Loc:
Manhattan Beach
Time: 1000-1200
Crew: Bri
Conditions:
2-3 FT+, high tide, crowded
Board: Fish
I haven’t been in the local lineup for a
while, and Roy is right by me. “The last storm changed the beach breaks,” he
says. “Everything is different from here to Venice.”
Don Kadowaki is here too, and my other
homie Tom.
Meanwhile, the surf is decent but a little
on the walled side. I’m stuck on my fish, meaning that I have so much fun
surfing with it that I’m currently abandoning my other boards.
The fish had seemed like a good idea, but
the waves are surprisingly standing up. I pull into a left immediately on the
drop, and it feels different on this board. There is so much volume that I
enter the wave slowly, but the twin fin makes the board fast as I drive in the
tube. Of course, I don’t make it out, but I at least cover a little distance.
The first half of the session is filled
with these fun, pull-in waves.
In the middle of the session, the
lifeguards clear the lineup in front of the tower so that a bunch of swimmers
can swim out to the buoy and back, sending half of the surfers towards the
brick house and the other half towards Marine.
Even though the tide is rising, peaks are
still coming in. I don’t pull off my best turns, but the waves are legit—they count.
When Bri and I leave, the peaks are still
coming in. Even up on top of the hill at my car, looking down, there are still
peaks coming in.
Why are we even leaving? Well, I do have my
thesis due on Friday, but there are waves, and leaving right now means that I’m
taking them for granted.
Even though you might have priorities,
sometimes you have to put them aside. The surf is never guaranteed to linger
around for long. Sometimes it’s better to walk to the corner coffee shop for a
snack and a drink and then hit the water all over again. Best to get it while
it’s here.
