Tokyo Dad

Surfing in Chiba

I was lucky enough to spend the weekend with my family on the Boso Peninsula in Chiba this weekend, which gave me a chance to go surfing for the first time in over a year!

We also took our son into the sea, although the movement and noise was a little bit scary for him, so we took him back to the swimming pool outside the hotel where he was a lot happier. Hopefully the saltwater (it was also a saltwater swimming pool) will do his skin some good, as it always seems to help mine.

It was great to get back in the water again, even though the waves weren't that great and, happily, I found that my new exercise regime has given me more stamina and made me more supple, whereas Muay Thai seems to have improved my balance. The net result was that I even managed to stay upright for a few seconds!

That is not me in the photograph, needless to say...

Water Baby

My wife recently took our son to a free trial at a local swimming school, although I was unable to go due to work. Apparently, babies can start going to such pools from around four months old, although we thought that was a bit young. Originally, we were going to wait until he could walk, but a local pool was running a special offer, so we thought we'd take him along.

The good news is that, despite a shaky start, he seemed to enjoy it. All of the other children there were around two years old and rather noisy, so he was a bit intimidated at first but settled in later on. He was eventually kicking his legs and laughing, which makes me wish I could have been there. Still, if he does start going, I will be able to take him there on Saturday mornings, which will be great. Our one concern is that he seems to suffer a little bit with itchy skin, so we will have to be careful in case the chemicals in the water cause an adverse reaction.

Hopefully in a few years he will be able to go surfing with me!

Surfing in Ibaraki/茨城でサーフィン

For the first time this year, I made the trip out to Hasaki in Ibaraki prefecture and was very happy that I did so. Not only was the weather great, there were some sweet waves coming one after the other and, unlike last time, it wasn't too crowded. It's a bit of a hike from the car park to the sea, but it's well worth the walk. The water is pretty clean, the locals are fine and you can usually find yourself an uncrowded spot in the lineup. It's also not too far from Tokyo, so what more do you want? Take a look at the video below (from the Kameido Cup) which was filmed at Hasaki. The waves don't look too bad here, but it all went flat later on.

久しぶりに茨城県の波崎サーフィンに行った。天気も波も良かった！本当に気持ちよかった。明日は千葉県の九十九里に行くと思ってるけど波はどうかな・・・　台風は来るかどうか分からない。ビデオは去年波崎であった「Kameido Cup」。

The Long or Short of it

I managed to get out to the Choshi area of Chiba for a surf on Sunday with my brother-in-law, which would have been great if the waves weren’t crap and there were about a hundred less people. Compounding my frustration was the fact that every time a decent wave came it was gobbled up by a throng of longboarders.

Which brings me to the question that has been niggling at me for a while: go long or not? I know for a fact that I would catch loads more waves – and probably have a lot more fun – if I added a longboard to my quiver. But do longboarders hog waves? Do shortboarders waste them? My friends tell me I shouldn’t consider a longboard until I turn forty (in just over five years time) but I’m not sure I want a few more years of paddling like a madman to catch ankle-biting waves when I could be riding them all the way to the beach with a lot less effort. Plus it might nice to paddle around with my son on a longboard as they’re so buoyant. Not yet, of course, as he’s not even a week old, but in a few years. Maybe.