THE RELEASE PT.3, SAT 12MAY2012 MOR

Location: Churches

Crew: Francis, Jordan, and Rick

Conditions: 2-3 FT, clean, glassy, inconsistent.

     Last night Rick set up a tent for Francis and I. He doesn’t want us sleeping in our cars. It’s nice of him. Francis and I wake up to Rick’s voice. He’s on the phone. “Firing,” he says.  I don’t know who he’s talking to, but I unzip the tent and stumble out. Rick’s holding his phone to his hear. He looks at me and raises his eyebrows. I look out over the ocean. Finally, it’s fucking clean. No wind, just glass—overcast glass. A little two-footer breaks on the south end of Churches. It’s small, but it’s clean and rideable. “You better get out there before it turns into a zoo,” says Rick. 

     With quickness, dump out yesterday’s sushi, suit up, and grab my board. Francis pokes his head out of the tent. “Clean,” I tell him. I’m rushing. Jantzen sits up out of his sleeping bag (he’s sleeping out in the open) and lifts his beanie as I move past. He looks out at the lineup. It doesn’t look impressive, but I’m just stoked at the conditions.

     Four longboarders are at the bottom of the wave. Two of them catch some decent rights. A three-footer breaks in front of me. I duckdive it. I’m thinking that this is the day I’ve been waiting for: clean conditions, down the line waves, glassy, and no wind. And then the lull starts, a very long one. The longboarders I just invaded are sitting stagnant as well. Nothing is coming. North Churches, next to the top of the wave looks good, but there’s a surf contest there, so we can’t get any of that.

     By the time everyone else paddles out, I still haven’t caught a thing. It’s too inconsistent, too small in between the sets, it’s . . . disappointing.

     “Don’t worry, Matt,” says Rick, “let’s do a run to Oceanside.”

     I nod.

#

     Francis and I tough it out the longest. We’ve been in the water for two hours. I can’t recall anyone else getting good rides, all I know is that I didn’t get any waves worth mentioning. Francis and I head in and shower up, hoping that this afternoon has something better in store for us.