Back At It 110715

Surf Report: 1-2 feet
Water: Cold
Wind: Off shore
Atmosphere: Sunny

I have been fighting a cold since Monday. Monday was the worst of it, but I wasn't able to shake off the cough and the body aches, so I haven't been surfing since Sunday. I get up feeling relatively well, with minimal soreness in my throat. I go to the garage and look for 3/2 wetsuit.

"Is it this? No... it must be this...?" I pick one out and feel the thickness around the wrist. "It's probably this one," I tell myself.

Matt and I are sending messages through the morning. He has a job interview today. I wish him good luck and that he will nail that interview.

I pull into the parking lot late. Chad, his daughter Maddie, and her friend Sunny are changing into their wetsuits. I pull out my wetsuit, flip it back from inside out to outside out, and pull my legs through. Something feels tight. It's my 4/3. Not my 3/2.

Oh well.

I throw on some sunscreen, and the metermaid, Kurt, is ticketing people. He goes up to one car and Bruce yells, "Stop! That's Mark's car!" Kurt stops.

"Is he one of your friends?"

"Yea, lemme feed the meter," Bruce replies, running over with a handful of change. "It's Mark, he's fishing right now. He should know better! He comes here all the time."

"Well, let me leave an empty envelope so he freaks out when he gets back," Kurt smirked, leaving an empty envelope on the windshield.

"Yea! That will get him, that will be good!" Bruce laughed.

"You gotta have some fun when you work!" Kurt beamed, looking at me. We both laughed.

I fed my meter, and headed down to the lower parking lot. There, Stocky Jon, Orlando, Jose, Robert, Ted, and Kim were gathered around. Orlando hugs me and tells me the news that his friend, Doug, has passed away.

"I'm trying to do a paddle out for him," Orlando said, in his thick accent. "Will you be here on Saturday? We doin a paddle out for him man."

"Aw, yea, I heard from Matt. I'm sorry to hear that dude. I won't be here though, since I'm going to Hawaii," I told him.

"Oh okay then that's ok. Bring me back one of those license plates yea?" he replied with a bright smile.

"I'll look for one," I told him.

The surf is small as fuck. But it's my first day back since Sunday, and I am happy to be here, burning up in my 4/3 under the hot South Bay sun. I am sweating beads in my warm ups, and jump in to icy water. It hasn't been this cold all summer, or fall. It went from summer to winter. El Nino indeed.

Chad and his girls are all riding foamies and longboards. They are further south of the tower. I stay a little north of the tower.

There weren't too many notable waves. I caught some one shotters and small waves that were fun, but the thing that stuck out to me most was the vibe. Everyone was chill, sharing waves. We were all cheering on Maddie and Sunny, and even the kids learning to surf from the Austrailian guy who has been teaching all year. Bruce was giving pointers to Maddie on how to go switch stance, and she attempted three times on her backside to switch stance. She got it twice! And her friend Sunny was going for waves that she usually wouldn't go for. The Aussie guy was on a left, but pulled out half way through his ride so that Sunny could have the rest of the wave. What a perfect day to have people of all abilities and ages to surf together and enjoy these little, fun waves.

Mahalo Mother Ocean!!!