Surfing Carolina style

After breakfast yesterday morning, Rick and I headed for the Isle of Palms.  We left my car at the Fort Moultrie beach access, drove north and picked up Eric Mims at his house, and parked Rick's truck at the 57th Street beach access.

The wind was blowing slightly offshore but was creating some nice waves.  Eric, as both the local and the person with by far the most ocean-paddling experience of the three of us, offered his advice on launching through the shore break and maintaining a safe distance from the shore as we rode the downwind southward toward my parked car.  And off we went.

My confidence was shaky after Saturday's epic struggle, and it took me several tries to get myself going through the shore break.  I was also wicked sore in my midsection, and I winced each time I sprinted to catch a wave.  But soon enough I was getting a decent ride, and I began to relax a little.

Eric, who has become an outstanding downwind paddler since moving to the Charleston area several years ago, glided off into the distance ahead of us, and for the rest of the session it was Rick and me toiling for those all-too-elusive rides.  The conditions were somewhat confused and every ride we got took a fair amount of work.  Adding to my difficulty was my lack of a surfing rudder: the shorter rudder on my boat is wonderful for the mostly-flat conditions I encounter in the Mid South, but here in the Atlantic I found myself rudderless each time I was on the crest of a wave, sprinting to catch the sweet spot.

But somehow, I held my own.  Having surfed a few towboat wakes on the Mississippi late this summer, I was working on an experience level that wasn't absolute zero.  All told, I think I got perhaps three long, sweet rides and a lot of little two-second boosts.  I would catch something and glide past Rick, and then he would catch something and glide past me.  On and on it went until we brought it home in the protected waters of Fort Moultrie.

And with that, I plan to start heading back west today.  I still have many thoughts about this weekend of intense surf ski action that I have yet to process fully and articulate here.  I will try my best to say more about it in the next couple of days.