Time: 0745-0915, 1 hr & 30 min
Conditions: 5 ft, consistent, high tide, offshore, big mooshy peaks, few surfers, COLD.
My body’s telling me to ignore the alarm that I’ve hit snooze on for the past half-hour. It’s been a long night. Unfortunately, the walls in this motel seem cardboard-thin. All night, every time someone took a step upstairs, our ceiling creaked. The street car and late night street folks kept me turning in my sleep too. I don’t know when I racked out, but it wasn’t long enough. I could easily turn this into a tourist trip, just here to go to the fundraiser and eat good food. And then the thought of surf crosses my mind. How can I not? I have my board, my equipment, everything I need to paddle out. I love to paddle out, but I just know it’s so goddam cold right now. Also, I’ve never even seen the beach yet, and it’s right across the street. I grab my phone. My buddy Al that lives in Mountain View sent me a text around midnight saying, “When are you going to surf in the AM? I may come out to see you, leave here after 7:00am.” I pull away the curtain and look outside. They sky’s gray and the ground’s still wet.
I walk out and feel the cool air hit my face. I exhale and see my breath. First stop, Java Beach Café right next door. I’m surprised that there are no-smoking signs outside the building, designating a spot by the side of the street as the only smoking place. It’s almost 0700, and there are some customers already starting their morning. Half asleep, I order a drink called the Muddy Water. It’s a five dollar limit for credit, so I pay with cash. I sit and wait for my name to be called, but I’m caught off guard as they hand deliver my coffee straight to me. Is this the way they do it in San Fran? Outside, people are walking their dogs. As I near the Great Highway there are joggers and bikers taking advantage of the path that parallels the road. Crossing the street, there is a sand burm that I can’t see over, but the ocean’s on the other side. There’s that scene from The Endless Summer where they walk over that sand hill and “discover” what is supposedly Cape St. Francis. I’m not saying that my experience is close to that, but it’s close enough. With that hot cup of coffee in my hand and all alone, I mount the burm and see nothing but endless, exposed, empty beach break.
It goes as far south as I can see and up north to some big rock formations. The forecast called for five foot waves with occasional sixes. It reminds me of Oceanside on a big day. The faces are an easy five feet, the waves are breaking far out, and there are so many rideable peaks. At the same time, I’m baffled that no one is out. To the north, far away, I can see no more than ten guys sitting on a spot. Another surfer climbs up the sand for a morning check. “How come no one’s out here yet?” I ask.
“Oh, it’s still early.”
“How come there’s only guys over there?” I ask as I point north.
“Oh, they probably drifted.”
I call Al but get his voicemail. While power-walking back to the room, I think of the things Al warned me about: don’t surf alone out here, it’s sharky, there are signs that say warn you of them. I also contacted my other friend Michelle that lives here who said to find the channels and watch the current. Whatever the conditions, there’s uncrowded surf out there, and any surfer from SoCal knows that that’s hard to come by.
Lauren wakes in the commotion. I throw my suit on and pull out my JS board. Rick cleaned the whole deck since I had to put a new traction pad on it. I apply some basecoat then reach for my coldwater wax. What I pull out of my kit is a bar no bigger than my pinkie. “Fuuuuuuck!” I say out loud as Lauren turns to see what’s happened. I’m so used to surfing with my buddies and grabbing whatever wax there is that I forgot to check how my own stash was. I have one small bar, barely thicker than a pencil for my unwaxed board. I do my best to spread it where I need it the most; it’s all I can do. Walking back to the ocean, I know that it’s going to be a morning full of technical pop-ups; I’ll really have to watch where I put my feet and concentrate on my balance.
High tide’s around 0830, and it’s about a quarter to eight. The empty break that I saw earlier know has five people with large gaps between them. I try to look for the channel, lose patience, and take my chances directly in front of me. I’m in my 3.5/2.5, no gloves, no hood, and no booties. My feet are fine, but the second my hands hit the water they receive an ice cold shock. Upon my first duckdive my ears start to hurt a little. Oh boy. I see the channel off to my side, but the waves are breaking in front of me. I can’t tell how far the lineup is, but it seems far. Surprisingly, I only get washed around a little but make it out in reasonable fashion. I sit about fifteen yards apart from another guy.
