A WEEKEND AT TRESTLES: AGAINST ALL ODDS, FRI 3.25.2011 MOR

INTRO:

    On Tuesday, Klaude text me and said that he was surfing Trestles on Saturday even if he had to sleep in the bang-bus on Cristianitos. I knew for sure that I’d be going there on Friday. I thought to myself about how I could make the plan work? I thought about surfing all day Friday at Trestles, coming home, then venturing out with Klaude again, but that would be too much driving. Then, I got a wild hair up my ass . . . I decided to just get a camping spot for the whole weekend. It would work out perfectly because Lauren was going to San Diego with her friends anyway. I set up a webpage and made an event out of it. It was an open invite for everyone.

    Well, the only bad thing was there was rain in the forecast, and there was a fifty percent chance that the whole weekend would be ruined by stormy conditions, but it was a chance I was willing to take. To me it was worth the risk, but only time would tell if the decision would be genius or buffoonery.

    I stayed up late getting all my shit together. It was the first time that I’ve ever set up a camping expedition by myself. The more I thought about it, the more stuff I wanted to bring. I almost bought a whole new set of outdoor pots and pans. Last night Lauren gave me a funny look as she watched me in the kitchen. “Really, you’re going to take the rice cooker?” she said.

    “Hell yeah! Spam, eggs, and rice on the beach! Oh my gawd, sounds so delicious!” I said.
    She nodded in disapproval as I stood there with the one pound Diamond G bag in my hand.

    Last night was pouring rain, and this morning was no different. I got a late start and hit the road by 0630, and by the time I hit HB it was “stop and go” traffic. Sheets of rain pounced on my car sporadically throughout the whole drive. I figured that there was no rush to paddle out because of the conditions, so I took the long drive through Dana Point and San Clemente to see the ocean and find somewhere to eat. The surf looked stormy with not one surfer out.

    I ordered a plate of machaca with eggs and cheese at Love Burger (I’ll give them a good review on Yelp) and headed to San Onofre right after. I’ve never seen the surf so consistent at Old Man’s. Yes, it sure was stormy, on shore, rainy, but there were head high lefts that still held their shape. Not perfect, far from perfect, but they were rideable.

    Now, the sun is out with the overcast finally burning away. It’s 1007. I regret eating such a heavy meal now. I’m gonna watch it for a little bit and figure out where to surf. As of right now, there are three long boarders at Old Man’s; it’s warming up.

A WEEKEND AT TRESTLES:
AGAINST ALL ODDS, FRI 3.25.2011 MOR

CREW: Solo
FLAKES OF THE DAY: NA
RAN INTO: NA
TIME: 1035 - 1200, 1 hr. & 25 min.
CONDITIONS: Sunny with patches of gray skies, side shore to onshore wind, extremely low tide, slight south current, five feet, inconsistent, long lulls, mostly rights, a couple lefts, lot of chop and texture because of storm, waves still had open faces.

    I just learned that the tide is still going up. Low tide was at 0942, and high tide will be at 1658 . . . It fooled me. Once the sun came out and I saw three surfers at Old Man’s, I decided it was time to change. As I parked at Churches I saw that no one was there. I literally had first dibs on that whole spot. Because of that, I was reluctant to walk to Middles or Lowers. I did see some fun looking rights rolling through, and I justified myself by saying, “I only go to Middles to get away from the crowd.” Since there was no crowd at Churches, I thought it more convenient to just paddle out right in front of my parking spot. I thought that it was low tide because a lot of the rocks were exposed. I saw a longboarder and his shortboarder girlfriend paddling out just to my south; they wisely picked a channel with less rocks. Not me. I was stubborn and walked to chest deep water, braving the uneven and slippery footing while looking like an orangutan on ecstasy.

    I couldn’t find the line up. The longboarder was close by, but then he paddled so far on the outside that I figured either he or I was completely off. My local knowledge of the spot still isn’t quite there yet. The water, despite after the storm, was just like any other winter day. There weren’t any funky debris floating around, and the water looked lime green under the high sun. The longboarder paddled early into a right that was about five feet, and he caught it all the way to the shallow area--a long ass ride. I backed out of the first right that came. It looked like it was going to close, but it actually rolled past me, and I could see that the shoulder was holding shape from behind. I should’ve gone. An outside set came. It was a random left. Even though the tide was low, since the wave was breaking so far outside, it was actually burgery. The slope of the wave was almost too gradual, but I paddled myself into it. It was probably a four footer, and it was a clean shoulder in the midst of the morning funk. I trimmed top to bottom, desperately trying to dig my tail into the lip for a mean gouge, but I still couldn’t whip my tail around. Something just happens when I’m front side, like I’m stuck on the board. I’d like to think that the waves mooshiness didn’t help with my speed, so that could’ve been another factor. I even tried shifting my footing, putting as much weight, and pushing on the back to no avail. Regardless, it was a really fun left. Actually, it was one of the longest lefts that I’ve had in a while.

    I’ll keep the rest of my report short. For about the next hour I wiped out on two waves, was out of position for the plus sized sets, and frustratingly waited in between the long lulls. I only got one wave. The last forty five minutes was me and this other guy that showed up after the couple left. We were both going through the same shit. The wind picked up a little bit more turning from sideshore to onshore. There was more disorganization and inconsistency in the water. Maybe it wasn’t the tide to blame as much as it was the wind. I figured that I missed the morning window because of the storm, and what was left was a race against the wind.

    Well, one good wave for the morning . . . what can I say? The walk back to the sand was excruciating. My toes were numb, and I kept stumbling and falling because of those damn rocks. The cold and pain combined made me feel like if I had lost a toe I wouldn’t have noticed!

    Well, it’s time to check in. I got a good handful of people that are actually stoked about coming out here, and that makes me happy. I’m gonna set up camp.