Nothing says Spring break

like 22 stitches! 

It's the Lorin way; I have to end every trip with some sort of calamity.

Not to ruin the ending, I'll start at the beginning of the day. It was beautiful; hence, we were stoked. On top of the that, the rumor was that the surf was going to pick up. Hence, extra stoke. If you didn't know this, since I am an engineering major and all, stoke + stoke = AWESOME.

We paddled out into the surf and caught rides right away, then got stuck on the inside of the wave set, fought our way back out and repeated. For three hours.

It is a crazy feeling to catch a wave, race back to the line up so as not to get crushed by incoming waves, see another set coming in, turn just in time to have the wave right on our tail, and catch it for a ride. Each ride is followed by the feeling of lead heavyness in our arms as we paddle for another wave, driven by desire to get one more ride.  Finally, three hours in, we both feel like we might pass out if we don't get food, so we head in to fuel up. 

This is when the story gets interesting. We head back out to get another surf session, and the waves get weird  You see, the swell at this point was shifting , so there ended up being two swells coming from opposite directions, converging on the break we were trying to surf. It was confusing, and we were tired.

I paddled to catch an incoming wave, and just by fluke, didn't have enough speed, nosed in and fell in front of my board. Almost every single ride in surfing ends with the surfer falling into the water. At every skill level it is pretty rare to not hit the water, when, well, surfing. So I fell in, no big deal, but my board caught in the wave, and I felt it hit me in the head. Not hard, per se, but enough that I wanted to take a breather back at the lineup. I turned my board and paddled back out, when Hannah asked me kind of worried, "Are you all right?! Yeah. You're bleeding."

"I'm bleeding? Oh, I guess I am bleeding. We better head in, huh?"

 "Yeah!"

So we went in, and despite blood dripping down the front of my wetsuit, because  blood + water = more blood, I rode a wave in.

From there the story get less interesting but still entertaining. We went from the break, hitched a ride to the urgent care center, went to the hospital ER, then shuttled with our awesome friend Jackie off to the plastic surgeon. By the end of the day, we were starving but still smiling. 

Well that's it for spring break. A little bit of everything, including a few games of tag with our great host Eric and the kids.

Until next time, I think I'll dream of waves.

my feet!

Whew! Is it only day three? With all of the running and SUPing, my feet are killing me, like full out waddle type of hurt. So instead of going on a morning jog, we went on a morning acrobalancing adventure on the beach. I'm pretty sure we entertained quite a few beachgoers!

After lunch, we met up with a family friend for a hike. Who knew that just over a ridge, all of the fog would be replaced with scorching heat? Enjoying the sun and moving at a clipping pace, I was glad to fianally put my feet up  when we arrived home.

wildlife and waves oh my!

Our sick ride

Not a bad selection

We woke up to the smell of the ocean. It was wonderful, filling. After running on the beach, getting sand between our toes, we were ready for a day of surfing. We weren't going back to San-o unfortunately, the break of all breaks, but we figured that we could rip the local break just as well. And we did; after a few hours of catching pretty good rides, we decided a paddle was in order. So we headed out towards a rock pile two miles away. About halfway there, I looked out and saw a boat stopped out a bit. I knew it was whale season, so I figured that there might be something to see. When we saw other SUP'ers headed out as well, we started sprinting and got out pretty quickly. Right in front of us, not more than 10 yards, surfaced two giant grey whales. We stood there and watched in amazement for another thirty minutes before we could even tear ourselves away. On the way back, we joked that the only thing that would cap off the day would be a couple waves in and some really good food. You know what? We got them both!

good food

A Typical So-cal day

California. It just feels good to say it. Let me tell you, it feels even better to be here. After a term of go, go, go, it is nice to sit back and enjoy, Or to surf... A lot. We are staying three blocks from the break with our friend Eric, not a bad setup at all. We have the option to go to the beach pretty much whenever we want, but today is an especially flat surf day. Walking down to the beach I recieve a text from Eric. "San-o Beach in thirty, the waves are there."

We run back up, get ready and jump into the car. As we drive closer to San-o, the marine layer of haze starts to lift, and we arrive under perfect California sun. It is crazy. Although I've seen people parking each other in on powder days in Steamboat, this blows that out of the water - people are parking each other in at a surf break. Not just any break, this one goes on for miles. We find a parking spot at the very end of the break, suit up and paddle out to make our first run at it. The waves are perfect for my first day back. Strong enough to gain some speed, but crumbly with long rides. The first ride feels amazing. I paddle two strokes and am going strong, turning down the line. Hannah even catches her first waves. Before we know it, it is 2:30, and we havn't eaten lunch.

Since we are starving and know that Laguna will still be under a marine, we decide to cap off our special So-Cal surfing day with a stop at Pedros for some greasy tacos. By the time we return to the house, the world is spinning from exhaustion, and by 6:00 I wonder whether it is late enough to go to bed. The best!

Kitchen Table Part2

It's done! It's in! Isn't it pretty?! The features are a drop-leaf, drawers that actually work, and a hardwood table top! Yippee!!

Virgin burn!

I have been practicing. Ok, maybe I have been a bit obsessed, but I have been practicing my fire staff skills every spare minute. Study break? Staff. Lunch break? Staff. Circus practice? Staff. Now in case you are wondering what a staff is, fire staff is a stick with two wicks – one on each end. When you soak the wicks in kerosene then light them, the staff makes an amazing hissing noise and feels pretty badass as well. But with all the excitement comes a bit of danger – you could light yourself on fire. For this reason, I wanted to have my moves down. Once I was ready, I picked a date – the last day of finals and got stoked! Here are some pics from the result – my first burn! Don’t worry – I didn’t light myself on fire!

The Circus

After buying the silks, it seems that every person I talk to has done either circus or some circus activity in high school. One of the people I talked to, an engineering 3-2 transfer from Vassar College, was even in the Vassar College Circus. We decided that there was a serious gap in the number of circus activities at Darmouth. The idea for the Northern Lights Circus Club was born. Since then, we have been recognized by the college, received funding, and bought a ton of circus stuff.

 

So far we juggle, hang from silks, perform acrobalance as shown below, and spin fire. With Jacob, president, Hannah, treasurer, and me as the vice pres, we’re having a full out blast. I have been getting into the silks, firestaff and acrobalance, and I am hoping to spin fire before the end of the term!