Christian: "Watch out for the stingrays. Jeff and I have seen some big ones. If you fall off your board, don't step down."
Me: "How do you know they're stingrays, and not skate. We've seen plenty of skate before".
Christian: "They're HUGE."
Great. Crumbly knee-high waves at Ponquogue offering a little Saturday morning relief, except there are sea monsters just below the surface. I spend the two hour session falling ass-first, so as to not step on the stingrays, none of which I ever see.
Then paddling out a freshly breaking wave catches my attention. My weight was back on the board and I wasn't going to be able to step forward and hold the nose down, so I wisely raised my hand in front of my face in case the nose of the board got knocked up into me.
Board into hand. Hand holds paddle. I smash my lip with my Werner paddle. What will the wife think about my coming home with a fat lip? We have dinner plans tonight…I could be in trouble. Then I look down and see that I'm dripping blood on the board deck.
Great. Time to attract additional sea monsters. While the bleeding was minimal, the wind was coming up and the waves were getting messy, so after a few more rides I called it a day.
(Photo: Once the bleeding topped it were nothing to look at.)
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