WINDSWELL OF UNORGANIZED CONFUSION, THU 6.02.2011 EVE

Nice. . . . Special appearance by "Nick the Pick.

Crew: Klaude, Nicky, Shan
Time: 1915-2015, 1 hr.
Conditions: 4 feet, onshore and completely blown out, strong southern current, choppy, unorganized, sunny, and cold.

    After the morning session, I thought that taking a sunset patrol was in order. Shan and Klaude kept contacting me and saying that they wanted to go. I was deep in Westchester at the time and saw that the wind wasn't that strong, but the El Porto cams looked like it was blown out. Klaude said, “Well, if I drive there I'm gonna have to paddle out.” He called me back a couple minutes later and said, “All right, I'm heading over there.” I text Shan and told him that we were going.

    As I got closer to the beach I noticed the wind getting stronger. When I pulled into the lot, I saw the consistent whitewater being blown on the inside. The wind caused some of the waves to jack up for a potential ride, but it was kind of sketchy. About a half dozen surfers started to paddle out for the evening session. I was pretty pessimistic.

    Klaude pulled up with a passenger. It was Nicky AKA Nick the Pick. I hadn't seen him for a while. When I saw him I knew that we had to paddle out. His appearance was a special occasion, and with me going to Bali soon I wouldn't be surfing with him for a while. Shan pulled up, and we started to change. We put an hour in the meter at about 1910. The water was cold like the morning. We paddled just north of the shitters and north of the small crowd. I was surprised that I was able to make it out. The inside was so consistent that I expected to be stuck duckdiving the whole time, but I found a channel in the mess. When I got to the line, I turned around and saw that I had drifted all the way by the sandwich shack. The other three were paddling into the pack of other surfers.
   
    The waves were a bit unpredictable. Some waves jacked up but didn't break, only to have a big wave behind them that was already breaking. The surface was choppy and bumpy which made it a little difficult to paddle. I caught a couple waves that only gave short rides. Though peaky with a steep drop, they would bog out into nothing on the bottom turn. The conditions were so random that there were some open shoulders at times. I saw Shan get two long rides, and I saw the shoulder holding from behind as he let out his trademark “woo-hoo” and went all the way to shore. I also saw Nicky catch a couple waves too. Klaude seemed to be in the impact zone a lot. I later found out that he went for a lot of close outs.

    I caught one left that had a shoulder. I bottom turned and started my cutback on the lip. I crouched down low and had my arms out for balance. I  pulled off a grinding arc back into the bottom of the wave. Or . . . it just felt like that, but in reality I looked like a kook. It's just so hard to tell. I have no idea if I actually pulled this off, but it felt good. The wave bogged out at the bottom of the turn.

    I had my best wipeout this month, but I don't know if “best” is the right word. I went for a big close out right in front of Shan as he was paddling back. I basically wiped out in between two closing sections, in which I had the middle face. My upper torso got wrapped in my leash for a bit, and then something weird happened. I usually resurface right away, but the struggle I had with my leash actually kept me under a while. I had to put a lot of effort in getting back to the surface. I expected to take another on the head. When I resurfaced Shan was right there. He said, “Man, I was wondering where you were. You were down there for a while.” A little freaked out, I paddled back to the line up.

    I looked at my watch and gave the signal to catch the last wave. Just then, a random wall with a right hand shoulder formed right next to me. I made the drop and noticed a perfect smooth face that opened up. I bottom turned then hit the lip putting as much force on the tail as possible. I've recently found that leaning forward on the turn (as if falling) helps to keep momentum for reentry. I heard the spray of water which sounded like dry-wall being spackled on the side of a house. I tried another top turn but fell. When I resurfaced, The fellas were stoked for the wave that I got, and they said that I got some legit spray. Despite the shitty conditions, that feeling on that turn made my whole session.

    When we got to shore it was past 2015, and the Manhattan Beach parking enforcement was driving back and forth with their lights flashing. Worried we would get tickets, Klaude and I ran back to our cars. The parking enforcement lady was very rude and told Klaude, “You just HAD to go for that last wave, didn't you?!” Apparently, we were supposed to be out of the lot at exactly 2000, and she was writing parking tickets. Nope, no time for goodbyes. All of us jumped in our cars, soaked wetsuit and all, and drove out. I pulled into one of the small El Porto streets and double parked so I could change. On the way home, I saw Klaude and Nicky at the 45th St. Chevron. I parked and said my goodbyes to them.

    I recently went through a phase where I couldn't paddle out if it looked like shit, especially after surfing down south so much. But as of late, I've had a lot of fun and have been surprised when the conditions look like crap. It just comes to show, you never know until you're out there. Once again, one wave can make your session. The dollar menu was worth it on this occasion. It was enough to hold me over and give me something to think about until next time, but next time might be in Bali.