There is an inevitability to misjudging the size of the surf whenever I am involved. I am pretty sure that each and every time I have paddled out I've had that thought in the back of my head "this is a wee bigger than it looked from shore." Maybe there was a time when I had a local sort of break, or when I was going on a couple weeks of straight surfing when I wouldn't be so hoodwinked, but I think I can say there is a consistency to my poor eye-to-brain wave contextualizing. Then, of course, there is the inevitable gaffe of overstating the session size after getting out of the water. To overcompensate, I almost always try to play it cool. I won't talk in terms of feet anymore. I don't even know what that means anyhow.
Head high, shoulder, nipple, belly and knee. That's about how far I go. Oh, and ankle slappers. If it's overhead, it's conversationally head high. If it's head high, it's conversationally shoulder. And so on. If it's way overhead, there is a slight widening of eyes, so that one's got a sort of visual cue.
Surf reports strike me in a similar way. I can never quite get a handle on the physical realities of a surf report. There is a hint of something that's happening, but until I get there, I don't really know. And then, well, then I just misjudge it anyhow. Best to just show up and paddle out.
-Toddy
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