Come hell or high water

           I am so excited to share with you my current summer adventure or misadventure with you. Having a Multiple Sclerosis (MS) diagnoses and a Spinal Cord injury (SCI) has left  me confined to a wheelchair and during the summer confined to my home and air conditioning. MS is a disease of the central nervous system (CNS). MS is managed with disease modifying drugs that reduce the frequency of exacerbation's or flare-ups. As a member of the MS community, we commonly refer to these drugs as C.R.A.B. drugs. Copaxone, Rebif, Avonex and Betoseron. All of which, I have tried with no effectiveness. I switched to a new drug called Tysabri that has brought the desired results. My biggest challenge during the summer is staying cool. The heat causes MS to exacerbate so I have kept my adventures to adaptive snow skiing, till this year now it is time to head for the beach. I have taken an inventory of what abilities remain and have come to a conclusion that my next step was kayak surfing

            Having spent a quarter of a century in the water for recreation, and as a rescue professional with the US Coast Guard. It would only make sense to turn to the water and continue it as to develop my expertise as a kayak surfer. Rosanna and I went to the San Clemente Inn near Dana Point to celebrate my 5 year anniversary of the accident that left me partially paralyzed from the waist down. We met up with Steve from Infinity Surfboards at a San Onofre surf spot to give it a try. The surf was 2-3 feet and very inconsistent. In preparation, I signed up for www.Surfline.com to get a feeling of what the surf was doing. It was nice to get that feeling of a connection that I once had.

            Our adventure began once we got to the spot and got unloaded. I was filled with aspirations of ripping it up as I once did when I was younger and watched videos online about kayak surfing.
Steve recommended we do our first time with a dual kayak to get a sense of what we will need to safely surf.
We embarked the kayak and I felt uneasy adjusting to being aboard. Balance would get restored as I acclimated to being on the kayak. We paddled into the surf zone and wouldn't you know it. The tide came up and shut down the surf at the peak we were at. Steve shared with me that the surf spot we were at was divided with surfers at a spot 100 yards away and kayak surfers at the spot we were at. We paddled for a potential wave and as we surged forward a rush that I didn't expect came over me and the wave subsided to the tide. I realized that despite all of my water experience that kayaking is a completely different animal. We paddled over to the group of surfers and were met with smiles. We decided to paddle back in and put an end to our session. I realized that I would have to do some flat water kayaking and build up my strength before we take on some waves. I felt a little humbled but at least I am aware of what I need to do to kayak surf and rip up some waves.

          Although we had some medical issues that prevented us with meeting a dear friend and missed the surf. We learned that we needed to start from square one. This is just the beginning to another great story not a dismal end.