Last Chance Nica Dance

Our last day in Nicaragua brought one last chance to grab that elusive barrel. With my girlfriend on the beach shooting pics, the day also brought what Chum likes to call "Camera Courage", i.e. the go-for-broke tube 'tude that generally results in a good pounding and, if you're lucky, a few decent pics. I errored on the pounding side.

This first sequence I like to unimaginatively call "Faceplant":


It starts with bit of a late take off but with plenty of time to get down the line....


Followed by a short drop before a quick bottom turn...


A bottom turn into a...wait, where's that front foot going?....


Doh! There goes another one.

This next sequence is a tad bit more promising in that both feet got on the board but the close-out barrel soon made sure they didn't stay there for long...





In truth, this trip wasn't really about the pursuit of barrells for me - I'm still just happy to get down the line. Nicaragua was, like you guys have pointed out, about surfing every day and improving. One of the many areas of improvement for me was going backside. The fast, steep drops in Nicaragua gave me an opportunity to work on my backside attack and specifically grabbing rail.





Three weeks surfing in Nicaragua has definitely helped my surfing and I've seen parts of waves I've never thought possible but I can't help thinking that even if I had another three, six or even 52 weeks here, I'd still have a lot of improving to do. Then again, I suppose that's the beautiful thing about this pursuit.

Out of my element

Surfing in Nicaragua has been humbling if not down right humiliating at times. But there have been moments of bliss (often followed by a good pounding).







Needless to say, Chum faired much better than me in the style and wave count department...check out his pics at Sissyfish.