Happy New Year at 26th Street - 01012013

Surf Report: 2-4 feet with the occasional 5 footer

Water: Cold

Winds: Off shore

Atmosphere: Some patchy clouds, but sunny

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Dawn patrol today!  I slept at 11:00 PM in order to be able to watch the sun rise and surf some waves on the first day of 2013… and I was successful!

Matt tagging the top off of a left

My dad came out to shoot some photo’s of us today, and Christina was riding in my car today since her car was still MIA.  Matt and Randy showed up, and so did Chris.  The usual local crew of surfers were out this morning, but the crowd was thinner than usual.  That’s what I love about surfing on holidays such as New Years where heavy drinking is involved:  not a lot of people make it out! 

I for one was still drunk when I woke up early in the morning… I honestly remember shooting a text to photographer Ruben Pina and putting my iphone down… and that’s it.  I don’t remember going to bed at all.  I must have been drunk and tired from the day. 

CC back in action... kinda. 

Anyways, the air was extremely chilly, but the water was even colder.  Apparently it was 54 degrees in the water today.  The waves were mushy and started out slow, but occasionally there were some draining set waves that rolled through the line up.  Christina and I caught up on how her trip back to the East coast was, but she was definitely out of synch with the Ocean.  She was on her Aussie board and seemed to have difficultly paddling in to waves today.  She did catch one nice right, taking off right at the peak.  I saw her go straight, so I decided to snake her, and I ate shit.  I came up from the white water, and saw Christina further inside, saying that she had a thick take off, and that satisfied her surf bug. 

“Was it like a thick cock?” I asked her.

“Way better than any thick cock,” she replied.  “I’ll take that feeling of the drop over a thick cock any day.”

Love her. 

Chris showed up unexpectedly, and we chatted up on how surf has been.  I swing around to take a left and he snakes me.  Well, I owe him a few waves since I snaked him before, so we can call it even now. 

Go Chris!  I mean, WTF man?!?! Well, i owed him a few

Chris went for a lot of rights today.  He got a clean right where he turned really hard on the cut back, and came unstuck.  He also took a crazy set wave close out towards the end of the session.  He took off pretty late, tried to make it, but free-fell and went over the falls.  It was probably one of the gnarliest wipe outs I’ve seen Chris take.  Happy new year to him!!  Gotta pay to play…

One of Chris's better moments today :P hahaha

Matt and Randy show up, and I give Matt some lovin in the water.  Matt and I catch up on the antics of last night, and reflect on his brand, spanking new board.  Randy occupied his usual spot at 33^rd, barrel hunting the whole time.  Actually, my dad got a shot of him making a fat turn, so he wasn’t barrel hunting the WHOLE time, but barrel hunting the majority of this surf session. 

Matt seems pretty stoked on his new board.  Not only is he stoked, he is surfing really well on it.  I think the board suits his power style and he seems lighter on his feet.  We surfed together, separately and then together towards the end.  He got some nice rides in going backside, but I’m sure he wanted to go left a lot more. 

Roy was doing his thing as always.  He was catching set wave after set wave, taking them all the way to shore, cranking out two or three turns almost every time.  “Just surf every day, Klaude, you’ll get better,” he says to me.  He has only missed about ten days out of 2012.  I suppose if you do something every day, you’re bound to get better at it. 

I asked Christina if she had any New Years Resolutions.  She told me how when she went back to the East Coast, she noticed that all her High School friends all either had a family of their own, were engaged or getting married, or owned a house.  She explained how she has none of those currently, and that she wants to be ok with that.  She wants to establish her own roots this year, she said.  “And the first step in establishing those roots is through surfing,” she said. 

BAM!! and the lip had no chance of survival when Randy attacked

Christina got out of the water first, since she was tired, and was freezing cold.  I don’t blame her.  She has been out of the water for over a week, and so her paddling muscles must be worn out.  On top of that, the wind chill and water were downright cold for Southern California standards. 

Chris took his last wave, which was a right, to shore, and exited the water. 

I had a small turn on a right, and waited for the “last wave.”  Waited and waited and waited.  The second shift came out and made the Ocean a little bit more crowded.  I waited even more for the “last wave.”  It never came.  I took a close out and paddled in.

My dad asked, “What, you’re done already?  Why did you give up?” 

“I thought you’d be cold and wanted to go home already,” I told him.

“No, I’m fine, go surf more.  Go catch a good wave,” he said to me.

Well shit, I have to go back out now.  I strapped on my leash and headed back out. 

Davey, local rippah, on the second shift

Randy, barrel hunting all day

Matt was sitting with his brother, and I sat next to Roy.  Roy was egging me into some waves, but they weren’t breaking because of the higher tide.  The sets were big close outs, and the inside seemed like they were working better.  The inside seemed too drained out and dangerous though, so I opted to stay on the outside.  Don was on the inside, catching wave after wave. 

A small peak came my way, and I had the left all to myself.  I paddled for it, popped up, and saw Don in my line.  I stalled for him so he could duck dive under the wave.  I kept going down the line casually, not really pumping for speed.  My board just carried me through all the way to the inside where the wave sectioned off and closed out.  I was happy with that last wave, and came in. 

That would be Roy, in da barrel

I came in and saw Christina talking with the locals.  Chris was getting changed, since he had to go to his wife’s uncle’s place (?) in Pasadena and go see the Rose Parade.  He told me that he started a blog, found here at http://gnarlymaskyeah.blogspot.com/

He said that he started a blog because I had one too.  And that prompted me to write today’s blog, since I haven’t spent time writing at all.  Writing was my passion, but it took a back seat to the CPA exam.  I figure I could use the few hours I put in to the blogging sphere back to the CPA exam… and now that I have, I find my creative side dead like road kill.  So, I’m going to write more in my blog so I could consistently recount all the times I surfed, whether they be good, bad, or ugly. 

My New Years Resolution: "Go for it" - it being the barrel

Mahalos Mother Ocean!!  Happy New Year everybody!!!