Loc: 26th
Time: 0645-0945
Crew:
Cheryl, Klaude, Dais, Tom, Calvin, Joyce, Hideki, Chris
Conditions:
2-3 FT+, sunny, consistent, crowded
Bri’s sick, so I’m on this surf session
solo. This is a true dawn patrol, and I’m at 26th before 0600. It’s
still dark out but there’s still barely any parking. Unbelievable. I snatch one
of the few parking spots left and see Calvin by the run path checking it out.
He’s stolen Mike the Vietnam Vet’s, front row parking spot. The moon light shimmers
off of the low tide waves, but it’s consistent, and there’s a little bit of
size.
I’d really like to dust off my Motorboat
Too, but I just can’t get away from my Lost Mini Driver, so I stick with it. I
justify the decision by means of crowd factor: I’ll get more waves on a fatter
board.
When I paddle out, Roy, Don, and Calvin are
already on it. It’s a real fast and peaky morning. My first left is sectiony,
but I reach the shoulder. My timing is off, and I don’t get a carve in, but I
can tell that the waves are a little round because of the tide.
On my next left, I get a little carve, but
the shoulder looked like I could have pulled in. After that, I tell myself to
just pull in on everything, at least while the tide is low.
I almost get barreled, and “almost” doesn’t
count, but the attempts are fun. There’s a left, and I fade out, waiting for
the section to wall up a little bit. When it does, I pull in, but right in
front of the hollow section is a guy on the inside. It’s shallow, so he’s in
waist deep water. I pull in but penetrate out the back. I try to pull in on
another end section but get pinched. Now the crowd is getting thicker. I paddle
into another left, grabbing rail as I slide down. Crouched down low with one
hand in the face, I feel myself stalling as I slide down to the base of the
wave. This would be a textbook ride, but the wave closes out. Calvin paddles up
to me after and says, “Hey, I saw you trying to pull in!”
Once the sun is up, so is the crowd, and
now everyone is out. I paddle south of the tower and run into Hideki, who I
haven’t seen since late July. His friend Chris is with him, who asks me how the
rest of my Java trip went. Paddling towards them gives me some luck because a
right comes my way, and I get a solid snaparooski off the top. After that
Klaude shows up, then Dais, and lastly Cheryl. Klaude introduces me to his
friends Helen and Joyce.
There are a lot of quality waves rolling
through, but the scene is thick. In the lineup, it’s hard to maneuver without
bumping into a board. Even the inside is a warzone. Because of the consistency,
a lot of people are stuck on the inside as people are trying to drop into their
waves.
One guy gets so frustrated that he yells, “FUCK!”
as he’s kicking out. It was Calvin who was in his line on the inside, but it’s
not Calvin’s fault. Even I was in the way of a couple of people; it can’t be
helped. I later hear the Fuck Man telling Roy, “Every time I get a wave, there’s
some stupid idiot on the inside.”
Well, what can you do about that? Fuck Man
continues to paddle around, mumbling to himself, “I just want one.” I’ve been
there before.
It’s a fun morning, but the buffet is
overpacked, so packed that you can only put a little bit on your plate at a
time. The wind picks up turning the conditions choppy, and then Hideki, Klaude,
Joyce, Cheryl, and I meet up at Blue Butterfly for some breakfast.
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