Surfers

Surfing is the first order of the day in Capitola. By 5:30 AM surfers are arriving – almost two hours before sunrise and long before it was light enough for a photograph. Time to catch some waves before work beckons. One surprise for me was the number of girls and women surfing. When I was young, boards were very long and heavy – very few girls surfed.

On the Saturday we were there, it was the Women on Waves Longboard contest. I didn’t pick up a current longboard, but they cannot be as heavy as they used to be.

I heard one man proudly tell another “My daughter is surfing today” – not something fathers from my youth said often.

Contestants ranged from 13 (Juniors) – although they looked much younger – to mid-70s. It made me laugh to see the Senior category was for women 30 – 39! Anyone over 60 years old is in the Legends group.

Every morning brought out surfers of all ages – lots of geezers. Legends or not. Gray hair and a few years don’t stop these folks.