The high tide is making things mooshy. The waves are big but they’re hard to paddle in to. I go towards the inside, and a random rogue wave breaks on the outside. I don’t know where to sit, so I’m going by instinct. My surf anxiety starts to mount. The isolation and distance from the land is a little eerie, and I look at the water around me thinking about “what if” situations. A peak forms, giving me the option to go left or right. I realize I’m too deep as I’m popping up. The lip sends me down the face before I can stand, and I get my first wipeout of the day. At least that’s over with. Soon I get my first right which is a steep drop and lets me get one turn before it bogs out. Now I’m loosening up and catch a couple more. The rides could be longer, but the paddle back is so far that I kick out once they turn slopey. I can at least get one solid turn before the ride’s over. The current takes me north, closer to the crowd. I try to fight the current, greeting fellow surfers dressed with cold water protection from head to toe. I say hello and receive the same kindness in return. While paddling past some guys, I’m on the left side of a peak that sprouts out of the ocean. I turn to paddle into it; it’s the best wave of the morning. The wave stands up as I drop-in on my late take-off, but I see a surfer in my direct line that’s not over the wave yet. Since I barely have wax I don’t feel comfortable with sharp turns on a drop. I’m heading straight for him, so I say, “OHHHH FUCK!” as I jump off my board and collide with him under water. It’s a bad situation, and exactly what I wanted to avoid while being out here. I saw him before I jumped off; he abandoned hope as well and slipped off his board to avoid my nose. “Fuck,” I tell him, “I just saw you at the last minute! Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
And that was it. He mounts on his board and paddles away. The other guys in the water sit and watch. I fight the current paddling south again to find my own peak. Usually I blame the guy on the inside in these situations, but it all happened so fast; I don’t know who’s at fault.
Counting my blessings, I consider myself satisfied with the morning so far. I surf a new break by myself, I’m not hurt, and I’ve caught a good amount of waves. I catch my last one all the way to the inside. Now I’m in front of a large windmill, far away from where I started.
Back at the motel I have a couple missed calls from Al. It turns out that he did make it out, but the beach is so wide open that we missed each other. I clean up and head back while Lauren gets ready, but I never spot him. I shoot him a final text, apologizing that we missed each other, but Lauren and I have to go to the fundraiser.
Los Tres Amigos Fundraiser hosted by Cosmic John:
Mill Valley is a small town; it reminds me of the small snowboard towns around Mammoth Lakes. It’s ten minutes to noon; we’re early. As we pull up to park I see Cosmic John and a small handful of people. I don’t do well in social settings like this, and it’s my first fundraiser. On top of that, I don’t do well around celebs; I get nervous. Lauren knows I’m nervous, but she convinces me that I’m over reacting. We walk up to greet Cosmic John, and the first person he introduces me to is Jamie Sterling, BIG WAVE CHARGER JAMIE STERLING. I don’t want to make it obvious that I’m in awe. I reach over for a handshake while he pulls me in for a hug. I should’ve expected this. Cosmic John is a hugger, and so is his sphere of friends. I already know Jordan, and I meet Josh and Valerie as well.
“Uhhhh, no?” Everyone looks to hear my lame response. It’s really awkward. I wouldn’t mind just moving past the prizes to kill this awkwardness.
When all the names are called, Cosmic John asks out loud, “Who didn’t win anything?” A woman points me out, and another chick sitting somewhere else raises her hand. Cosmic calls us both out and says that he’s presenting a “couple prize.” I’m not sure what he means, and then he asks Jamie to present it to us. In front of everyone, he has us in a group hug facing the crowd, and he says something about me being a traveling surfer. I’m confused, and I apologize to the chick next to me, being that we are total strangers squished shoulder-to-shoulder. Jamie pulls out a GoPro camera and gives it to the chick, and then it hits me. Cosmic John thinks that she’s Lauren. An awkward round of applause occurs, and I’m embarrassed enough, so I sit down and beg for the proceedings to move forth. I don’t know if Jamie tells Cosmic what the real deal is, but once he realizes he plucks the GoPro from the chick’s hand, apologizes, and says that the camera was meant for Lauren and I.
There are more people that I meet and a couple phone numbers that I exchange, promising to meet up for a surf when they’re in the South Bay. I try to get a picture with Cosmic, but he insists on taking a group photo with Jamie, although we never find Cosmic’s camera man to do the job. Lauren and I help clean up, and we say our goodbyes. I thank him again for inviting us out. He says, “You know, I knew from the first time that I met you. You’re energy. You were a non believer at first.” I laugh out loud in surprise. He’s right. The day I met him at Newport when he told me that Clay Marzo was with him at the Quik-House, I didn’t believe him, and he knew it. And yet here we are. Because of him I’ve gotten off my lazy ass and took my first trip to San Fran, got some quality time with Lauren, and got to meet Jamie one-on-one as well as make some new friends. The drive back to the motel is filled with a joyous disbelief. I’m grateful.
Italian:
Bye-bye:
In the morning I take another look at the surf, but the wind is blowing onshore. Also, the swell has dropped. It’s nothing like yesterday, so I turn around and wake Lauren up. We eat breakfast at a different coffee shop up the street. I order the fried chicken waffle. It tastes so clean. The sign says that everything is organic, all the ingredients are local, and the food is made from scratch. The breading around the chicken is sweet which complements the waffle.
