"La Madera ya esta muy alta..."
"La Madera ya esta muy alta..."

too high. not good.

I recently went for a surf, and hung out in the smalls for 2 hours, surfing by myself and having a great time while my more experienced co-horts jammed in the big boy area. At the end of my surf, I paddled out to where they were, and immediately got caught in the wrong spot on the right wave. What could have been an epic ride, was a fear-bag, destined for pain. As I knew that i was too high up, and no time to act, I held on to my board, and just ... fell. As I was tumbled underwater, i felt the current take me, and miraculously, came out the front, popped up, and rode the wave. I lucked out, and laughed the whole way. In-experience helped me survive. A few weeks later, in a similar situation, I had the time and maybe slight experience enough to pull off the wave, and not bail... a local Mexican surfer looked at me and said "La Madera ya estaba muy alta!" which means "The wood was already too high on the wave" - thus, on a cliff, destined to bail. Those words stick with me, as does the experience, which I laid down in pencil above.