Loc: El
Porto
Time:
0815-1000
Conditions:
2-4 FT, sunny, offshore, glassy, high tide, walled.
I had to work over the weekend, so I had to
listen to Briana’s stories about how she scored local surf with all our friends.
I had planned to wake up at 0545, but I
snoozed until 0700. I couldn’t help it.
Driving down Main St. in El Segundo, the
street is packed with cars and school kids. It’s that time of year, back to
life and reality for everyone. I wonder if the lineup will be a little emptier
now.
When I reach the Porto lot, I see that the
conditions are clean, but the waves are high-tide walls. Soft too. I check my
favorite spot more south, and it’s even smaller.
I score free parking on Highland again. I
also have to shit again, so I walk down the hill first for a poop and a surf
recon.
Even though there aren’t many defined
peaks, the water just looks so inviting that I can’t help but go in. I
contemplate on heading to Huntington. It would make sense since the tide is
high and it’s going down now, but I’m impatient after three days of not being
able to surf.
#
It’s a long paddle out to the lineup, and
there’s a surf couple on shortboards caught in the impact zone. Both of them,
guy and girl, have ditched their shortboards. When the whitewash comes in, they
dive underwater while their boards flail behind them. I think about what I’ll
say if their boards hit me. Luckily, I make it out incident free.
By the time I make it out, I’m winded.
Those three days of not surfing have really taken me out of surfer condition.
The current’s going north, so I paddle
south in front of the sandwich shack. Even though Porto’s crowded this morning,
for some reason it doesn’t get to me. I’m so happy just to be out that I have
no expectations, and I’m ready to share some waves.
When the sets come in, they’re all walled
with a little shoulder all the way at the end. I try to get into position, but
I’m either forced to pull into closeouts or go straight.
My wave of the day is a left where I’m in
perfect position on the shoulder. I pop up and clear the first section, bottom
turn, and get a little top turn off the lip. After that, the wave tapers off,
and I get a little check to end it.
I’m hoping that the lowering tide will make
the conditions better, but it doesn’t. A local guy who has a shaved head and
blue earplugs says, “Mo’ betta high tide!”
And maybe it was better at high tide. I
should’ve gotten up earlier. Never again. This is 2014 damnit. No more second
shifts. I gotta start going to bed early and dawn patrolling.
After jostling the lineup, I manage a
couple more rides that are more than closeouts. There’s a right. One little
turn. Guys out the back are watching. I fall. Then there’s a fast left. I don’t
get a turn, but I’m flying down the line trying to make the face. It never
opens up and turns sectiony. Before the wave closes out, I climb the face, and
the bottom of my board glances off the lip as it’s coming down. Below me, the
whitewash explodes, and I stick the landing. I don’t want to call this a
floater because I didn’t float above the lip, but it was nice to stick that
landing.
By 1000 I’m done. The surf isn’t improving
despite the pristine conditions. It’s even warmer now, and I’m roasting in my
4/3. But I’m gone. A closeout to shore. That’s it.
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