Today’s session was an important one. Why? Because Jon’s non surfing ass was in town, and it’s a miracle to get that guy in the water nowadays. Also, Klaude … he’s getting surgery on his shoulder, so it’s the “last call” for waves until early summer. Klaude, I’ll miss you in the water, and I think Dais is going to have to be your replacement until you’re back (JK). Cheryl was sick, Shan couldn‘t make it, and no one else replied to my morning text. Klaude really wanted to surf HB, but I told him that I couldn’t. We settled for El Porto. After yesterday’s evening session I hoped for nothing less.
Jon and I got to the lot, parked in the first space on the left, and checked out the water at 6:40 AM. I noticed that the sky was clear, and the moonlight was shimmering off the break in front of the tanks. Jon kept saying that it looked small, but I explained that it was pretty good compared to the last couple weeks. The tide seemed at mid level, and the peaks were scattered at about 3 - 4 ft. When I say scattered, I mean it was really scattered. The break in front of 45th was consistent, but everywhere else seemed pretty random.
Jon and I paddled out in front of the tanks, and I started catching waves right off the bat. Jon was on my Becker board, since he still hasn’t found a replacement for his broken Anderson fish. The last time he surfed was with me and Shan, and before that was December of 2009! I couldn’t help but give him shit for not keeping up with his surfing. I even offered him my Becker board to take to SD, but he said he wouldn’t have time. I can’t live without surf, and now that I’m back home it’s even hard for me to go one day without that feeling. Jon struggled a bit at first.
Klaude showed up just before 8:00 AM. We saw him on the shore. We called out and waved our arms frantically to get his attention, but his eyesight is a negative eight, which meant that we might as well have whipped our dicks out because he couldn’t see us. We exchanged greetings in the water and waited for the sets.
Jon finally caught a couple decent waves, and Klaude got a nice handful. I watched Klaude take this left that didn’t seem to end that he caught all the way t shore. He later told me that he was trying to catch up with the section the whole time. Jon kept complaining that he was barely able to paddle back out to the line. Klaude and I cheered him on when he tried his best to scratch into some rolling rights that he was in perfect position for, but he missed some of them. I’m sure with more time in the water that he’ll be the same O.G. Pumprider that he used to be.
On a set I was out of position for the waves, but one random rogue wave was approaching in the distance. I love working the outside line, and for some reason I would rather wait forever for a big wave than work the inside to catch sometime small. This time it paid off. I paddled out to the approaching steam roller and turned around when I thought I had good position. Miraculously, I was right on the shoulder that began to jack up. At the very top of the wave I finally got the slide which seemed like it took forever to get into. It was at least head high. As I got the drop I did a long bottom turn as I eyed the building wall behind my right shoulder. As I went down the line I saw Klaude in the line up and a bunch of other guys that were stationary and watching. As I climbed the face I gouged the top of the lip for a glorious display of some salt water spray. I intended to go down the line, but as I pointed my nose back down the face the section was already crumbling away. There was a long boarder on the inside waiting for some clearance to avoid contact with me. As my ride ended I grabbed my rail to prevent an accident. When I paddled back to the line I celebrated with Klaude who said he saw the whole thing. The long boarder paddled by me and congratulated me on the wave. The feeling I had when I was on that wave was like no other. There’s just something about surfing that makes you feel so alive. Not sex, not being high, not anything else can give you that feeling. I was so elated, but like I said before … the only problem is that YOU WANT ANOTHER ONE! No more waves like that came our way. By that time Jon was tired and sat on the sand. Klaude and I tried to go for our victory wave to end the session. After I caught my last wave I saw that a long boarder was going pretty fast on a left heading straight for Klaude who was trying to paddle back out. The long boarder had to ditch his board, and so did Klaude. I had a feeling that some kind of damage was done. The long boarder examined his hand; I saw red. Klaude checked his board and head back in. “I should’ve just went in,” he said. Well, I was just glad that it didn’t end up worse, but I did feel bad for the guy with the bloody hand.
Jon left with Klaude. I watched the waves for a little bit. I couldn’t believe the clean peaks coming through on 45th. I didn’t want to leave. I wish everyday was like this here. So now … there will be no more Jon and no more Klaude for a while. I hope the rest of the Dumprider Crew can come out and help pick up the slack.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
FOUR WAVES IN FORTY MINUTES: SAT 10/23/2010
I was stuck in Orange County for the whole day, but I was determined to get wet before the sun went down. I got to Porto two minutes before 6:00 PM. Anyone that knows the south bay knows that, at this time of year, you’re surfing in the dark by 6:45 PM. There was no warm up necessary. I immediately put my wetsuit on and rushed 45th. The tide seemed a little low, but that didn’t matter because there was swell! There were 5 foot waves with open faces, mostly lefts.
Sure, it was a little windy, and there was some chop. It was by no means a “clean” evening, but there was size and shape, and that’s all that mattered. The coastline had a decent amount of surfers for it being that late. There was still people trying to rush it just like me. I was surprised that there weren’t more people there on a day like that. I had to compete a little with some of the people in the water, but I didn’t care because I was on a mission. Time was critical, sunlight was burning away, and I had to get as many waves as possible.
I wish I could’ve enjoyed the scenery and surf with some of my buds. The sunset and remnants of orange light reflecting on the texture filled water left me in awe and speechless. I could only stare, gaze, and appreciate.
My first wave was a left. I have been concentrating so much on rights that my performance hasn’t improved going front side. I popped up and drew a high line. I didn’t have enough speed, and I tried to do a tail slide on the shoulder and fell. Another left came where I tried to pump my board to gain more speed again, but the up and down pumping motion actually made my feet leave my board. It was like my body wanted to go faster, but I couldn’t make the board go with me. I thought that I knew how to pump my board to gain speed all along, but I guess I don’t know shit. My brother tried to explain it to me and told me to do the same carving motion that you would do on a skateboard. To me, that’s a little confusing because when I’m going backside, all I need to do is use the momentum of the wave to set me up for a hack. I need to practice his advice, but I also think that I need to draw a different line when going left.
My last wave was a right, which I had to out-paddle another guy to get in it. It was more of a closer, but I remember it being so dark that I had no depth perception on where the face was, or if I was going to purl or not. I called it at about 6:40 PM. I wish I would’ve got there earlier to take advantage of the awesome conditions. My anticipation was high for the following morning.
Sure, it was a little windy, and there was some chop. It was by no means a “clean” evening, but there was size and shape, and that’s all that mattered. The coastline had a decent amount of surfers for it being that late. There was still people trying to rush it just like me. I was surprised that there weren’t more people there on a day like that. I had to compete a little with some of the people in the water, but I didn’t care because I was on a mission. Time was critical, sunlight was burning away, and I had to get as many waves as possible.
I wish I could’ve enjoyed the scenery and surf with some of my buds. The sunset and remnants of orange light reflecting on the texture filled water left me in awe and speechless. I could only stare, gaze, and appreciate.
My first wave was a left. I have been concentrating so much on rights that my performance hasn’t improved going front side. I popped up and drew a high line. I didn’t have enough speed, and I tried to do a tail slide on the shoulder and fell. Another left came where I tried to pump my board to gain more speed again, but the up and down pumping motion actually made my feet leave my board. It was like my body wanted to go faster, but I couldn’t make the board go with me. I thought that I knew how to pump my board to gain speed all along, but I guess I don’t know shit. My brother tried to explain it to me and told me to do the same carving motion that you would do on a skateboard. To me, that’s a little confusing because when I’m going backside, all I need to do is use the momentum of the wave to set me up for a hack. I need to practice his advice, but I also think that I need to draw a different line when going left.
My last wave was a right, which I had to out-paddle another guy to get in it. It was more of a closer, but I remember it being so dark that I had no depth perception on where the face was, or if I was going to purl or not. I called it at about 6:40 PM. I wish I would’ve got there earlier to take advantage of the awesome conditions. My anticipation was high for the following morning.
A PORTO AFTERNOONER: FRI 10/22/2010
Al drove off to Trestles, and I stayed local to check out Porto in the AM. I got to the lot at first light, and the waves were small and crumbling on shore. There was also a hellacious wind. I text Shan and advised that he keep counting sheep.
I headed back out to the lot at about 5:00 PM. The waves were still breaking close to shore, but there was a little size, maybe 4 - 5 ft. The shape was horrible, and everything looked like a quick ride. It was awfully messy with a lot of chop. It reminded me of the pier session, but this was more consistent with a little better shape.
There were about 5 guys out with me in front of 45th. The sun was low on the horizon, shining for the first time in days. I didn’t expect much, and I didn’t have much time because I had to pick up Lauren from work. Right when I got to the line I caught a left that didn’t have much shape to it. After that it was nothing but frustration under a beautiful sunset. The rest of the time I was scratching out on waves. What really surprised me was that every 5 minutes a rogue set of waves would break really far out on the outside, much too far to paddle for if you were at the line up. At least they weren’t dumpy, and even though they were big, they would feather out at the top and start to crumble.
My second and last wave of the day came from one of these sets. I caught a right that surprisingly opened up a little. The section ended up reforming on the inside before the shore. As the wave jacked up I was able to get a little spray off the top before it closed out. After I hit the lip I was racing over the shallow sand until I stepped off the rail.
The session wasn’t great, but I felt that it was a precursor of better things to come. And even though I only caught two waves, I think that they were two of the better looking waves of that evening.
I headed back out to the lot at about 5:00 PM. The waves were still breaking close to shore, but there was a little size, maybe 4 - 5 ft. The shape was horrible, and everything looked like a quick ride. It was awfully messy with a lot of chop. It reminded me of the pier session, but this was more consistent with a little better shape.
There were about 5 guys out with me in front of 45th. The sun was low on the horizon, shining for the first time in days. I didn’t expect much, and I didn’t have much time because I had to pick up Lauren from work. Right when I got to the line I caught a left that didn’t have much shape to it. After that it was nothing but frustration under a beautiful sunset. The rest of the time I was scratching out on waves. What really surprised me was that every 5 minutes a rogue set of waves would break really far out on the outside, much too far to paddle for if you were at the line up. At least they weren’t dumpy, and even though they were big, they would feather out at the top and start to crumble.
My second and last wave of the day came from one of these sets. I caught a right that surprisingly opened up a little. The section ended up reforming on the inside before the shore. As the wave jacked up I was able to get a little spray off the top before it closed out. After I hit the lip I was racing over the shallow sand until I stepped off the rail.
The session wasn’t great, but I felt that it was a precursor of better things to come. And even though I only caught two waves, I think that they were two of the better looking waves of that evening.
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