Bummer to hear about your shoulder problem Jeff. Years ago Bernie hurt his shoulder and it kept him out of the water a long time. That combined with his bad knees has really ruined his surfing. I let myself go when my hip started giving me problems, and my whole body is weak. Now we both have an uphill battle to get back to where we once were.
Funny that where I surf, it is more of a senior citizen’s social club. I go out during the middle of the day with a bunch of guys that are in their late 60s or early to mid 70s. We don’t get a lot of waves coming in, and we like to make sure everyone is getting waves, so in a couple of hours I might only get a handful of waves. I spend more time talking then riding waves. I think I would get more exercise paddling in the swimming channel for a half hour, but it wouldn’t be fun.
Thanks Harry. Your spot sounds chill. My spot was like that. When I retired (2021) I realized quickly there was no advantage doing the dawn patrol, because you have the before work crew. Over time I found that from 1pm to 3 pm was the least crowded. Someone, somewhere called it the “gentleman’s hour.” I wold usually find only a few guys out and even solo it on occasion. There was some wind texture but still was rideable. But lately our local beach breaks have zero sand bars. Just blocks long close outs so this spot is one of the few rideable waves in the area and it’s gotten really crowded at all hours. I would always carry three boards with me. A 7-4 if there was no crowd (it’s a mostly sloping wave so going smaller has limited benefit). An 8-3 if there was moderate crowd and consistent waves, and 9-3 if there were more than 15 people out or the waves were small and inconsistent.
Went to PT. My left arm has 20-30 degrees less range of motion than my right (good) arm. One ROM test, seeing how far up your dorsal spine you can lift your hand was extreme. My right hand could go about half way up the back. My left could barely lift above my hips. PT want to target my “serratus anterior” muscle to try and improve the shoulder blade rotating and stability. Hope it works. Luckily my other hobbies- running and board building are unimpeded.
When I had my heart surgery in 2013, I had to stay out of the water 6 months. I was weak so I made a hollow Balsa board for Bernie.
After my first heart attack in 1998, I started walking a lot then I started jogging, I never jogged or ran before. The bouncing from jogging ended up aggravating bad discs in my neck and in 2000 I had to fuse C4-C6. That left me out of the water about 3 months, and made it harder to turn my head and look back when paddling. Surfing has been good and bad for me, but I can’t stop. Right now my lower back issues have me concerned, seems like my back goes out 3 or 4 times a year now. It used to be once every 3 or 4 years.
Getting old came be hard. Take care of yourself.