4/20/10 Silver Strand Beach Oxnard 9m Wavetray

[ChrisPSherwin]

One year to the day after I destroyed my ankle ( 4 ligaments, 1 fibula, 2 surgeries, 8 screws and 1 plate ) I returned to the Ventura area. I wanted to go to Emma Wood, where I blew everything up, but there is no sand there at the moment. So I rolled down to Silver Strand. It rained hard all morning, and the forecast was for stormy weather. When I pulled into the parking lot there was Sean. Sean was the one who pulled me up to the rocks, packed up my gear and drove my car to the ER one year ago. Two others from the day of imfamy were there as well.

At 2 it cleared out. I rigged my 9m, others had 6, 7, 8.5 and someone had just come in with a 12.

Waves were overhead, and it took some getting used to, but I had a great time. Surfing waves was the main course today, and it was super choppy with 28-35 mph winds. I was quite lit, but in those waves it's like going up hill in slush, when it DOES smooth out, you realize how overpowered you are, but most of the time on the water you're having fun and trying not to get hammered by the waves. Launching and landing was a bit hairy though.

On the way home, stop signs were rattling, and I had to help some people clear a tree from the road on my way out of Oxnard. Tomorrow is forecast to be double overhead 25-40 mph. Maybe I'll just watch? To be continued...