Boogie in a wave

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Originally uploaded by icemakk.

I know I have not put too many blog entries on here lately. Warm, sunny weather, beaches,do you blame me? I have managed to catch a few waves on a boogie board. Not much of an accomplishment for an Aussie, but for a land-locked Canuck, with a bad wing, I am pretty happy.

I am still experiencing a lot of pain in my left shoulder, due to a tear in a tendon from my August car crash. Doing a crawl stroke brings searing pain, as does any over the head movement. I can do a breaststroke with no worries. The problem is getting out to the waves one must paddle overhead. I can do it with my right but not my left, so I look kind of silly as I paddle, one sided, out to the next wave. Then it is time to hang on and hope I don't get washing machined!! That is when the wave breaks over you and you get rolled over and over. If you do not have a good breath in you it can be a lot of trouble.

Yesterday there were weird waves due to a NE wind. A big sand bar had developed off show so I waded out to just body surf in those, too rough further out for my boarding skills. A unique back wash was happening where waves would bounce back from the shore, meet the incoming waves on the sand bar and then shoot straight up in a two-sided splash of 10 to 15 feet in height. If you time it right you can get in one and get lifted straight up and then back down. Lots of fun! Since you are only in 2 feet of water there is not much danger.

The day ended when some blue bottles appeared on the beach. A blue bottle is a small member of the jellyfish family, with a long stinger that can wrap around you and produce a very painful sting. I did not want to find out for myself so I just took the local's words as gospel and got my un-stung Canadian ass out of the water.