Photo: Jon Masters, at Nauset Beach.
So today, I needed to get out of town and drive aimlessly for a long time, anywhere. I headed out to the Cape, to Nauset Beach, and investigated surfing in between pining quietly to myself on the sand.
I had originally planned to go to Whitecrest beach this weekend, but as it turned out, I wasn’t able to leave the apartment until later today, so I decided to head somewhere more predictable – somewhere people have heard of and that is actually on the map (and known to my GPS). Nauset beach has reasonable surf, generally, so it seemed to suffice.
Arriving late in the afternoon (not that I cared particularly, I went more for the need to go drive 300 miles of aimless roundtrip on an afternoon than caring when I got there, or where I went), the surf conditions were pretty crappy, and I was struck with two minor complications – the surf rental shop, which is in town (and nowhere within walking distance of the beach) closes early, and buying a board proved to be a $300-$500 affair. If I had bought a board, getting it home would have been interesting…my car has no capability to haul a large surf board. I love that car, but it’s completely impractical 
I eventually decided that, I at least know where to go and how to get a board for another weekend, and they also offer lessons (I could do with improvement). Buying a full size board isn’t practical unless I can guarantee the weather so much so that I risk having the top down all day, board on the passenger seat – which would have worked today, but generally, you can’t guarantee New England weather on that level. I will instead get some rentals, and buy myself a small board that I can fit (somewhere, and somehow) into the car, without ripping the seats. The wetsuit remained a drysuit.
Since surfing didn’t work out quite as planned, I instead lay on the beach for a couple of hours, staring at the sky (in between writing in the sand), and continuing my ongoing theme of ponderance – on the topic of “why”. At one point, one of those aerial advertising banners flew over. It reminded me of a time when I called an aerial advertising company about flying a banner, with a special message, for a special someone, who’s no longer around. It’s funny how almost anything is enough to set off a train of memories.
Jon.