This weekend Emily and I played it pretty low-key. No grand adventure far away. On Saturday Em and I drove over to Home Depot and she picked out some paint and a hand power sander for the job. As she went to work sanding away at her clothes dresser I went for a pretty intense mountain bike ride up through MacDunn and back down Dimple Hill via Horse Trail. I left at 3:15 and was hoping to get back by 5 so I could get ready for my closing shift at Ruby’s. I made it back by 4:55 exhausted and had just enough time to buzz my hair, take a quick shower and get to work. Unfortunately the restaurant was dead and I ended up detailing the bar all night only to make about $30 for the evening. After I got home I went over to Nikki, Courtney’s and Brittany’s for a few drinks with the Ruby’s crew which was fun.
On Sunday Em and I got up around 10am, woke Kevin up and we all went over to Hartz’s place after picking up surf boards and suits at Holm’s place. We then headed to the coast for a day of surfing at Agate Beach off of Newport, OR. We rented Emily a wetsuit at a local board shop called “Aussie’s just down the road from Agate.
The first time we went out for a while Em and I got pretty battered by the waves. The waves weren’t that big so it was a good day for us to learn. Em and I are just starting to get the feel for how to read the waves so we can paddle back out and catch new ones. Both of us were able to stand up on the foamy breakers after the wave had broke and wasn’t as high. After about an hour of getting tossed around Em and I climbed back onto the beach to let the pros (Hartz and Kevin) catch some great waves further out. I drank a whole gatorade, ate some chips and then headed out for another session with Emily as Kevin and Hartz were finally headed onto the beach. I don’t know how they had the strength to stay out so long! During this second session I felt much more comfortable and was able to paddle out to the bigger waves on several attempts, although I got thoroughly trashed by them. But.... I think I finally caught my official first wave. I paddled hard down the face of it and just as I was hoping to one knee on the board about to stand up I started to hear it crash behind me as I stood. I asked Hartz if that was “catching a wave” and he said yes! So.. I apparently caught my first legitimate wave!
After returning Emily’s wetsuit to the shop we all headed to the Rogue Brewery for some tasters and great food. It was clear that we were all pretty beat from surfing and it was a tiring ride home to Corvallis for me. Emily and I always enjoy being at the ocean. Perhaps next summer we may invest in some wetsuits ourselves and a couple boards to really give the sport a go.
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