CREW: Rick, Gary, Dave
TIME: 0700- 0850, 1.83 hrs.
WIND: Offshore
WATER: Unfathomably cold. High tide. Mooshy, but with fast and racy sections towards the inside. Inconsistent and chest high.
Shan hit me up last night and asked if I was surfing. I asked him if he was going to surf Porto, but I never heard back from him. I asked Cheryl, Dais, and J if they were going to paddle out in the morning. Cheryl said she was busy, and Dais and J said they would go later in the day. I forced myself out of bed and grabbed my gear. The cold breeze rushed up my shorts and made my sack tingle. In the dark early morning, I drove to El Porto. I snatched a free parking space that was on the hill. As I walked down I got a text from Rick, he gave me the surf report. I found him parked and caught him by surprise. Even though it looked small, he showed me where a sandbar was that produced some waves. Soon Gary and Dave showed up, and we all decided to paddle out. Gary and Dave were already in the water while I was warming up. It looked cold. The water was so clear that it looked like a public pool in the dead of winter. Once I got to the line up and sat on my board, it felt like ice water was kissing my balls. It was freezing! I already knew that it would be a tough session. I didn’t even want to move I was so cold, but I knew it would be necessary to gather some warmth. Scattered clouds dominated the atmosphere. Small patches of yellow and orange peeked behind the overcast. I hoped for the sun rays to burn through and remove the gloom, but that never happened. The sets were inconsistent, but when they came, they had fast and racy sections. They were hard to paddle into because of the tide, but once I popped up it was a fast trip to the shore. My first wave was a right which I tried to rail grab and get mini barreled in, but I ended up losing my footing trying to tuck closer to the curl. After that, I caught nothing but lefts. The other three guys were making their whereabouts known by trading off on rides. I went a little north of them so I wouldn’t have to compete. Gary saw that I was outside, so he motioned me to come closer. Just as he did that a nice peak came my way and broke into a left. I pumped my board at least three times to keep up with the section. There was no time for turning; it was a race. The rest of my waves were kind of like that. I had to get out of the water before 0900. I wasn’t able to feel my thumbs. Everything was a challenge: opening the lock safe, turning on the car, putting on my towel, taking off my wetsuit, and putting on some dry clothes. It wasn’t a complete loss, but I am still waiting for that session where the waves are awesome and I can get some good practice turns in. I am also lucky that I surfed when I did because it ended up raining before noon.
Lauren and I had breakfast with Jonathan before he headed back out to San Diego. He told me that he only surfs in the summer now. Oh well. No one wants to surf anymore. When school starts I am going to see if their surf club is cool or not. It would be nice to have friends that surf.
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