2009 Spring Break
I think it is safe to say I had an awesome spring break. I just stayed around town, but it was extremely nice, fun, and relaxing.
The first part of my spring break was spent around the house, surfing at my home break, the Cocoa Beach Pier, when there were waves, and hanging out with my family. The only thing I would have to complain about was the lack of waves all week long and I had just gotten two new boards so I couldn't really ride either of them. Besides that everything else was great.
Later on in the week my family and one of my friends went on our traditional seven mile canoe run through Juniper Springs in Ocala. We woke up super early and made the two hour car drive to Juniper where we rented two canoes and started our day. My parents were in one canoe while my sister, my friend, and I were in the other canoe. Now that I look back I am beginning to think that my parents just brought us girls along for their entertainment. You see, we weren't exactly the best at working together to paddle, and found ourselves running into trees and over grown shrubs most of the time while my parents made their way smoothly ahead of us (although they did accidentally flip their canoe when my dad got caught on a thorny bush). My friend was not really skilled in paddling a canoe, so after awhile I found myself doing most (all) of the work. One thing that was definitely freaking me out were the amounts of spiders that kept falling into the boat. My biggest fear in the world is spiders and for some reason every time we turned a corner or ran into some bushes, the boat would be invaded by large amounts of them! EEK! Even though it was a crazy paddle and an over load of spiders it was a great day with my family and friend, and I, without a doubt, got my days or even weeks worth of exercise in.
Well, one of my favorite contests of the year that I always look forward to is the Ron Jon's Easter Fest, held at the Cocoa Beach Pier and Shepard Park. To me this is never just another contest but more like a big fun get together for surfers from all over the east coast. Of course there is lots of surfing going on but a whole bunch of vendors come down and set up tents that are fun to go look around and hang out in. This year one company had some sort of bungie contraption set up so you could jump supper high off of trampolines, Best Buy had a big camper and they set up video games on the beach and there were plenty of food stands and people selling clothing of all sorts. So when the weekend of my spring break rolled around I had plenty to do to entertain myself and a contest to surf and possibly win some money as I was in the women's pro division. I met a really cool family with four girls that I got along with extremely well and made great friends with. One of the girls was doing the women's pro as well so we hit it off right away in the surf, having a blast and catching what little wave there was.
When it came time for me to surf my heat I was super pumped up and ready to take on whatever came my way. It was a four man heat and the waves were a playful foot or so and glassy. I was just glad I had my new magic board that seemed to be helping me in the small to almost flat surf. I started off kind of slow in my heat but picked up the pace a little ways into it and started to get some really good ones. For how it was I managed to get three hits on one wave and two hits on another. I felt really good about the heat and was ready for round two. Everyone said I surfed well during the heat but I ended up not making it through and placing third in the first heat. I have to admit I was supper bummed but I felt a little better when I saw the waves the next day when the final was suppose to go. On Sunday the conditions were FLAT! I don't think it was even possible to boogy board. The skim boarders were even having a hard time. They ended up not even being able to hold any heats that day and just split the money between the six remaining girls. Everyone came away a little disappointed but not too bad cause it was still a great fun filled weekend at the beach.
Going on to the next weekend after my spring break was the NSSA Regional's at Sebastian Inlet. I was signed up for three divisions; high school, explorer, and open women. The three days of the contest that I surfed, the waves were a consistent 3 to 5 foot and semi choppy, until Sunday, the day of all the finals when it finally glassed off a bit. I made it through all my quarters and semis surfing some smart heats, and advanced on to all three finals. Although it was relatively glassy, I was finding it difficult to pick off an open wave that didn't close out. During a free surf session I was super stoked to pull into a really nice barrel though. I just held the line all the way through and was able to get a nice one.
When it came to my first high school women's final of the morning I was just getting in rhythm. I managed to grab a couple good ones and even got a little head dip on one wave. I came out with first in that division. I don't know what happen to me, but after this final, I felt like I got out of sync. When the explorer final came around I got a little nervous trying to find a consistent spot were the waves were coming in good and was never able to get a solid wave under my belt. I ended up in fourth out of six girls in this final. In the last heat of open women I was still having a hard time finding my rhythm out there. I was able to get two good scores then I started to get nervous. I was running out of time and needed another good score on the board to get me up in the standings. I made the mistake of taking two little waves and could never get full momentum. Unfortunately, I ended up in fourth again in this division. As of right now I am just focusing on using this experience to better myself. I am glad to have made it to the finals and for now I just can't wait till the next contest.
P.S. We had a tornado warning at school and to my surprise when I got home part of our carport and porch roof had been torn off! We were the only house in the neighborhood hit. At least no one was hurt and we didn't have any water in our house. |
