GOOD CALIFORNIA SURF: SUN 11/07/2010 MORN

GOOD CALIFORNIA SURF:  SUN 11/07/2010 MORN

    We originally planned to take Jon’s international guests to surf in the morning, but Jon nor his friends seemed too enthused about the idea.  I planned to surf with Cheryl and meet Klaude at 26th.  Due to the time change, I was surprised to wake up at 6:10 A.M. with blue lit sky outside my bedroom window.  I kissed Lauren goodbye and headed out.  It took a while to find free parking, but I scored on Highland and 31st.  There was a sign that read:  compact cars only.  Well, my car didn’t fit that category, but I thought it would be worth the risk.  I’m a cheap bastard nowadays, and paying at the meter gets pretty annoying, especially after the city of Manhattan beach spiked the fees (assholes).  I took my time to prep my equipment, and I shot a text out to the DRC.  I would later find out that only Jon received the text, and that the rest of us would meet by chance.

    The line up seemed packed.  I walked to 26th on the shore.  There seemed to be random peaks everywhere.  I had to go a little more south to find some dead space between some surf groups.  Once at the line up I had to wait my turn.  A little north of 26th breaks really well, and there were nice right handers that came through.  Where I was, there were some decent waves, but the choice ones took a bit longer, and the ones in between were closing kind of fast.  I went for some bombs.  They were still fun, but a steep slide down was as far as I went.  A couple waves opened up, but nothing really memorable.  I surfed from seven to nine.  When I caught the white water in, I felt drained again.  My shoulders and back muscles were sore, and all I had on my mind was going home to eat some breakfast.  As I walked on the sand I saw some guy sitting down with his arm in a sling.  It was Klaude.  He was there with Shan, Shan’s girlfriend, Cheryl, and Silverton.  I learned then that my text wasn’t received by them, and Klaude had been there since 7:30 A.M.  I asked Klaude if he talked to Jon.  He said he did, and that Jon wasn’t sure if he’d make it out.  It was a gorgeous morning, and if there was a day to surf, it was that day.  I told them how tired I was.  Silverton gave me a Kit Kat and a Nestle Crunch bar.  It was great seeing them at the beach.  It had been a while since I surfed with my friends, especially to at least see Klaude on the sand was the closest that I was to surfing with him again.  I thought I’d go out for round two.

    I love surfing with my friends because we push each other to do better, and I go a little harder than I would when I’m pulling solo sessions.  Shan paddled back out with no problem.  Cheryl was struggling a bit, and I didn’t have the easiest time either.  I had been writing about my shitty duck dive, and after already surfing for two hours I was toast.  With friends on the sand, I was anxious to get a good wave.  I got a nice left that opened up.  It was actually my wave of the day.  There was nothing fancy.  I carved to stay on the face, took a high line then dropped back down to get some speed, then I grabbed rail to get close to the crumble.  No, it wasn’t a barrel, but it my mind it looked cool.  I like practicing little stuff like that to exhibit some kind of control.  After that I got worked paddling back out.  I didn’t perform well on the next couple waves.  There was a nice right that came through that was about head high.  I saw the nice shoulder ahead of me.  Instead of staying on the face of the wave and going down the line, I tried to set myself with a deep bottom turn so I could hit the lip.  I failed.  Instead, I stalled at the lip and the section ran away.

    Shan was commenting on the conditions.  I was so exhausted that I could barely reply.  Cheryl’s ear was sore after she got pulled under.  We went to the sand to check on her then paddled back out.  I kept getting worked on the inside.  After another wave I just floated on the inside trying to catch a breather.  I was done- expended.  I hated ending my session like that.  I hated that I was too tired to surf with my friends, which was a rare occasion.  I went back to the sand to talk to Klaude.  We watched Shan and Cheryl catch a couple waves.  Klaude commented on my shitty duck dive.  It drove me to go home, go on youtube.com, and watch some instructional videos.  I know, it’s sad, but I should actually thank Klaude because now I see what I was doing wrong.  Actually, I felt like an idiot that I couldn’t figure it out for myself for a long ass time now.

    I can’t wait to go back out, get a fresh start on my duck dives, and try to redeem myself by getting some nice rides.  It was great seeing everyone out in the water.  Hopefully next time we can get more organized, maybe bring some food for a surf break, and just have a long ass session.