TIME FOR TRUNKS, SAT 31MAY2014

Loc: Manhattan Beach

Crew: Bri, Klaude

Time: 1000-1145

Conditions: light onshore, 1-2 FT, hot

     Last night Bri and I had attended a graduation party with my recently-former classmates, so waking up at the initial 0500 intention is now a joke. We snooze. And snooze. And snooze again. It’s now late, much beyond first-shift standards. I imagine Klaude out there in the lineup. I had told him yesterday that Bri and I would be out there at first light. He’s the only guy who makes me feel accountable if I no-show. I’m showing but just late.

     There’s no street parking when we arrive, so we have to park at the metered lot, and that’s where we run into Klaude on the way out. He says that he was hot in boardshorts, so I opt to go for the trunks. There’s shape in the water, but the tide is coming up. I grab both my Motorboat Too and 6’8 NSP.

     There’s a guy in a short-sleeve Hurley fullsuit with the dual band logo on the thigh. He’s killing it. Not sure if it’s the board or if he’s just a stone-cold ripper, but he’s milking all the little waves for what they’re worth, three-sixty closeout maneuvers on crumbly spilling faces. There’s no way that I can look that good.

     I ride my shortboard first, only getting one decent down-the-line left. The best I can do is a speed check off the lip as I’m pumping down the line.

     The water’s so warm that I ditch my rashguard and do a pure trunk sesh. I can’t believe some of the guys around me in full wetsuits. One guy even has booties on. The sun beams down on my bare back. Body glistening, I can feel the rays doing their work, turning my skin dark brown and pretty soon a dull red.

     I switch out to the NSP, and my surf experience changes in an instant. The waves I had to struggle to keep up with are a cinch with the fun board. I had had a difficult time making the sections, but upon pop-up, the board just sends me down the line to the open face where I’m forced to try and turn. And honestly, I don’t surf “well” on the NSP, but I have the most fun that I’ve had in recent sessions.

     I walk the nose, spin around, and try to ride backwards before falling off. I desperately try to hang five, but I can’t quite get to the very end of the nose without purling.

     By the end of the session, my back is stinging from the sun’s might. It’s the first time I’ve trunked it since last summer. A welcomed sunburn that I’ve missed so much.