2-4 foot
Cold water
Off shore winds
Gloomy
Roy has been touting about SW swells hitting Zero’s for a
while. I’ve been here with him once
before when it was crappy, and I had a lot of fun. So, knowing that there was some swell in the
water, I was excited to try out the spot.
Roy and I were texting back and forth on Friday. We had talked earlier in the week to go to
Zero’s, and so he and I were just hammering out details on when to meet at
Zero’s. He texted me that he will be
there early, so I said I’ll be there.
How early was early?
I was out the door before 600 AM, and I was passing by Sunset point by
610 AM. I called him, and there was no
answer. I hope he just didn’t want to
pick up his phone because he was driving.
I pass by Topanga, where small, perfect two footers were rolling through
unridden. I pass by Malibu, and there
was a pack of surfers in the water, waiting for ankle slappers rolling
through.
I call Roy again, and there was no answer. Fuck, did he flake? Am I making a solo mission all the way to
Zero’s, and not going to see anyone I know?
Well whatever, no turning back now.
I go one way and its always straight forward. I continue along my journey, past Zuma, past
El Matador beach, and finally to Zero’s.
I get out of my car, walk to the overlook, and expect
nothing but two foot ankle slappers. A
five foot set booms on the shore, and rattles my senses awake. I run back, as a body boarder who was parked
behind me is walking towards me.
“Looks fun!” I say to him.
“Yea! See you out
there!” he tells me.
I walk down, and see Roy’s car. Well, at least I have one guy I know in the
water.
I get to the beach, and the line up is crowded. I’m not turned off by that, but I am turned
off by the fact that the five footer that I just saw when I arrived was almost
a mirage. The ocean was dead flat, and
everyone just seemed to be shooting the shit.
I take my time stretching before paddling out.
I see Roy in the line up, and we exchange pleasantries. He tells me to watch out for the boil, but
that the waves are fun. Hopefully when
the tide fills in, it will be more fun.
There is a rock that creates a boil in the middle of the
line up. I saw a guy standing on it
while I was sitting in the line up. It’s
the first time I’ve seen Zero’s crowded, so I’m trying to read everyone’s
ability and priority, along with the waves coming in.
There was a 30 minute wait for the sets today. The lulls lulled us to sleep. I found myself yawning in between the
waves.
I go for a warm up wave, where the body boarder I met
earlier told me to go for it. He was on
my inside, but he gave it up and let me go.
The section runs out ahead of me and another surfer takes off about ten
feet away from me. If I was only faster…
I was looking for some of the rights, but they would just
fold over and wedge up too much for me.
I ate it on every attempt going right.
A surfer in blue and grey, whom I later learned is named
Matt (we called him Matty) was sitting wide out of all of us. He’s a goofy footer that attends the
University of Hawaii as a junior, and is studying Marine Biology. He takes off on a right that swings way wide
of us, and a SUP snakes him. He hoots
him off, and pumps a beautiful line on the face. He gets to the inside section and does a
check turn before ripping a bottom turn and busting the fins out on his
backside on the inside. The whole line
up blew up with hoots on that move.
I get to talk to another local who grew up in Hawaii
too. He was really friendly, loud, and
big. He was a happy camper though, and
commanded respect from the line up.
However, he wasn’t arrogant about it, and was joking around with
everyone, even with me, whom he just met.
“Oh shit, here comes Stevie!
Can’t wait for him to get in the line up…” he said sarcastically. It seems everyone knows everyone here, but
unlike other “local heavy” spots, these guys are welcoming of any new guys with
good vibes.
I also get to talk to another guy in blue, who is a
lifeguard around here. He said July 4th
was a crazy day for him to work, since everyone and their mama came out to the
beach. He wished he was able to surf,
but he was out saving lives the whole day.
Roy was catching a lot of waves as always, and so was
Matty. They were both pushing me into
waves, but my ability backside wasn’t on par with them, and I would get dropped
in on by others since they could see I couldn’t make the sections on my
backside. Time after time, they would
ask if I caught a good one, and I would have to be honest and reply, “My
backside isn’t where I want it to be, so I got dropped in on and couldn’t make
the section.” If I was just faster, I
would make other surfers back out of the waves I’m on.
Roy went back and forth from our spot near the boil in front
of the stairs, to the south in front of the rocks, then back to the spot near
the stairs. He was catching a lot of
waves all to himself. Every time he
would have a huge smile on his face. He
is definitely my surf guru.
Maya, whom I met last time, came out too. She is a beautiful Italian lady who owns a
few restaurants. We catch up a little
bit, and I try to push her into some waves.
The crowd was getting to her, and she disappeared after a frustrating
one and a half hours of sitting and waiting and wishing. Un altra volta (another time.)
While I was on the inside, I get to see Matty’s ability up
front. He was going on a left,
maneuvering through crowds, threading the needle. He drew beautiful lines that permeated with
me throughout the whole day. He carves
and pumps with ease. The lines he drew on
the big canvas at Zero’s was so beautiful, I wished I could draw those
too.
I’m in a great position for a left that passes up
everyone. Or maybe everyone passed up
for me. I paddle with intent, with
passion, and catch speed. Right at the
moment when I feel the slide, I see two surfers right in front of me. One was a girl, another was a guy. They probably just got out of the water. I had to bail on my board and tug on my leash
as to not hit them. I resurface with a
disappointed look on my face, and the girl and the guy both look unbothered, as
if they had done nothing wrong. Perhaps
they didn’t do anything wrong.
Roy asks, “Why didn’t you go? Matty went right, you were in the perfect
position for that left! It opened up so
nicely man…”
“There were two people right in front of me, if I had gone I
would have ran them over.”
“You still should have gone,” he says.
Damn, I guess so.
I surfed a total of 4 hours, but really, it was a lot of
sitting and waiting and talking. I see a
text from Matt, which read “Skunked.” He
went to HB this morning, while I went to Zero’s. He went south, I went north. We both drove the same amount I fancy, but
one of us got skunked, and one of us scored.
I would have stayed longer, but I had to meet my friend
Lydia and her fiancé Dan for lunch in Korea Town. We went to Yu Chun Naeng Myun in Korea
Town. It was definitely some of the best
Korean noodles I’ve ever had. The spicy
wasn’t that spicy because I poured all the broth into the noodles bowl. But I think that was just perfectly
refreshing. On top of that, we got an
order of Kimchee Mandoo (kimchee dumplings) to go with it. So good!
A starving surfer like myself could get his fill on about $13.
.JPG) |
| Naeng Myun with Kimchee Mandoo <3 |
Lydia then treated us both to some boba as we caught up a
little bit more on life and plans for our near future travels.
Mahalos Mother Ocean!!
Zero’s is a great place to get my backside game going.
