Small and Perfect 011313 26th Street

Surf: 2-3 feet faces

Winds: Off-shore

Atmosphere: Sunny

Water: Cold (low 50’s)

Sunday what a fun day!  I knew today was going to be smaller than Saturday, so I checked out Rosecrans first.  The lines seemed to be rolling in, but the higher tide was killing it.  I thought that I missed the window because I woke up so late… I woke up at 600 and arrived at the beach around 700.  I passed on Rosecrans and headed to 26^th Street.  Old, faithful 26^th Street…

There were barely any heads in the line up.  Actually, there were barely any heads in the parking lot.  Calvin was barely getting changed into his wetsuit.  Ross was already changed, and I saw Roy’s car (my old surf mobile) already parked in the first stall.  So, I figured it had to be somewhat good, since yesterday was pretty good while it lasted. 

The sand blistered my feet as I walked down to the beach.  The sun was just peaking over the million dollar houses in Manhattan Beach.  The sun did little to warm any part of the beach though.  The winds were biting at my bare face.  My feet hurt just from walking on the sand.  My fingers felt frozen from the wind chill.  It was another cold, blistering morning at the beach. 

There were only a few heads out when I paddled out.  There was Oscar, Eric, Tim, Ray, Ross, Calvin, mystery surfer #1, and myself.  The waves just peeled perfectly from the north around the shit pipes to a bowl-like shape.  Eric was the first to pick up a gem from the outside.  He was perfectly on the peak and was pumping up and down from the take off.  He took that wave passed the Mons Pubis. 

Ross was killing it as always.  He would take off deep on the rights, check pump, snap, pump, pump, snap, pump, stall, and go totally vertical for a finishing backside snap.  He repeated this a few times and called it a day by 800.  He actually meant “One more wave,” when he said it.  Usually, when he says “One more wave,” it means ten more waves.  He probably had to take his kid to a baseball or basketball game. 

Ray, Tim, and Oscar were all on bigger boards, but kept hooting us shortboarders into waves.  All of us were truly just enjoying the spot, trading waves, and not giving a damn about how we surfed.  We went left and right on all of the set waves.  It was just amazing being able to share the spot with a few guys out.  I took off on a right that had a section ahead of me.  Ray was on the other side of the section, so he took off.  I bottom turned and did a small snap on the face before the white water section broke.  Ray apologized if he snaked me.  I told him not to worry, since he was in better position for the shoulder, and that he had been waiting for a while for a good one.  The older dudes were hooting us in to waves continuously.  We were hooting them into waves too.  It was just a good energy to be in at the moment.  Not a bad vibe was felt, even with myster surfer #1.  Eventually, the cold took a toll on all of them, and so they left. 

The north spot belonged to Calvin and myself.  I can hear Roy hooting further south near the tower, no doubt scoring another good left.  Him, Davey, and Don were on that peak. 

Calvin and I traded waves for a good half hour.  Small to medium waves rolled our way, pealing perfectly.  Calvin was on his blue bonzer board, and was super stylish pumping down the line.  His board was super responsive and he was able to bottom turn to the lip with ease on his bonzer. 

I was able to squeeze some of the cleanest rides out of the smallest waves.  The waves were peeling that perfectly this day.  I just couldn’t believe how good it was. 

“Oh, here we go!” Calvin said.

A set detonated on the outside, and started to bend and peel towards us.  I paddled furiously to meet the peak.  I swung around and started to kick and scratch.  I felt the wave lift me up as I took off on an angle.  I stood up, and instinctively stiffened up and put all my weight on my back foot.  I was on one foot for a split second, then fell off the wave of the day.  Un-fucking-believable.  I blew it. 

Oh well.

I caught more rights with Calvin as the spot grew crowded with the second shift.  They were the same dudes that “didn’t belong” that one day with the draining low tide.  They were having trouble catching the waves, especially since the high tide was now making the waves more mushy.  Calvin and I made our way towards the 26^th Street tower.

Roy was on the tail end of the surf session, and so was I.  For some reason, the waves just south of the tower jacked up and made a difficult take off on this small day.  Roy caught a “last wave in” and headed back to the lot. 

Glen saw me and shouted my name to say hi.  I waved back in acknowledgement, asking how he was.  “COLD!” he said.  We both laughed. 

My last wave was a left where I tried to drag my leading arm into the face of the wave.  The little wave wedged up and created a nice face to caress.  The wave broke on the shore, and I was done.  My feet and hands were frozen cold, but my spirits were high. 

Although I blew the wave of the day, I didn’t really care about any of that, since I had a lot of waves under my belt.  There were just waves galore with only a few heads out.  Yes, it was small, and yes it was inconsequential surf, but man, how good is it when everyone is trading waves for a good hour and a half?  I don’t really recall a lot of the waves for the day because each wave was a carbon copy of the wave before: peeling, perfectly-shaped rights.  You just had to get up early and hit the water while it was still freezing cold. 

Mahalos Mother Ocean!!  Mahalos for rewarding the dawn patrollers.