Memorial Day Weekenders 053011

Surf Report:  3 – 5 foot, some close outs

Water: Cold

Winds: none

Atmosphere: Deceptively sunny

I was back home last night around 2310.  I was exhausted but happy to be back home.  I showered, stretched a little, and went straight to sleep.  I knew that I wanted to surf the next morning to take advantage of the rare day off I had from work.

I woke up at 600, only to sleep again.  I woke up at 730 and started to get ready to head out.  I was still surfed out and hung over from all the surf from the weekend.  But, I knew that the surf was still good, and so I had to head out. 

Today was a solo session, and rightfully so.  I was back at 26^th Street, surfing with the locals there.  When I pulled up, I saw Manny’s car, Don’s car, and Bruce was zipping up his wetsuit.  I found a parking spot on my second go around, and watched the waves. 

The lulls looked small, but the sets rolled in about head high.  I wanted to take out my longboard, but it was a shortboard day.  I screwed in my fins, grabbed my leash, put on extra sun block on, and headed out.  I wanted to surf just for one hour today.

I saw Uncle Miles talking to some girl on the shore.  He walked away and said hi to me.  The girl turns out to be Serena, a beginner, who got ditched by her friends and boyfriend and has been sitting on the sand for the last thirty minutes.  I convinced her to paddle out with me, but she probably couldn’t even get passed the shore pound today.  Oh well.  Beginners shouldn’t be out today.

The line up was super crowded!  I saw some familiar faces, but mostly foreign faces dotted the line up.  I tried to stay away from the crowd, but it was hard to.  A lot of Memorial Day Weekenders showed up and crowded the line up. 

There were some nice waves coming in, but it was hard to position yourself out of the way of someone behind you.  Most of the waves I went for had someone waiting on the inside to get run over by me.  So I would pull out.

I took a few cool waves, but was unable to do any maneuvers on them.  26^th Street was a bit pitchy, and some of them were hollow.  I took a white water barrel that I fell on as I made it to the flats.

My wave of the day was also my worst feeling ever.  I took a right that I pumped twice on.  I saw that it was closing out, so I straightened out, only to see a guy right in my path!  I made a decision of trying to carve away from him to no avail.  My board flew towards him as he ducked under.  Apparently, I hit him on the head, and he was pissed.  I repeatedly apologize to him as he cursed and yelled at him.  Eventually though, he was placid, since I asked him if he was bleeding, and he realized that it wasn’t that bad of an accident.  He explained to me that it was ok, and that he was pissed that he got ran over on the wave earlier too.  At this point, I was growing weary of the crowded line up.

I opted to take some insiders and the plan worked.  I got some cleaner rides, but I was unsatisfied when I saw the bigger sets roll in.  I then paddled back in to call it a day after one hour of surfing. 

Most of the locals who paddled out at the same time I did came back in with me.  I guess they decided it wasn’t really worth more than an hour to surf today, too.  I changed slowly back into my land clothes as Shan pulled up to say hi to me.  We chit chatted about the morning, and the camping trip, and he decided to go change.  By the time I left, he was still on his phone, calling shots.  I said by to everyone and left the 26^th Street circus for all its glory. 

One thing is for sure:  I am still a noob.  But, I am working hard to get out of that status.  Hopefully I can keep working hard at this life that I love.

Mahalos Mother Ocean for always being there for me.