DOWNGRADES, MON 19MAY2014

Loc: El Porto

Time: 0630-0830

Conditions: light onshore, low tide, 2-3 FT+, inconsistent, slight overcast

     Today’s surf is supposed to be Fair to Good, but it got downgraded yesterday to Fair, and I can see why. I try my favorite local break first, and it looks like shit. The Guy Who Looks Good has prime parking. He turns around and sneers when he sees me, and then he rushes the beach.

     I step outside and get a closer look. Only one guy is out, and he’s only catching closeouts. From El Segundo, the wind had looked offshore, but there’s texture on the water. The wind feels like there’s some south in it. Lines are rolling in at about three feet, but they’re sectiony, no peeling shoulders.

     At Porto, I score free parking. I see the row of cars waiting to get in the lot. With first-light so early now, it’s ca travesty to have to wait until 0600 (in this case later) for the gate to open. Looking down 45^th, I can see that the shape is a little bit better, so I decide to stay here.

     Bri told me that when she had surfed here last week that some surfers got into it, the words “kook” and “cherry” were exchanged. The perp also mouthed off at Bri a little. She’s over Porto. I don’t blame her. I’ve always said that I’m over the attitude at Porto, but I always find myself here, at least as a last resort.

     I don’t expect a long session, but I go out anyway. All my 3/2 wetsuits are holy and torn. I anticipate the chilly water creeping up to my sack, and worse, the small of my back. I tell myself to invest in a new wetsuit.

     Despite the tide going lower, the waves are breaking high-tide style, kind of fat and mostly on the inside. One by one, the first shift trickles in. Most sit in front of the bathrooms. Another pack sits north between the tanks and the smoke stacks.

     My first couple waves are insignificant. I get a left, carve, but purposely stall on the tail before it closes out. I also get a kamikaze right. It’s fast and closing out, but I tag the lip just before it shuts down, purling in the process. It was good for a little bit of spray out the back.

     Even though things at Porto have been testy lately, everyone here is keeping his space, probably because I surf 45^th away from the die hards at the main peak.

     A wave approaches. Knowing that I had just got one, I turn to the guy next to me. He looks at me with eyes wide open. I nonchalantly look away and sit still, signaling that I’m not going for it. He takes it.

     I’m going for another wave, and a guy sitting deep on the peak looks at me and says, “Go!” So . . . it’s a good morning with good etiquette, the way surfing should be.