Yearly Focus

Surf Mavericks: Update 3

This weekend I took my Mavericks gun out for a paddle in the small waves on Bolinas, CA.

To give some back-story, about a year ago I decided I wanted to surf Mavericks and took the first step I normally take when facing new challenges; I bought a surfboard. I named her ‘Hail Mary Mother of Grace’ because some day when I take her down off the wall racks to surf, it will be accompanied by much prayer from my loved ones.

greg-and-hail-mary

This weekend wasn’t that occasion, but it was the first time in a year she left her perch in my living room. I wanted to get familiar with how she paddled, how hard it was to duck dive and how the rails held the face of a wave.

Paddling a gun is different than anything else I’ve ever been on. It sits high in the water like a longboard, but it is so narrow that it rocks easily, requiring a lot of core to keep it stable. The nose has a ton of rocker, meaning it sticks out of the water, but there isn’t much foam, making it easy to get too far forward while sitting. Finally, whenever I’m on a board with that much foam, I’m used to having at least 10″ of fin beneath me – Hail Mary has a thruster setup, so there wasn’t the hold I expected.

It’s a good idea to be familiar with equipment before trying something new though, so I’m glad I had the chance to paddle a bit.

One last note on Hail Mary. The script below is written on the deck. I have no idea what it means, though. Anyone have an idea what it says, or even what language it is?

hail-mary-writing

Here is how I’m doing at holding my breath:

Mar-breath-holding

As I neared the 3 minute mark my vision started to go blurry so I started breathing again. Getting that next minute and a half will probably be a combination of being familiar with the feeling of being oxygen deprived along with additional lung capacity and decreased oxygen need.


Shoulder: Wrapping up PT, more strength training needed to keep stress off of the joint

Breath Holding: 2:52

Days to Go: 265

Times surfed on Hail Mary: 1