. I don’t really know what to do about it.
But I managed one decent wave in, so that’s something!
Surf: 5.3 ft at 14.8 s from the W at 265°. High tide. REALLY high tide.
Happy to have taken my own advice and gone for something a little easier.
Rolling up to the lot, there was only one peak working in the high tide. By time I’d suited up, there must have been 50 people camped on it. The first wave I got was fun, but heart attack inducing as I swooped around people on a nice long right. There were people nearly standing on the sand trying to catch the shorebreak. Yiiiii.
I paddled north to find something a little less crowded. It was bigger (though all of chest high) and either closed out or shorbreak, but I did manage to get something worthwhile.
I walked back to the lot to find that crowded peak was finally reasonable. While approaching 9am, I figured it was worth getting a few more. Happy I paddled back out. I managed to get a couple right and one great little left zipping me all the way to the sand and off to work. Yay.
Surf: 2.0 ft at 10.5 s from the W at 276°. High tide.
This was probably one of those days where I should have said “yeah, you guys go to Ocean Beach, I want to take it easy” and headed south. But I didn’t.
Things weren’t rough, waves were fine, but I just couldn’t get into anything and was getting really frustrated. I was already grumpy enough after waking up to find my roommates had trashed the kitchen again. I couldn’t really get over being mad to focus on surfing. Yuck.
I finally got a pity wave to the inside where I struggled to get a follow up wave on the inner bar. Nada. Bellied in disappointed.
At least the sun was out and the beach was beautiful as always.
Surf: 2.3 ft at 13.3 s from WSW at 257°. Low tide.
Reports from Bolinas sounded flatter than flat. Andrew was still looking for a lesson (and looking to avoid Linda Mar) so we wound up at Ocean Beach.
I’m still pretty convinced the Beach is a terrible place to learn. With the low tide the inner bar was just dredging and the whitewater was super shallow. Not the best place to learn.
He caught white water for a while, I rode a few waves on the edge of a rip. Ehhhh. Not exactly a “surf” day.
Surf: 3.6 ft at 9.1 s from the W at 270°. Low tide.
After last week’s pint sized glass fest, I was really hoping for perfect little cruising waves. Sadly no, it was mostly closeouts. I got one or two decent, real rides and then a lot of drop and wash.
Funny moment of the day, Brien dropped in going left, Beamer going right. Beamer cannonballed over Brien. >_< Whew. That's some small wave acrobatics.
Surf: 8.5 ft at 10.8 s from WNW at 293°
I spent some time watching the storm surf over the weekend. Saturday was almost tempting (although huge and crowded, it was smooth and looked great) but Sunday had that mixed up brown sludge look that made me question the sanity (and sanitation) of a Monday surf.
Thankfully, low expectations were exceeded. I had some fun rides and a little bit of improvement. This morning’s session included a few little cutbacks (getting quicker on these) and got in to plenty of waves. It’s getting much easier, especially at our little pointish left. Still having some trouble in the beach break, especially with closeouts. On the log you can get in early and squeak out a little bit of wave in a closeout. Sitting further inside feels more like I’m going to get whalloped than I’m going to squeak out a ride. Since some days closeouts are all there is, I’m still working on it.
