Rejuvenation Session - Churches and Outhouses

Surf Report:  2-4 Feet, Chest high max

Winds:  Slight off shore to on shore

Atmosphere:  Misty rain, and some sun!

Water:  Cold

After I got back from Saturday’s surf session, I had to go to work.  Once at work, my boss threw down a stack of work for me to finish and left one hour after I arrived (he was there since 1000.)  I worked, and I needed to take a nap so I knocked out on the floor of my room for two hours.  After that I felt rejuvenated.  I worked for another two hours, and left since I had to attend my sister’s surprise birthday party.  I ate a lot last night at my sister’s surprise birthday party.  About 11 people came out to celebrate my sister’s 28^th birthday, and we ate our fill at the one and only Metro Café.  My dad took a look at my aching foot and found a few pieces of rocks still stuck inside my foot.  He patched me up and I packed up my stuff into the car and went to bed.

600 AM:  I wake up and start to get ready.  Matt texts me when I was leaving, and I told him that I was leaving now.  I head out the door, get in the car, and drive down Santa Monica Boulevard as it rained down on my car.  Then… I had to poop.  BADLY.  The poop was probably delayed a few minutes after I left the house because I didn’t do my yoga stretches before leaving.  So, I bust a 180 and head back home to annihilate the bathroom.  After feeling 10 pounds lighter, I get back into my car and make the long trek south. 

It rained in LA.  Then it cleared up.  Then it rained in Long Beach.  Then it cleared up a little.  Then it started pouring in Irvine.  It cleared up a bit again.  Matt called me to see where I was.  He told me they would wait for me.  So, I tried to gun down the 405.  The 405 changed to the 5, and it was still a bit misty from the small droplets of rain.  I bumped my Scrublife Mixtape by Wax and EOM as I trekked down past Christianitos and arrived at Basilone. 

I was greeted by Jay as he was getting changed.  I met Boris for the first time, and Dais and Matt were already in their wetsuits, ready to go.  Jay is an El Porto regular, and I read about his adventures many times in Matt’s blog, but I never had the honor of surfing with him, let alone meet him.  The crew was assembled and ready to go.  I left MJ (my fish) in the car, and Jay left his 7S Superfish in his car and took out Boris’s potato chip thruster.  Matt took out Georgina and Dais took out his Desire`.  We are breaking Rick’s heart by going for thrusters instead of fishes.  Today was definitely a fish day though, but I felt that the thruster needed to be dusted off and taken out. 

I obtained her a long time ago as my first shortboard purchase, and haven’t really ridden it at all because my skills were lacking in surfing.  I spray painted a rising sun onto it and took it out today though, since I felt she needed to get wet.   

We walked down to Churches as Matt, Jay and Dais filled me in on their session last night and their feast that Boris had prepared.  They went from ashy to classy in about three hours, starting with hot dogs to gluten free trader joe’s foods and special German meats including beef, pork and bacon.  They also told me about the skunk that was ravaging through the garbage last night, and how Matt had to chase it away.  Also, there was a dead bird that they tried to revive by feeding it.  I think they should have fed the bird some chicken, but that would be cannibalism. 

We walk down to Lowers and take a look down to Uppers.  Outhouses and Churches looked better, so we turned around and went back to Outhouses.  Matt and Jay were the first to hit the water, and Dais went in third.  I stayed a little bit longer to stretch since I didn’t get to do that in the morning when I woke up.  So far, I’ve been able to do yoga every morning right when I woke up except for this day, so I did a longer warm up yoga session before paddling out.

The cuts on my feet weren’t healed, and I added a few more on the walk out today too.  The potato chip felt like an old girlfriend of mine as I paddled out on her.  At first we shook hands and chit chatted, catching up with each other.  I was looking at landmarks to see where the waves were breaking.  I tried to position myself in the best place possible.

Jay was the first to draw blood.  Actually, he caught three waves before any of us caught anything.  He has this super powerful paddle and he dolphin kicks into everything.  There were a lot of waves that made me doubt that he was going to get into them, but he muscles his way into them and pops up in a trademark wide stance going regular foot.  He wasn’t busting any turns, but he sure was able to catch a lot of waves on this borrowed potato chip. 

Matt paddled all the way down to the Lowers’ peak and disappeared for a good half hour.  He said he got three rides over there but it was way too crowded for his comfort. 

