I was stuck in Orange County for the whole day, but I was determined to get wet before the sun went down. I got to Porto two minutes before 6:00 PM. Anyone that knows the south bay knows that, at this time of year, you’re surfing in the dark by 6:45 PM. There was no warm up necessary. I immediately put my wetsuit on and rushed 45th. The tide seemed a little low, but that didn’t matter because there was swell! There were 5 foot waves with open faces, mostly lefts.
Sure, it was a little windy, and there was some chop. It was by no means a “clean” evening, but there was size and shape, and that’s all that mattered. The coastline had a decent amount of surfers for it being that late. There was still people trying to rush it just like me. I was surprised that there weren’t more people there on a day like that. I had to compete a little with some of the people in the water, but I didn’t care because I was on a mission. Time was critical, sunlight was burning away, and I had to get as many waves as possible.
I wish I could’ve enjoyed the scenery and surf with some of my buds. The sunset and remnants of orange light reflecting on the texture filled water left me in awe and speechless. I could only stare, gaze, and appreciate.
My first wave was a left. I have been concentrating so much on rights that my performance hasn’t improved going front side. I popped up and drew a high line. I didn’t have enough speed, and I tried to do a tail slide on the shoulder and fell. Another left came where I tried to pump my board to gain more speed again, but the up and down pumping motion actually made my feet leave my board. It was like my body wanted to go faster, but I couldn’t make the board go with me. I thought that I knew how to pump my board to gain speed all along, but I guess I don’t know shit. My brother tried to explain it to me and told me to do the same carving motion that you would do on a skateboard. To me, that’s a little confusing because when I’m going backside, all I need to do is use the momentum of the wave to set me up for a hack. I need to practice his advice, but I also think that I need to draw a different line when going left.
My last wave was a right, which I had to out-paddle another guy to get in it. It was more of a closer, but I remember it being so dark that I had no depth perception on where the face was, or if I was going to purl or not. I called it at about 6:40 PM. I wish I would’ve got there earlier to take advantage of the awesome conditions. My anticipation was high for the following morning.
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