OTHER BREAKS, FRI 18APR2014

Loc: Manhattan Beach

Time: 0630-0900

Crew: Klaude

Conditions: 2-3FT, offshore, consistent, overcast.

     There are other breaks besides Porto, scattered all over MB. Even Grand Ave. is working a little bit after that last storm had plowed some new sandbars there. The other breaks might be a little smaller, but they are mellower. When I need to detox from Porto, I have my other break that I go to.

     It’s 0630, clean three-foot peaks are rolling in nicely despite the low tide. Only Don Kadowaki and two other guys are on it. It’s surprising how no one wants to rush the early window. Don’t they know that low tide is good right now?

     Paddling out, I duckdive rippable waves until I make it to the lineup and get some of my own.

     Because of the tide, the waves are standing up more, almost HB style but not enough size to be consistently hollow. But it’s the punchiness I appreciate, going backhand with a steep wall behind me. I get solid snaps off of the lip.

     Yesterday I had caught mostly lefts, but today the rights are working.

     I try to pull in and get barreled on the walls, just for fun. Even though I don’t make it out, it’s nice just to get a glimpse of the curling tube before obliteration.

     We have the waves to ourselves until 0800. Klaude shows up, but so does everyone else.

     A longboarder is killing it. Everywhere I sit, he seems to be at. I paddle north to escape the crowd, and I get another glimpse of this guy going right.

     At the approach of the next rogue wave, he paddles past me to reach the peak first.

     “Again?” I say, as I’m paddling for the wave on the shoulder, on the shoulder because I had just gotten backpaddled.

     He doesn’t give up his paddle.

     “Again!” I say much louder.

     “Yeah,” he says. He pops up, getting a little cover up.

     Again . . . again. I’ve wrote this a million times, and I’ll write it again. Just because you can take every wave doesn’t mean that you should. To catch a wave all the way to the inside, paddle back out again, sit out in front of everyone again, and catch another one back to back, it’s just fucking greedy. SHARE. I always share. I pass up on waves after I’ve just caught one. “Go,” I’ll say. No problem because I just got one. Everyone needs to catch something, but something’s gone down the drain as far as the etiquette tube goes.

     He paddles back out and smiles at me. I stare back at him, unsmiling, and then yesterday’s fight at El Porto comes to mind, so I paddle past him, into the pack, and let it go.