EVERYONE GETS SNAKED, MON 30JUN2014

Loc: Rosecrans

Crew: Bri & Rick

Time: 0530-0730

Conditions: Overcast, light onshore, inconsistent, 2-3FT+, crowded.

     The dawn-patrol crew is minimal this morning. Obviously the DRC are all sleeping, and as far as the WHC, they’ve been keeping this O’ dark-thirty routine for quite some time now, so I can’t blame them for showing up later or taking a lay day.

     As Bri and I head down the hill, Rick pulls a left into the parking lot. We’re early. It’s so easy to dawn patrol if you live in El Segundo. There’s no reason we can’t paddle out at first light.

     Upon reaching the sand, we already see about six guys at Rosecrans. Even 42^nd already has some guys on it. To think that I thought we had shown up early. These guys beat us to it.

     I’ve griped and moaned in the past about surfers who paddle out right next to you while there’s a whole empty beach, so I paddle out on the south end of Rosecrans away from everyone else.

     When I reach the lineup, Rick’s already on the sand. The waves are a little walled and racy, but they have tapered shoulders all the way at the end. You just have to be in the right spot. I have difficulty doing so. On my first couple waves, I’m caught behind the section.

     Sitting in the lineup, I hear someone yelling. I look south. There’s a surfer on a wave yelling, “DUDE, DUDE, DUDE!” There’s a Japanese dude in front of him with good position, pumping down the line. The snakee keeps yelling, but the snake just keeps on pumping down the line until snakee falls from the  wake. I watch the snake surf the rest of the wave, still not looking back once. There’s no way he couldn’t have heard that guy yelling.

     Somehow, Bri, Rick, and I end up swapping spots with the morning pack. Now they’re all sitting south of Rosecrans while we sit north. Rick’s a wave magnet. Gary wasn’t lying about that. I struggle to get a decent ride to line up, but Rick gets a left from Rosecrans all the way to the next lifeguard tower, throwing water out the back the whole way.

     When he paddles back, he says, “Wooooh! I feel like a little kid! Was I throwing water out the back?”

     “Yeah. It looked good.”

     “That was like a hundred yards.”

     “Probably.”

     Meanwhile, he gets more and more waves. I struggle. The crowd thickens. Everyone has to paddle out and sit on you because there’s no room anywhere else.

     There’s this bald Kelly Slater lookalike who surfs Rosecrans too. He usually surfs with a petite Asian chick. He has priority on a left. I’m in good position, but instead of going for it, he paddles over it and lets me have it. The take offs on these fast shoulders are fun. Immediately, I have to pump just to get to the open face. After my first snap, I have to recover immediately to keep going down the line. I get another one. On my third turn I get lazy and fall, but I’m stoked. Finally, my wave of the day.

     I paddle back to KS#2 and thank him for sharing that wave.

     “Yeah,” he says. “It looked like you really wanted it.”

     Rick keeps on talking about his hundred-yard ride. I’m stoked for him, believe me I am, but sometimes if you’re having a frustrating session, you don’t want to keep hearing about someone’s epic ride over and over again. I guess that’s the selfishness in me. I want one too.

     After Rick leaves, I sit back at Rosecrans. Bri says she’s cold. I tell her, “If I get one more wave, I’m done.” Just then, a rogue left appears. I’m the deepest person in position for it. This guy on my outside, who has even length hair but a bald spot like a friar, starts paddling towards the shoulder of my wave. Now we’re paddle battling. I have priority, and I can’t believe that this guy is trying to take this wave, blatantly paddling over even though I’m deeper than him. I paddle a little too far and have to pop up as the lip is spilling on top of me. He’s in the perfect spot, popping up on the shoulder before the wave has broken. I’m behind him, watching him pump and set himself up. My goal is to catch up right on his ass. I’m not in the best spot, but I’m doing my best to make the section with someone in front of me. I watch him do a backhand wrap just feet away from me. He knows I’m there. He has to, but he doesn’t look, and then the wave closes out.

     I’m pissed. Could I have caught up to the open face had I not been snaked? I’m an etiquette nazi when I surf, but is it realistic to expect that same etiquette from other surfers? How far do you push it? I’ve seen the altercations in the lineup enough, but are they worth it?

     Friar’s a good surfer. I’ll give him that. I had seen him do a backside air on a left earlier, and that’s without a leash. He paddles back to the spot where we had all been sitting earlier. A couple other guys give me that “I saw you get snaked” look. I look at Friar, but he just looks down at the water.

     I get my last wave. A closeout. From the shore, I see Friar do the same thing to another surfer.

     What had happened just ruined my morning, but after a nap, a workout at the gym, and some time in the library, I let it go. That guy earlier who had got snaked by the Japanese dude. He didn’t push the issue. I’ve seen Gary get snaked by a little kid at HB. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Rick snake people. Everyone gets snaked. It’s just been a long time since I have. I think I let my ego get the best of me. How entitled are we, truly, as surfers?

     That guy paddled over and took my wave. I let him punk me and out battle me for position. I must have looked like a bitch in his eyes, that I looked like someone who couldn’t surf, but now I’m just doing a downward spiral, possibly over thinking. I need to turn this energy into something positive. I’ll put it in my surfing.