MY ENDLESS SUMMER, PT.6 MON 28JUL2014

Unclassic Huntington Beach

Changing it Up—Beach Break Gambles

Loc: Huntington Beach

Crew: Bri

Time: 0700-0930

Conditions: 2-4FT, consistent, sectiony, walled, uncrowded.

     I tell Bri that we need to change it up. After so many unsuccessful trips down south, we’re better off sticking closer to HB to sample its sandbars. The forecast is 2-3FT and fair, so we’re hoping to get some decent peaks.

     Driving south on PCH, we pass Bolsa Chica, and the surf is barely two feet and crumbly. The Cliffs don’t look that good either. The waves south of the pier look how Oside looked the other day. I can’t help but think, Fuck. Skunked again.

     We park at my favorite HB break and walk out for a look. There is decent size and activity, but the waves are breaking section on section. No isolated peaks. Walls. Motherfucker.

     Bri looks at me and says, “I should have stayed home.”

     I don’t need her negativity, but I hold my tongue. The situation already sucks, haven driven all the way down here for shit once more.

     We paddle out. We have to. And wouldn’t you know, in between the walled sets, there are some occasional waves that hold a little bit of shape. Bri, Miss Grumpy Head, catches back to back waves. Yeah, she had said that she should’ve stayed home, but she’s smiling now.

     I do okay, getting some random isolated peaks. They are racy and section out, but at least they offer a turn before closing out.

     I can’t say that the surf is good, but the lack of crowd leaves all the rideable waves to us. We make the best of it, and the best is enough to make the trip worth it.

     Into the last twenty minutes of surf, something weird happens. The wind completely dies, and the water turns so glassy that it’s hard to read the waves from the sky’s reflection. There’s a line on the outside, and when it comes closer, it’s the first wave of a four-foot-plus set. I paddle out and barely duckdive it. Bri gets dragged all the way inside. There are about five waves in the, and it’s so clean, the faces glassy as a pond. It’s walled, but it’s beautiful to be immersed in. If only there was a shoulder.

     Just as soon as the water turned to glass, the onshore wind picks up, and the surf turns choppy. We catch our last waves in.

     We get some 50% off pho for breakfast, still stoked for the waves that we had caught. It wasn’t a successful gamble, but for the drive and distance, we broke even.