dominicalito

On Friday we surfed at Dominicalito. It was rocky and the waves were big. But the rip current wasn't as bad as Playa Hermosa and Hermosa had 12 foot waves so there was no way we were surfing there.

I was supposed to turn on the waves because they closed out so fast but, like that dude in zoolander, I can only turn left

the beach at sunset

By Thursday the instructors had basically left me alone to do my own thing, which was fine. Except that I still hadn't quite got the hang of knowing which waves to catch. I would sit outside the wave and count and then try to ride the last wave of the set. Sometimes it was 4 feet. But sometimes it was 8 feet. I would paddle into a wave and hear one of the instructors yell "NO!!! FRANKI NO!!!" and then I would drop down the face of a big wave. The first time I did that I slid off my board (I blame the new wax that I wasn't allergic to) about two seconds after I stood up on my board. The wave broke right on top of me and I swear my body bent completely backward. As I rolled along in the washing machine I think my toes touched the back of my head. It kind of sucked but was fun at the same time.

Another time I caught a big wave but then failed to turn. One second I was on the face of the wave and the next second I was free falling. Somehow I landed on my board again. The wave broke on the back of my board so I moved to the front of the board to keep it balanced and then popped out of the white water, caught the secondary wave, and rode into shore. They better fucking upload that video or I will be pissed. A group of surfers who were not part of my group cheered for me. It was the coolest moment I've had surfing.

By friday I was able to get outside the wave without getting beat all to shit. I even found the channel on Dominicalito. Ez was not so lucky. She got hit by her surf board trying to get out and ended up with a huge knot on the back of her head (but was not concussed). And while outside the wave,  I drifted, without realizing it, and was distracted talking to one of the surf instructors who was showing me a cool wave formation on one of the rocks. Suddenly a big wave broke on us. I grabbed the rails and tried to do a turtle roll (I'm pretty proficient now at the turtle roll) but I grabbed the rails too far forward and the board smacked me in the face, taking off all the skin on my nose and parts of my chin.

Pretty.

We all swore we were going to bed by 10 o'clock friday since we all had to get up at 6 am. Instead I helped Ez pack (I didn't have much to pack but she brought half her wardrobe) and then we stayed up until 1 am talking.