Greetings from sunny Southern California

[dsantosyoga]

Hello,
Taking a moment to introduce myself. I'm Darren and I've been reading these forums for about a year. Started surfing about a year ago. My home break is Doheny State Beach. Besides surfing, I'm also into Ashtanga Yoga and Slacklining. When I get into a new activity I tend to go "all in" and other hobbies go to the wayside. Luckily all my years practicing yoga (15 yrs), and the balance I've gained from learning to slackline (1.5 yrs) have transferred favorably to my new surfing habit.

I'm 42, and my first taste of surfing came upon an 8' foamie. After a few good sessions I moved onto a 9' Stewart high performance board. After a few solid months on the Stewart (which I beat up pretty badly surfing low tide at Doheny's Boneyard break), it slowly became waterlogged and I began having lots of trouble catching waves with it. I eventually began taking the foamie back into the water so I could start having fun again. Once I was able to get my wave-catching mojo back, and getting better and better with bottom turns, I got myself a barely used Ohana Kemp 7'6" funboard. It took me several sessions to re-learn how to catch waves with the shorter board. And I'm finally back at a point where I can catch waves, bottom turn left and right (I'm a goofy footer), and ride down the line.

Despite my progress I'm not yet confident enough to move north a few miles to Salt Creek, which is a short boarders haven. My biggest challenge are on crowded Doheny days where the longboards dominate the lineup. Being on a 7'6" board, I must take off later. And often find myself almost being run over by wave hogs who are already riding the nose by the time I'm paddling for the same wave. I'm finding myself having to put on the brakes to avoid the situation. Its frustrating to say the least. In order to overcome this, I surf at dawn to avoid the crowds, usually Friday-Sunday. So I consistently get my 3 days/week sessions. I feel blessed. Best way to go to work on a Friday is after a surf session.

Anyway, I'd like to express my gratitude to the expert posters on this board who have helped my progression. Any advice from those familiar with Salt Creek would be much appreciated.

Namaste,
Darren

[surf patrol]

HI Darren, welcome to Surfing Waves, and thanks for a great intro.
Good to have you around.

[Big H]

Hi....welcome....I remember there was a bloggy thread with info on Salt Creek....cataloged 6 years of development....let me look for it and I'll put up the link.

[Big H]

Here it is...epic thread! I'm going to read it again.

Salt Creek is mentioned and described; not sure exactly where but the whole thing is worth a read esp. since you surf many of the same breaks.

viewtopic.php?t=15345

[steveylang]

Welcome!

Were you taking your longboard out with dings/cracks in it? Have you tried Suncure/Solarez resin? It's pretty easy to patch up the smaller stuff (if you're not too worried about cosmetics), and pretty cheap for a tube.