SLUMP, SAT 20SEPT2014

Loc: Manhattan Beach (26^th)

Crew: Randy & Klaude

Time: 0630-0830

Conditions: 2-3 FT, light onshore, overcast, consistent, fast.

     Since my favorite shortboard is damaged, I take my Bali board, the 6’3 JS. I haven’t had a good session with it since I had last consistently ridden in during the winter swell of 2012. The last time I rode it was at HB last spring.

     With a garage full of dusty boards, it’s nice to put old equipment to use. Even though the surf is expected to be smaller today, I figure a little extra board might come in handy if the conditions are still walled.

     When Randy and I reach the sand, we see that the surf has come down a bit, but the shape is still a little walled. The brick house seems to have consistent peaks, so we paddle out there.

     It’s an overcast morning with a hint of early winter, an appetizer atmosphere. The air’s a little cooler, but I still chance it with a wetsuit jacket and trunks.

     “I’m looking for a redemption session,” says Randy, as he motions towards the same peak where he had broken his Tokoro at yesterday. On a smaller Tokoro today, he’ll be getting redailed in, too.

     The water’s warm as it creeps up to my belly button when I walk out. Upon my first duckdive, I’m acclimated. The water’s not so cold. It doesn’t take long before I get my first wave, a left, but the tide’s been high in the mornings, and pumping down the line on the 6’3 potato chip feels so different from my other boards. I set up for a top turn and almost fall backwards from the lack of momentum.

     Some waves have shape, but others are racy and closed out, at least for me. At 26^th Street, I already see the local heavies owning the main peak. One of the older longboarders gets hooted into a walled left, but his board has enough volume and length to keep him in front of the section. Behind him, a three-foot cylinder forms. More hoots erupt from the inside. He lowers his stance and puts his hand in the face to stall. No complete coverup but just being on that wave alone deserves props.

     Motivated, I try to pull in. Every wave closes out on me. Randy’s super patient, even sliding off of his board in the midst of the morning surf swarm.

     Kai, another local around my level, paddles up to me and says that he saw my brother get a barrel. Later, I see Kai paddle into a right, backhand. He’s covered immediately from the drop, pigdogging. Partial cover but cover enough.

     Out of frustration, I start paddling into everything, pulling into everything, and . . . nothing.

     Klaude paddles over, and we do a manhug in the lineup. I follow him over to the main peak, but it’s so damn crowded.

     “Use your local card,” he says.

     Orlando and Jose say wassup, shouting towards me over the various heads in the lineup. Feeling claustrophobic, I head back towards Randy.

     My JS isn’t working for me. I watch other guys on their short but fatter boards, popping up with ease and flying down the line. Carves, spray, sometimes two turns. How? As Gary once said to me, “It’s about the Indian not the arrow.” I know that something’s wrong with me, but something might be wrong with my arrow, too. I miss my Mini Driver. Plenty of volume. I’m a little heavier now, getting closer to 175, so I feel like I’m sinking my Motorboat when I’m on it. My JS isn’t jiving with me right now either. I can’t believe I had taken this board to Bali, but I was riding Bali-quality waves. Even on my best Cali sessions with this board, they were at Trestles on solid swells.

     Other than one sloppy backhand snap, I don’t get any decent rides. My last week of surfing hasn’t been good, save for Churches, and that was a soft two-to-three feet, fish and funboard conditions.

     I put the boards away after dropping my brother off. Looking at them all stacked together, my damaged Mini Driver off to the side, I realize that none of my boards are made for my height, weight, and level. The Patterson, the two Tokoros from my brother, they are made for someone who weighs 160 max. The JS has length, but maybe that board was better for me back then and not now. My Motorboat Too feels too small. Maybe these boards would be good in great surf conditions but not so much for everyday use.

     “Three boards is all you need,” my brother had told me when he first entered my garage a couple of weeks ago. “One for good days, one for average days, and a groveler, even the NSP would work.” He explained how Cali waves aren’t perfect everyday, and that’s why having something short and fat with more volume is good for surfing here. Unless you live in Hawaii or Indo or somewhere with good surf every week, then it makes no sense to ride a high performance board in slop unless you’re a pro.

     It may be time to revert a little and take a step back. Order a board meant for someone who’s even a little heavier than me, something that I can just simply catch a lot of waves on but is still somewhat maneuverable. I know this. I should have known this, but now I’ll have to learn it all over again.

     I think I understand now, how my friends go through so many boards. I think it’s time that I get me another one.