Marvin the Martian Lands on North Beach

Well it's been 5 straight days of surf and the last two have been epic. Huge overhead barrels that have been just relentless. Tuesday had a great day with the boys and the girls all out together at the bakery that ended up with a good old fashion west coast home-made sauna afterwards. Very nice to strip out of your wetsuit in 100+ degree sweat lodge. Then have a nice cool beer and smell the sweet scent of cedar. Yesterday had another amazing incoming swell that we took part of at Agate beach first, and when the tide got too high for there we booked to the keyhole break where the boys all showed up. After it got really pumping they brought out the video camera and Mike brought his waterproof into the water to get some great shots. I'm going to have to get a copy of some of those because I think he caught me dropping into a nice one and jumping off an 8 footer that closed out too quick. Geronimooooooo.....

Once again to put into perspective, 8 foot wave, 6 foot man puts my eyes at 14 feet in the air. I then drop head first into thousands of gallons of surging water that keeps you underwater for a very frantic and worrysome 15 - 20 seconds, then the foam of the wave becomes so 'squishy' for lack of a better word, that it's like climbing quicksand to get to the top. Sounds like fun eh?

On top of the big'er' wave business, fatigue is beginning to take effect. I think about my triathalon friends who exercise/compete for hours at a time. We are doing very much the same thing being in the water for sometimes 4 hours at a time, sometimes up to 7 or 8 hours a day. This is spent paddling, beating, duck-diving, being thrown, battered and bruised, in ice-cold water, oh yeah and occasionally we get to surf. I really think that the hormone levels and endorphins have an effect as well. Adrenaline and anxiety are truly heightened with such scary surf for beginners. After good long sessions in primo surf I'm not sure whether I want to laugh or cry. Very obscure, but extremely enlightening.

This feeling has really made me appreciate my migration to the Charlottes and realize that leaving Rupert was such an imparitive step. Although I had and still have very good friends from town, and had some great times in, and out of town, there were some people that were just mean and I still get a horrible pain in the back of my skull from a shot I took to the head. It is probably manifested too much now and I need to get over the difficulty and get to a point to where I will no longer dread visiting or even thinking about that city anymore. The departure from that town was very difficult and it's still taking me time to heal. Any suggestions on how to rid yourself of manifested pain?

But alas, this site is more about the good times, and my healing has been definitely worth the time on-island. Todays' pic is my windowsill covered in stuff gathered on the beach. Including Marvin the Martian, by far my favourite collectable. I've got a few of these beauty stones and shells boxed up right now, so perhaps some of you will be getting a package in the post soon as per the resolution to use the snail mail a little more often.

Back to resume writing. Going to have to rejoin the real world here soon. Have fun all!