CREW: SOLO BOLO
TIME: 1200 - 1300, 1 hr.
WATER: Mid to high tide, clear and sunny skies, chest to shoulder high waves, dumpy, walled, slight onshore winds.
I failed to wake up early. My Sunday was spent relaxing the whole day until the early morning hours. When I woke up to check the tide, I thought that I made the right call because it was low tide at first light. I planned to hit the water at about noon as the tide was coming up. I thought that the higher tide would be better. As I pulled into the El Porto lot everything looked deceivingly well. The sun was shining bright, the parking lot was full, there were a lot of people on the sand and bike path, and it almost looked like summer. The water had scattered peaks, and the inside had some shoulders. The waves looked a little racy, but I thought I saw come workable corners. I talked to the guy that was parked next to me. He said it was going off earlier. I guess I made the wrong call, and the morning was actually good.
I was still optimistic, and I expected the conditions to get better with the rising tide. I took my new board, the JSS, out. I paddled out in front of the tanks to avoid the crowd. I had to duckdive some waves, but I made it out with medium difficulty. Once I was at the line I realized that it wasn’t as good as it looked from the shore. Yes, there were waves, and there was size. There was potential, but it just wasn’t breaking right. The sets came in walled, and if there was a corner, that mother ran away fast. There was a lot of movement in the water, like some kind current swirling things up. Leaves and other little bits of things were floating everywhere.
The main crowd was in front of 45th and 42nd. The current was going south, so I had to go against the current to keep my place. This session brought back a lot of memories of how I came up with the name Dump Rider Crew. It was definitely a dump rider session. I paddled into waves that were pure kamikaze drops. I got pitched over the lip a lot. There were a lot of waves that I paddled for, saw that I wasn’t going to make it, and had to throw my board away from me as I ate shit. I also survived some drops, but the wave exploded upon my landing. There seemed to be a lot of power in the waves. After my rides, the white wash seemed to suck me down hard. On one wave I was pulled so violently that my left ear canal was in pain all the way to the back of my throat. I guess I got ear fucked by El Porto. I had to take a little break out in the line up after that.
There were a couple guys close by. A set wave came, and one of them watched me as I paddled into the wave. As I popped up, I purled hard, front flipping into the water. That was embarrassing. It was already hard enough trying to get some time on a new board, but the conditions (once again) were not ideal for what I was trying to do. I did catch a left that I tried to get slotted under as it fully enveloped me. The whole session wasn’t a total loss. I caught a couple rights that were kind of fun. Since the waves were dumpy, even the ones with shoulders were a little steep and racy. I did some rail grabs and got in a strong power stance, crouched, down the line. When I got to my feet to pump my board I fell because the board just felt too loose. I still need to get used to it. I tried to top turn off the lip but bogged out.
At about 1300 I came to terms with the fact that it wasn’t gonna get any better. As I got to walking depth I examined my board to make sure that it was okay. I found that I broke the glass on the left rear rail. It’s only a crack that’s about an inch and a half long, but the glass chipped off. I was upset when I saw that, but it could have been a lot worse. I learned a lesson that day. The JSS shouldn’t be taken out in shitty conditions. I need to take it out only when it’s clean. Another lesson, when it’s pure shit out there sometimes it’s better to pass and wait another day.
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