Independence Day weekend started with a "bang" - when the cooling tower on the Surf Bus exploded on the way out of town. Luckily the local parts dealer stayed 'till 6. A couple of hours of wrenching later (friggin' German engineering) and she was back in operation, and the Sweet Little Thing and the dogs and me were headed for the beach, but too late to surf Friday nite.
Saturday morning was wet and blown out at the "home break" so headed north for wind protection. First go out was a workout, even though the swell wasn't that big, there wasn't much space between waves. Lots of closeouts. Got three okay waves, and getting back outside after each was ridiculously hard. Laid in the sun for a couple of hours and went back out to smaller waves, but maybe a little cleaner as the tide came in. A couple of hours and a few decent waves later we packed up and went a couple of spots farther north and found some home town friends. Spent the evening sharing small little fun waves there, and beer and barbequed weenies on the beach.
Sunday morning it was back south and a lot cleaner and more lined up. Had about the best three our session I've had in a couple of weeks. The Sweet little thing got lots of rides, and the weather was as good as it gets.
Sadly, we had to go back to town for a wedding Sunday nite. Wasn't all bad though, a live jazz/blues band, good food and free local micro brews. Saw some old friends, and the "ceremony" was short and sweet, and actually quite amusing. Rather than traditional vows, the bride said something about how it was love at first sight, and promised to be faithful forever, blah blah blah, then the groom - I'm not kidding - said something about how they'd met at a grocery store, and "she just blew me right away". I have no idea what he said after that. I'll tell you, it took all the strength I've built up from hours on the water to keep that mouthful of Ninkasi from spraying all over the people in front of me.
Monday morning we picked up our 8 yr. old grand daughter and headed back out to the beach. Wrapped her in rubber, plopped her on a stick of foam and threw her in the ocean. A few belly rides later she's riding like a little surfer girl.

- first wave.JPG (63.24 KiB) Viewed 19383 times
Then old grampa paddled out with a few other gray-hairs and had about three hours of knee-waist high lefts on the incoming tide. Got lots of fun rides, quite a bit of tip time, and a pretty warm sunburn on the old bald noggin' to help me remember it all for the next few days.
Life is too important to be taken seriously.