Surfing Trip #1...La Jolla Beach

Being 30 minutes from the West Coast beaches makes me want to drive to them all the time. Fortunately, I was able to do that on Monday because we had a complete day off from training. My friends (Jasmine, Matt and Mike) loaded up into my car around noon (we had to sleep in first!) and headed to Mission Beach.
The day before, I visited Maggie at her house. We saw a movie (Eight Below…very cute Disney tear-jerker) and she let me borrow a long board and a wetsuit.
So I had a big 9 foot board on my roof and we were on our way to the beach! Unfortunately, Mission Beach was not the place to be…the waves were crap and there was no one in the water! So we kept driving, through Pacific Beach and over to La Jolla. La Jolla was the place to be…there were a couple of other brave souls in the 54 degree water on their boards. The waves were nice (and small). Perfect for learning to surf!
I pulled on the wetsuit and headed out! Unfortunately, I’d be fine in the waves if I was just body surfing…easy. But put me on a 9 foot board and the waves are VERY scary! They just look SO big, especially when I’m on the top of the wave, about to catch it! So, I stuck to the already broken waves, and practiced standing up on the board. That was good enough for me…I’ve got to start somewhere!
I got out of the water after about 30 minutes and then Jasmine put on the wet-wetsuit and grabbed the board for some wave time. She was pretty good and had fun in the water while the guys and I threw a Frisbee around on the beach.
We stopped by a café and grabbed some hot chocolates for the drive home. It was a fun way to spend a day off in Southern California…and we’ve already got another day off next Monday…I wonder what we’re going to do!? But before Monday…the team is going to practice open water swimming on Saturday morning (I think at Coronado Beach) and Maggie is going to met me afterwards for some lessons! I think I’ll be a bit more confident if I have someone who knows what they are doing…and willing to give me pointers!