A WEEKEND AT TRESTLES: PERFECT CONSISTENT HEAD HIGH RIGHTS, SAT 3.26.2011 MORN

CREW: Klaude and Deathwish Dave
FLAKES OF THE DAY: NA
RAN INTO: NA
TIME: Can’t recall, guestimating from 0700-1000, 3 hrs.
CONDITIONS: Light offshore winds, shoulder to head high on plus sets, consistent, cool, sunny, and clean.

    It was rather lonesome at the campsite. I ate two Cup-O-Noodles soups by the camp fire as I read my book. Actually, I ate while I tried to feed my dying fire. Lesson learned, don’t go cheap when making a fire; throw in at least six logs for a good tepee.

Klaude's a Swinger.

    Klaude and Dave called and told me they were lost. What a relief it was to see them. They showed up around midnight. We bullshitted by the fire but turned-in rather quickly to get some much needed rest, especially for them. They brought a huge box of Duraflame logs, fruit, and beef Jerky.

    Their alarm was set for 0600, but I woke up at 0545. It was a poor night of rest. The ground was hard, and it was cold as hell. Dave didn’t even bring a sleeping bag and thought he’d brave the conditions. I gave him my extra bag just in case, and I heard him unzipping it at about three in the morning.

    I boiled some water for coffee and coco, and I got the early morning bonfire started as well. They trickled out of the tent to join me in the moonlight. That was one of the best parts of the trip: waking up in the predawn darkness, hot coffee in your hands, and warming up next to the campfire. We felt for the wind, looked out at the water, watched the sky grow bright, and take note of all the morning surfers making their way towards Trestles. Not much later, we prepd ourselves and our gear, and we headed towards Middles.

    We watched the right handers break at Churches and continued our march. We stopped at Middles, short of a rock formation that was built up like a battle position or BP. Klaude wanted to keep heading towards Uppers, but I suggested that the BP was the spot. It was less crowded, there were peaks, and Dave would have a good chance at catching some waves without much competition.

    The water wasn’t as cold as expected. We paddled out with the sun peaking over the mountains. I was the first to hit the water. The paddle out seemed long, and shoulder high right handers rolled past me as I worked to get to the line. When I got there and turned around I didn’t see Dave or Klaude. I thought that they still might be on the shore, but I wasn’t sure. After Friday’s debacle I hoped for good surf. Without much warning, I found out that my expectations would be exceeded. My first wave of the day still stands out in my mind compared to all the rides I got that morning. In the distance there was a bump in the surface which turned into a perfect peak, which ended up turning into a perfect head high right. I paddled into it and caught it just where the shoulder was peeling. I swooped in with hair blowing speed as I set up for my bottom turn. I hate to admit this, but at that moment I was thinking to myself, I hope Klaude is watching this right now. My top turn wasn’t as aggressive as I would’ve liked because the wave was bigger and faster than what I’ve ridden for a while. I didn’t want to over do it and eat shit early. I didn’t fall at all. I managed three good turns off of the top before my ride ended. When I got to the line up I saw Klaude about thirty yards away making his way towards me; I couldn’t see Dave. I asked Klaude if he saw that wave, but there wasn’t much elaboration on it after that.

    Pretty soon other surfers started paddling out to our spot. There were a bunch of grommies to our north. I initially thought that they would be ripping and taking all the waves. One kid had the inside position but scratched out on a right hander; I had backed off to let him have it, and it went to waste. Once we saw that, we figured that they were no better than us, so we paddled into the main line up to take some food off of their plates.

    My details are a bit blurry on what all my rides were like. I don’t know if it’s just because those waves were so juicy and perfect, or because I actually had a fairly high wave count for myself. All I know is that I got a lot, some of the bigger sets, too. I even went for a huge left, a bomb. I got pitched over the lip and ate shit right in front of Klaude. I touched the cobble stone bottom as I got sucked under and even got my lung capacity tested. When I surfaced I saw Klaude paddling towards me; our eyebrows were raised with facial expressions that just said, “Damn.”

    We saw Dave half way out to sea sitting on his longboard. He was out of position to get anything. Later he paddled towards us. When I was on the inside after one of my rides, I saw Dave trying to paddle into a shoulder high wave, but he scratched out. When a freak set came through, I saw Dave on the inside off of his board before the bombardment started. Pretty soon after that he was back on the shore.

    I felt bad for Klaude. He had asked me, before we left camp, which board he should take. I recommended his fish because he only had the morning to surf, and surfing on a familiar board seemed like the right decision to get more waves. Klaude said he felt undergunned. He had a frustrating time and just wasn’t in the right spots, or someone else was already on the wave that he was in position for.

    We went back to shore to check on Dave. Dave decided to go back to camp, and Klaude led the way to choose the next surf spot. Klaude wanted the same experience that he got the last time he was there; he wanted to go back to Uppers and duplicate his first Trestles session. Well, once we got there we saw that the swell direction wasn’t producing good surf. We ended up paddling out north of Lowers, but the peaks weren’t clean. No one was out there, and we found out why. Both of us didn’t really catch anything. We then approached Lowers from the north and mixed in with the crowd, but that peak was just being mobbed by everyone. We both didn’t get anything from that peak. Klaude, out of frustration, put himself right in the lion’s den in the middle of everyone. I saw him almost catch two waves; he was just one or two strokes away but scratched out. We decided to call the session, and just as we did, I caught a shoulder high left all the way to shore.

Without propane it would've been a PB&J kind of trip.

    For the whole camping trip, that Saturday morning produced the best surf that I’ve ever seen at Trestles. I know it wasn’t Klaude’s day, but the last time we surfed together I was the one that had the shitty session while he and Dais were smiling ear to ear. They left and I kau kaud on some spam, eggs, and rice. They both left, and Dave had to head back up north. I was glad that I got to see Dave. Even though he doesn’t surf all the time, he still showed love to come through and check out the campsite; that shows a lot about his character. Klaude had to go to work with his thirst unquenched, but even worse, he had to leave without eating some of Maui’s finest delicacies. When they left, I was all alone with my plate lunch, eating on the sand, and watching the ocean.

Bringing the rice cooker was definitely the best decision I made.