Although I returned to the sea, I was definitely not in top form.  For this reason, I was going out with one of my smaller boards because I thought it would be easier to deal with less board in the water.  In a way, I was almost glad b/c I had missed the blue bullet.  Luckily, that first day back was an ideal one for the bullet, which is shown below:

This board lends itself to steeper days where waves are breaking closer to shore, as opposed to mushier, slow-developing waves that break out in the distance. 

I had to try to stop feeling sorry for myself out there.  As added motivation I looked up the one-armed surfer-girl who lost one of her arms to the jaws of a shark.  I figures that if she could tear it up with only one arm, I'd have no excuses for not so doing with my 1 1/2 arms.

As a result, I ceased my mental griping, tried to use the broken left elbow only for paddling, and use the right arm almost exclusively for taking off.  Needless to say, this was easier thought than done as well as the amazing Bethany Hamilton: