Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Sun., Oct. 13th, 2019: A Huntington Gamble

Loc: Goldenwest

Time: 0645-0745

Conditions: glassy, swampy, 2 Ft., inconsistent

Board: Zippifish

            I listened to the Surf Gawds at Surfline and believed them when they said two-to-three feet plus down south. I knew that the tide would be working against us, so we made the O.G. call to dawn patrol it.

            Getting up that early for a change was kind of nice. Normally, I’m up at 0700, but not that day. Nope. We were on the freeway, driving before the sun was up. Even when we parked, there was barely light breaking the dark sky.

            I hoped for something, anything to surf. HB usually stands up more than waves in the South Bay, and we wouldn’t need much, especially with our big, chunky boards. Even if we only got an hour of decent surf, it would be worth it.

            Se we hit the street parking, slapped on our slippers (lots of glass in these parts), and we walked our asses down to the beach. At first glance, it didn’t seem swampy yet, just…small…slow. And then, lo and behold, a set popped up. It looked almost three feet, and suddenly there were lines. The ocean was alive. I felt great, like there was potential.

            Our first couple of waves were actually decent. For a small HB day it was kind of classic: fast shoulders, fast drop, racy section, tagging the lip before closing out. And then…after a few waves, the tide came up just enough to make everything inconsistent. The few other surfers in the water, too, were just sitting like turds in a toilet; we all were. Fock. Then when the sets did come, the rides got way shorter. Like, fast drop, one pump, bog out into swamp city. Soon the center of HB Cliffs completely shut down. We had to paddle more south to sit on legit Goldenwest, and even then it was too late. 45 minutes into the session and there really wasn’t anything to catch.

            That’s just the way it goes sometimes. We try to make the best call to catch some semblance of a wave. It doesn’t always work out.




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