Surfing... a mental game?

This morning was spent watching the waves at Bay Street. I woke up at 5:30am, and was out the door with my surfboard by 5:45am. When I got to Bay Street, it was blown out. So, I thought it was the same old song and dance -- woke up early for nothin'. Yea, yea, yea, Whiff, I never learn. I should do some research the night before. :-
So, I walked toward the beach to watch the surf, and finally met Dave - the Asian dude that see at Sunset and Bay Street now and then. He was the only one out on the beach, watching the waves. It turns out that he'd been surfing for 20+ years. Marlon had told me once that he was a really good surfer. I talked to him about my surfing ordeals and my progress. And he talked to me about wave selection. That I should really be choosy about the waves that I go for. He was surfing near me yesterday, and he had noticed that I took off on one particular wave that closed out. I actually remember the wave. I made the drop that was pretty steep (I was proud of myself about that), and then since the wave closed out, I didn't know what to do except to jump off. I tried to do a kick-out like others do, but of course, I failed. He said that I was doing well in my progress and to keep going out, but that I needed to study the waves. And to notice the rips, the peaks, the close-outs, the rideable shoulders, etc.. He said that wave knowledge is very important, and pointed out the close-out waves and the rideable ones from the beach.

At around 6:45am, Bay Street was starting to look okay to ride. But no one was out yet so I didn't paddle out since I don't like to surf by myself. I may get injured or die or somethin' and no one would even know. :-[ Sherman, Stephanie, and Gary finally came out at around 7am. Sigh.. if only something called work didn't get in the way. I had to be out of the water by 7:30am to make it to work by 9, so I decided to just watch from the beach for the little time that I had left. I saw the peaks and the close-outs that Dave was talking about. And I finally realized that I was just going for any waves that looked like it would break in the right spot. Not really looking for the peaks or shoulders. My mistake. Duh, right? I know that people had been telling me this but it never really registered. It's probably because I was so focused on trying to get my lame ass on my feet and making the drops.

So now (maybe tomorrow), I'll see if I catch better waves that let me turn and go down the line after I drop down the face...