CREW: Klaude (photo detail), Christina, Rick, Dave T., and Gary C.
FLAKES OF THE DAY: Shan
TIME: 0645 -0945, 3 hrs.
WIND: If it was there, I couldn’t even feel it.
WATER: Unpredictable. Some walls mixed in with fast shoulders in the early, low tide, hours. Into the third hour, the conditions cleaned up, chest high shoulders, clean, softer, and fun.
I had to take a break from surfing on Friday and Saturday; I didn’t even see the water. With school starting soon, it’s crunch time, and I had to get my priorities in order. I put surfing at the top of my list, since August, when I got off of deployment. The last couple days I paid for it by being swamped with paperwork for school and the military. I put out the DRC signal last night to see who was surfing. Only Shan, and Christina said they would be out.
My wetsuit lay bone dry over my quiver. Another board was put back on the injured list, the 6’1 DMS. I fixed an old ding on the tail that reopened on Wednesday. That only left me with my 6’6 Merrick. I changed at my apartment to save the trouble later. I initially got a free spot on 45th. Just as I text Rick, I saw him drive past me into the lot. He text me back and told me the nonmetered space was open. I drove down and parked right next to him. It was still dark, so I couldn’t tell what the waves were doing. Rick was talking to a guy named Dan. I introduced myself, and we all shot the shit for a minute. I was ready to go, all suited up, board waxed up, and car locked. Rick was still changing. I finally told him that I’d just meet him on the sand. Not too many people were out yet, so I had no scale to how big the waves were. I warmed up in front of 45th. Some guy who was with his kid asked if I could fill up his bottle with some seawater. I kindly obliged. We saw some of the first guys paddle out. It looked about head high and walled. There were some shoulders, but they were a bit fast.
I really didn’t want to ride my Merrick. It just feels so thick and heavy now. I feel I’ve improved to the point that I can ride something smaller. On the paddle out I had to duck dive some waves. After my recent lesson from damaging the JS, I held onto my board, even when I was in the impact zone. I was winded by the time I got to the line. I was surprised that just two days out of the water would do that to me; I was huffing and puffing. We moved in front of the tanks where there was a sandbar working. We could tell because the wave would jack up out of a flat spot for no reason. There was a right forming off of it, which Rick took full advantage of.
Soon, Gary and Dave were in the line up with us. Some guy paddled up to me and asked, “Excuse me, are you Donny Duckbutter?”
“Yeah, that’s me. My real name is Matt.”
“I’m Whiffle Boy … Brett.”
That was random and unexpected. Turned out he was part of the Westside Hurley Crew (WHC) that has a pretty strong presence in the South Bay. Either way, I got a good laugh out of that. Gary got a long ass left that I had no idea how he paddled into, the wave was so small. It hit the sand bar and pushed him for a good clean ride all the way to shore. Dave caught a fast left. Towards the inside he emerged, fully exposed, from a legit floater that he pulled off; he’s good. At that moment I saw someone waving at us from the shore. Rick noticed it first and asked who that was. It was Christina and Klaude. I was happy to see them and surprised they could make us out from the crowd.
The energy was good. If one of us were out of position, we were stoked for the guy that got the wave and cheered each other on. I introduced Christina to the rest of the guys. She showed me her new board, and we caught up. I told her that she was welcomed to my Becker or Merrick boards when she’s ready. I was reserving them for Jon, but right now he’s in strong contention for “Flake of the Year” honors, behind Shan. WHO WILL WIN? I can’t remember if I got any good rides. I actually felt out of sync on my board. Lauren was out with her friends last night, so I was edging through my shorts, hard core. I think I might have chaffed the skin a little because the salt water stung my sausage. My pop ups were slow, I wasn’t making the sections, and I wasn’t pulling any turns. I guess today was more of a re-familiarization session.
Everyone left to feed the meters, but Christina was the only one that returned. Everyone else left. She came back to the line up for a while. It was about 0930, and I was weak and flaccid. My vision was blurred from all the duckdiving, and I was losing paddle power. There was a petite, long haired, brunette that was out there ripping. She was working the break and paddled north and south to hunt down the peaks. She was getting some solid turns in. She was definitely a stand out for the morning.
I tried my best to capitalize on a wave to end my session right. For the whole session, I only pulled off about three good rides. I caught two waves all the way to shore. They didn’t have much power behind them, and they were soft for a longboarder. I was still able to keep up with the section and trim down the line all the way. There were no carves, but it was still fun. I turned to Klaude at the end of the ride for validation. I got another fast left which I got to pump my board on. I attempted a cutback but stalled in the pocket. It was still fun, but I should have been able to do more. I wiped out on my last wave then joined Klaude and Christina on the sand. They introduced me to a beach bum named Jack who asked to look at my board. He told me that it was possible Al Merrick shaped it himself. I thought that was far fetched. It looked so fun out there. The longboarders were taking over, but it was still fun for any board. There were scattered, clean, peaks across the whole beach. I was too tired to indulge any further.
I gave Christina a hot water bottle, and I had two for myself. The whole Porto lot was packed. Even though I was rusty, it was probably the most fun that I’ve had in a while. It was easy and clean. When I got home I got a text from Shan. He said he hurt his leg surfing yesterday, so he couldn’t make it out in the morning. He asked to join him for an afternoon session. I told him that I couldn’t. I was tired. I’m still tired. Three hours will do it to you.
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