The plan was to SUP for about 90 minutes at the Heliport launch, then handle some work. Joining George Pav, Jon Ford and the Wolf I caught all of two waves (about ten minutes of water time) when on my third I rode in too far, jumped off the board in the beach break, and had my 11'4" get thrown into the air before it came down just above my left elbow.
Much pain, big time "funny bone" sensation. After sitting on the beach for 20 minutes I thought I might be able to paddle through the pain (beautiful clean 3-4 footers rolling happy and wide) but every time I tried to catch a wave, I found I couldn't manage the strong stokes to get up to speed. Misery!
The other guys had all driven their 4WD's on to the beach, while I had a bit of a hike to the parking lot. With my old bad arm now my good arm, there was no way I could walk the board all the way back, and George generously loaded my gear onto his pickup. But a minute into the load a gust of wind ripped his SUP from the roof and sent it spinning right by my head! "What a post you'd have for the Puffin," George noted. Yeah…I arrived with a bad right shoulder. Then my dinged left arm made my shoulder seem healthy. Now if only I might have had my head bashed open by a board…
George's ride suffered a pair of dings, unfortunately, but at least the board was on land so no water was taken on. Me…I need to take a few days away from these dangerous SUP boards.
(I do not have bulging triceps. That's all bruise above my elbow.)
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