GENEROSITY, FRI 04OCT2013 MOR

Loc: 26^th

Crew: Calvin, Dais, Klaude, Joyce

Conditions: 2-3 FT, sunny, offshore

     Free parking is the worst on Friday, and even though I’m at 26^th when it’s still completely dark out, I find myself circling for parking that isn’t a Friday, street cleaning spot. I circle around until the sky turns purple and more surfers arrive, also in the same predicament. I give in and park on 27^th Street at a spot that’s good until 0900.

     When I had first arrived, the lineup was empty, but now as I make my way towards the sand, all of the early, first shifters have claimed their spots.

     I sit in front of the main peak, but . . . it may not even be the main peak anymore. The 26^th Street Veterans have shifted more towards 33^rd Street, taking the high schoolers with them. In the distance, I can make out Don. He surfs there to escape the crowd, but now most of the Manhattan Groms are there too.

     Even though the crowd is spread out, I’m fucking annoyed. Just too many people still, both kids and adults. There are these little groms who surf with their dad. The little kid, the star, has dirty blonde hair. He can’t be above the eighth grade. The kid rips, so does his dad, and . . . they’re being greedy.

     I overhear the dad say to another surfer, “My son’s in the same place as Jordan,” referring to the local chick ripper who does the contests.

     Now I’m paddling around frustrated. My “ease” mentality is nowhere. All the new faces get to me. What happened to the 26^th Street Ohana? Did El Porto go through the same transformation? Is this spot going to just turn into an extension of El Porto? I might as well just surf there.

     Klaude makes it out and so does his friend Joyce. Dais also shows up a little bit later.

     Klaude’s in position for a bomb right. He goes, but Star drops in on him. From behind the wave, I can see Klaude standing on his board, watching, while Star pumps further away on the face and gets some spray out the back. Klaude comes back to the lineup and says, “Wow. That kid burned me so bad!”

     Sitting outside, I watch a left roll in. Another local guy has the peak to himself. I’m on the shoulder, paddling automatically as we surfers do, regardless if someone else already has it. I see that he’s struggling to get the drop. He looks directly at me and says, “Go!”

     Fuckin’ A. Hell yeah. I’m stoked for his generosity, and I take a peeling, left hander that holds shape all the way to the inside.

     There’s this old guy who longboards here too. He’s one of the new faces. Sometimes longboarders can be a little greedy, but on the next right, he looks at me and says, “Go for it.” I get a good wave count despite the crowd. I try to share with those around me, calling Klaude into waves, but even he passes on a left and lets me have it. Wow. Words can’t explain how good this feels. I share waves a lot and that kindness doesn’t get reciprocated that much, but today it does. The gift of sharing, to receive it fills me with so much stoke that I am content with sitting on the outside, letting the waves go to other people.