RELIEF, MON 20OCT2014

Loc: Manhattan Beach

Time: 0730-0930

Conditions: 4-5 FT, consistent, warm.

     Having just gotten back from a dirtbike trip at Copper City, I’m frothing to get wet again. Changing at the top of the hill, I look down and see that there’s shape despite the high tide. Finally. I exhale hard but pleasingly with a smile, relieved. Toru pulls up next to me, grinning from ear to ear. There’s a car behind him, so I tell him that I’ll see him in the lineup.

     I’m warming up on the sand watching a reeling right that’s working just north of the tower. Don K. is killing it, pumping and carefully drawing the right lines to extend his ride further. Other guys who I’ve never seen before are sitting in the same spot. Another one takes off. Three good rights in a row.

     My Lost Mini Driver was done being repaired over the weekend, so I’ll be picking it up after this session. Wish I had it now. My Motorboat Too is too small. The fish? No way. Not today.

     One of the local guys takes off on a right as I back out for him. I see him get legit coverup on the drop. Critical. I give him props on the way back. I take off on the next bomb right. Its face is huge. I get one backhand snap but climb the face again and kick out before it shuts down.

     There are good waves all morning, but it’s one of those sessions where I’m not on any of them. Either that or I’m just not surfing well. Maybe need more board? I don’t know. I’m sucking.

     I drive to Long Beach to see Alain B. from AB Surfboard Repair. He’s super animated but definitely knows his shit. He tells me about the sandbars at Bolsa Chica, and he’s spot on to what I had seen last Thursday. My repairs are so clean, well worth the cost. He even cleans up the other minor dings and cracks on my Kainalu Fish, and that’s aside from the broken nose that I brought it in for.

     At night, I wax both of those boards. My Mini Driver looks so new. Oh, how much I’ve missed you. Finally, my quiver’s complete once more.