I called my nephew Jeremy on Tuesday and suggested that we go kayaking and boogie boarding on Wednesday. A low tide and mild waves would create a large soup zone to play in on Salmon Creek Beach. Coincidentally, my sister Patty was camping in Stillwater Cove Regional Park up the coast and her son Todd was interested in boogie boarding. She called Jeremy and learned that we already had plans and joined us at Salmon Creek Beach early on Wednesday morning. I have decided that wearing the full wetsuit for a surf launch is no longer a good option for me. The neoprene resists the movement of my arms so much that it wears me out faster than the waves do. But as the "designated diver" for the boys I put on the complete wetsuit anyway. This tired me out faster and I needed to rest on shore often, giving me an opportunity to visit with my sister. Working hard in the surf I ended up getting a little overheated and enjoyed the times I got dumped into the waves.
Patty's youngest son, Nathan, was with her as well, but he was definitely not interested in getting into the waves. Between surfing, I rested on the beach and my kayak sat in a puddle in the sand. Nathan would sit down in the boat and rock it back and forth and PRETEND. Rocking the boat for him sometimes made him squeal in delight and sometimes made him upset. The thing that bothered him the most was any hint that the boat might get closer to the waves. Even turning the kayak so it faced out to sea was too much for him, he was more comfortable with the prow facing parallel to the waves. Occasionally a larger than usual wave would manage to wash a ten centimeter wave all the way into the puddle and this was a reasonably fun and exciting ride for Nathan. I told him that I was acclimating him to the waves, and soon he would be out there in the soup. But even mentioning that was enough to worry him and drive him out of my seat so I could try out the waves again myself.
The first time I hit the waves I found a rip current running northwest through the breakers. I followed this out at an angle through the breakers and made it all the way out to sea several times with no problems. The waves would break out to sea, then calm down and go under me to break again close to shore for Jeremy and Todd to play in. The first few times I surfed back to shore I managed to stay upright, in control, and reasonably dry. I got some incredible rides, carving down the face of the waves, moving very fast, and pulling ahead of the breakers. But after a few trips through the surf I started falling over in the surf more often and not getting the good surf rides. One reason for this was how tired my arms were getting. Another was because the rising tide moved the break closer to shore and became more dumpy. Also a large amount of water leaked in through the hatches and sloshed around messing up my balance. The boys got cold and tired eventually, and we quit in time for me to go home and get back to work on this weekday morning.