I was nursing a hell of a hangover that morning and actually that afternoon, too. I missed out on the morning, but Shan text me and said it wasn’t good. I really needed to get wet. No matter what I do in a day, surfing at least gives me the feeling that I accomplished something; it’s great that surfing can do that for you.
I scored on the free parking on 45th again right before 5:00 P.M. As I looked down at the ocean I could see that the current was pretty strong and moving south. It looked like there was a little bit of size, but there was so much wind that the surf was funky. There was a lot of chop, and the surf looked sloppy, overall.
Not that many people were out, which was a surprise seeing as how it was a Saturday. Even in shitty conditions, there are normally some long boarders that will go out no matter what and other people that have a similar addiction as I. I paddled out where about four people were. It didn’t take long to catch some waves. The average wave height was about four feet, and the set waves were close to six. Most of the waves I got didn’t open up, and I rode a lot of the turbulent foam to shore.
The inside was a little tough to paddle through, but since the waves weren’t too dumpy, it was easy to manage. The surfers around me left. I turned to look at the parking lot, and it was close to completely empty without any fresh surfers changing or approaching. I paddled south to get close to another group. I don’t like to surf all by myself if I can avoid it, and I don’t mind hanging on the outer edge of a group of guys. You never know.
I was lucky enough to actually get on a couple waves that opened up: a left and two rights. Due to the sloppiness and lack of shape, as soon as I popped up, I had to charge down the line as fast as possible to get some time on the open face. On one right, the wave built up into a wall, and I either had to hack it or go over it. I tried to go over it, but I wasn’t high enough, so the whole wave basically bitch slapped my right ear, neck, and head. It fucking hurt. It was literally like the wave was a huge hand, and it just knocked the shit out of me. I am not good enough where I can make something out of that wall. It looked like a perfect platform to set you up for a boost of air, but I’m too far from that stage.
I surfed for exactly an hour. I caught my last wave all the way to shore, and I didn’t want to deal with the paddle back. I don’t know if the tide was high, but it was a long paddle to the line. There was so much turbulence in the ocean, and it didn’t help that I was still hungover. When I left I only saw two guys surfing Porto and a little group by Rosecrans. The ocean was deserted- an eerie feeling.
No comments:
Post a Comment