GOOD AT LOW TIDE, SUN 5.22.2011 MORN

CREW: Cheryl, Christina, Dais, Khang, Klaude, Shan
FLAKES OF THE DAY: None
RAN INTO: No one
TIME: 0915 – 1115, 2 hrs.

CONDITIONS: Low tide, awkwardly cold for being this close to June, faint onshore wind, just a little texture, peaky, 3 feet.

    Last night Cheryl had her graduation party. Her, Christina, Klaude, and I discussed on where we'd go. 26th St. was the call. I text Shan to let him know the plans. 

    I woke at 0800 and saw that Rick had sent me a text at 0630 saying that Porto was good and peaky. I was surprised seeing as how the tide was low in the morning. He gave me a call, said it was still offshore, and that it was a lot of fun. 

    I pulled up to the 26th lot at about 0900. Khang and Klaude were right behind me, and Christina showed up within minutes. They sky was overcast just like yesterday. I think we could've used the sun because the water was pretty damn cold. Again, I cursed my holy wetsuit. 

    There seemed to be a lot of people in the water, so we chose a saddle between two peaks north of 26th. Surpringly, Rick was right. Since the tide was low, the waves were a little close together, almost doubling up, but there were some nice peaky waves that came through, giving both left and right handers. Since the tide was low, the rides were short, but at least the shape was there. 

    I caught a peaky left right when I got out, and I believe everyone else caught waves too. Christina ended up hanging out on the inside and catching some waves over there. 

    The current was deceivingly strong. It gently pulled us south, and just past the tower there was a rip current. Before we knew it, we were by the volley ball nets.

    My wave of the day was a fast and peaky right. Two guys were on my outside waiting to go if I blew it, but I didn't. Unfortunatly, I'm still a little rusty, so I took a while popping up, and when I did I just drew a line without any turns. 

    I saw Shan on the shore with Christina, and they paddled out to our south. Soon Cheryl would join them as well. I didn't get to see any of Khang's rides, but he and Klaude were paddling back out a lot which signaled all the rides they were getting. 

    Something funny happened as a single peak headed towards Klaude and I. I motioned like I was going to go for it, but it didn't look like it was going to break. I said, “Klaude, going, going, going?”

    He said, “Yeah,” turned around, and disappeared behind the peak. He went left, and I saw him pull off a semi floater. Clearly, he was falling back, but his nose and rail was fully exposed and over the lip, everything but the tail.

    There were these two local groms, but the stand out was this kid (maybe Brazilian or Black) with long curly hair. He was killing it. I've seen him out there before and on big days too. It was another reality check. You see, the winds turned onshore, the water got choppy, and the wave quality went down. However, these groms were killing it. The kid with the long hair was doing these cracking power snaps on the lip. Fuckin' A, I thought. Everytime you think the waves suck, there's guys just pulling off nice turns and clean maneuvers still. The problems aren't the conditions; it's us. 

    Our group rallied and exchanged greeting in the water. Cheryl woke up late, and Shan said that the waves were much better where they paddled out at. We caught our last waves and ended the session. Dais had just showed up as I was leaving. 

    Lesson learned, sometimes skipping the low tide is not the answer; low tide can still be good. The window for good surf is small; take it.