Loc: Marine
Avenue
Crew: Bri
Time: 0600-0745
Conditions:
2-3 FT+, overcast, glassy, consistent, high tide, soft, crowded.
I’m spoiled because of Huntington Beach and
the all-too-expensive state parking pass. Last week, I had so much room
surfing, but this morning, the whole 26th Street tower is crowded
with groms and so many new faces I’ve never seen before. What happened to the
26th Street Ohana? I don’t even see Roy or Don.
Bri and I paddle out just north of Marine.
We have a peak that’s only lightly peppered by a few other wetsuits. The tide
is high, but big, mooshy peaks roll through. I have to catch them late, and the
first section is steep, good for a solid, first turn. I get a couple rights and
left.
This is a perfect day for Bri on the NSP.
She mispositions herself on her first few waves, but she makes adjustments to
get into the soft surf. Once she’s up, she’s cruising all the way to the inside
on open faces. Good for her.
She does miss one though, a big one. Some
guy next to her even hoots her on it, but the nose purls as she’s paddling into
it. She was lying too far in front.
It’s when three stand-up paddle boarders
decide to sit by us that kills the session. Motherfucker. I’m hoping that the
stereotypes will be wrong this morning, that they won’t be greedy and take wave
after wave.
They’re in the way. It seems that they are blocking
with their huge boards just maneuvering on them. I’m in the middle of two SUP
guys, so I back off. Both of them go.
On a left, a grommie snakes me. He looks
back and kicks out, but I’m pissed.
Bri and I are paddling back out from the
inside, and a Costco foamboard is bouncing towards us in the whitewash with an
invisible rider. Bri gets out of its aimless path, but I have to sling my board
away so it doesn’t get hit, and the foamie hits my thighs. And in the water is
Endless Summer: some asshole who’s riding his board leashless, unable to hang
onto it. I stare at him as I pass him. He’s oblivious to any wrong doing.
I check my board. No dings. My thigh’s
okay. Lucky it was a foamie.
But just like last evening, even though it’s
crowded, Bri and I get a lot of waves. By 0745, Bri has to leave and get ready
for work. The tide is rising, and the sets are getting inconsistent. I have to
get a haircut for work this evening anyway, so I leave too.
But what’s happened to my favorite local
spot? I don’t know the people here anymore, and it’s just as crowded as Porto.
I can’t even tell the difference anymore. Too many people out here.
Back at my car, Mike the Vietnam Vet comes
up to me to say hi. I tell him that I’ve been surfing HB lately because it’s
too crowded here. “It’s crowded everywhere,” he says.
Although, I can’t agree with him. Last
week, I had so much room. Even Saturday with Bri, on a weekend, we pretty much
had the surf to ourselves. Wouldn’t you think that HB has more surfers, that it
would be more crowded there?
I have a love/hate relationship with Porto,
and I’m sad to say that I have to feel the same way with this spot now too. . .
No comments:
Post a Comment