And there was blood!

Today's afternoon attempt at surfing defined disappointing. I check the surf on the way back from Thousand Oaks, it looks good, so I quickly drive to my apartment, get my stuff, then head back out to County Line. It's a little windy and imperfect conditions, but the swell's big enough that that doesn't really matter: there are surfable decent sized waves.
I paddle out (which means walking to where the waves are plunging and booking it between waves) and in two minutes I have myself a nice shoulder + wave that's setting itself up perfectly for me. A good size, well defined right. I paddle for it, about three seconds after I start paddling before the drop there's a little chop in the water. My board's got some decent speed so this little chop pops my board up about a foot out of the water and gravity gives me mad speed when I smack back in. I was paddling so my hands were at my sides: in short, my nose got smashed hard against my board. The wave itself had a steep face. Pretty simple because of the conditions: straight long drop, bottom turn, and bail instead of anything else since I'd rather not get totally destroyed by 5 feet of water closing out on top of me. Paddling back out I think to myself that my nose was hurting pretty bad. When I'm back out past the breaks I run my hand across my nose to wipe off the snot, but instead of clear liquid there was a brutal red streak across the back of my hand. It's not broken according to the five people I've asked, so I'm safe. I had surgery on my nose less than two months ago, so injuries to it (two in as many weeks) just scare the bejesus out of me.
In truth: I'm really only pissed because I really really wanted to go surfing today. Instead I drove for an hour to surf for 5 minutes. At least I got my feet wet =)
Summary:
County Line, Ventura County
6'1" Al Merrick White Dove
1:00PM-1:05PM
3-4.5ft ~? period
Heavy onshore