So I went surfing at Bondi Beach on Saturday and Sunday again. Both days the conditions were ideal for learning.. fairly calm with 3-4ft waves rolling in, along with blues skies .
Some of the other more experienced surfers were out too, amazing to watch and you learn so much from just talking to and observing others. Physically though I think you need powerful shoulders to be able to get the initial speed on your board, strong arms/abdominal muscles to be able to quickly get up on the board, and ofcourse balance/finesse to be able to avoid falling off straight away. I fail on all 3 counts, but am thinking of doing some swimming to build up the arms/shoulders. Not so much a problem this weekend, but one of the hardest aspects i'm finding is actually swimming out through the breakzone; anything bigger than 4 ft and i'm knocked off my board and washed up on the shore. I end up using about half of my energy just getting out to the waves.
This article offers 3 techniques for paddling through waves: Pushing Up. Busting Through, and the Eskimo Roll. I've tried all three and usually just try busting through, but i don't think i'm able to get the board fast enough and so end up gettting carries backwards eachtime, particularly when doing the eskimo roll. I think i need to get a smaller, lighter board so that duck-diving is an option. Here's a good thread on duck-diving for anyone interested
Iam still blown away by how good Google reader is. it is simply the most efficent way to trawl through unread news items. As you read items it scrolls them down one at a time and marks them unread (all using the space bar). And, it is all very well done with AJAX. As I continue using Google Reader I've been looking through my reading behaviors and stats and have learnt alot about my reading habits. If anyone hasn't tried this yet, i highly recommend it.
Currently reading Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, listening to Hed Kandi BeachHouse 2007, and watching Mantracker on Nat Geo Adventure channel.
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