Dais snakes me again!  On one of my rides, I see him on my inside, and I was watching him paddle into it the whole time.  I was just about to initiate my pump when he pops up, so I straighten out.  I watch him get to his feet, speed wobble, then eat it in the white water.  I ride out straight and laugh it off.

Cheryl and her cousin Michelle came out too!  Cheryl was on her fish, and Michelle was on a 7 foot thruster.  I give Cheryl a hug in the water and exchange pleasantries with Michelle.  Matt came back from Outhouses, so we had a full DRC group hanging out in front of Churches. 

This one guy with a hat on was tearing shit up at our spot.  He had a swallow tail thruster and would pump down the line on a lot of rights, cutting back casually as he re-entered the wave. 

The sun started to show through a patch of blue in the gray skies.  The winds switched to on shores, but I felt the conditions improved. 

My thruster felt like my skateboard under my feet.  I didn’t even have to think about popping up on this board.  Paddling back to the line up seemed like a drag, but paddling into waves was really easy.  I think I was driven to succeed today since I had such a crappy session the day before.  The rejuvenation session was being fulfilled on an old rehabbed girl of mine, and she did extremely well.  I can just hear Randy in the background saying “I told you so,” about riding thrusters. 

On one particular wave, I was able to pop up on the white water and stick with the wave in a way that it pushed me back on to the face, like how you see the pro’s do it on the webcast.  I was a little surprised but realized I had a chance to do a fat bottom turn on it and go up the face on it, so I did.  I carved up, and tried to throw out my tail, but came unstuck like a barney and ate it mid face. 

Matt paddled into this set wave that came to him, and so I decided I wanted to snake him.  I saw that he wasn’t really going to make it around the white water, so I thought it would be great to do it.  He took off on the feathering peak and dropped down with a trade mark stance.  I paddled for it on the shoulder and completely dropped in on him, and made it down the line till the wave closed out.  I apologized to him later (but not really) and felt kind of bad for doing that. 

Jay kept on getting wave after wave on this potato chip.  He pops up in a super wide stance and glides down the face of the wave.  I think Dais wanted to do the same, so he paddled for a lot of waves and ended up catching a lot of waves too.  I like it how our group inspires each other to push and push and push. 

Another wave of mine, I tried to tuck myself under the lip.  The lip today was a bit pitchy, and so when I popped up, I stuck my whole hand in the wave face.  I remember it distinctly how I felt my whole board just slow down as I dragged my whole hand in the face, and then the wave just cover me up.  Then, the lip took out my head, and I was head over heels.  Not to let up, Mother Ocean took me on another ride and pitched me over the falls after I hit the flats.  I came up smiling though, since I thought that was pretty fun and harmless. 

Michelle caught a lot of waves this session.  I was impressed at her ability to go both right and left, and she has a lot of style points going down the line, even when she kicks out.  Dais and I agreed that she is kakkoii, which literally means, “looks cool” in Japanese.  There was one stand out ride that’s still imprinted in my mind for her:  I was on the inside, paddling back out.  She paddled for a rare left, and pops up.  I thought she popped up way too soon, but her board makes the drop nicely.  She grabs rail momentarily, lets go, trims down the line, sticks her hand in the face to cut back on the left, and then keeps going left.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  It was super stylish! 

Cheryl was struggling on her fish.  She said she needed more board under her.  I told her she needed more paddle power, and to prove it I would switch boards with her and paddle into waves.  She opted not to, and instead traded boards with Michelle.  I don’t recall if she caught waves with that board either, but hey, she tried! 

Dais went for a lot of waves today, and popped up on many of them.  I think this day was the most waves he was able to pop up on.  Thankfully when he was finished with his ride and on the inside, he would cheer us on when we would take rides.  I remember hearing a few hoots from him as I pumped down the line on a wave. This one wave, I paddled at a steep angle.  It seemed more natural to do so on the thruster.  The pop up was smooth and easy, and the face of the wave just opened up.  There was a nice blue gray wall of water, feathering at the top of the lip, and just some ripples on the face.  It felt so good just pumping up and down, and I hear a "woooOOoooo~" from Dais.  The wave starts to close out, so I get one more pump in before straightening out.  The white water crashes behind me. This is exactly what I was dreaming and mind surfing Thursday night when I lost sleep.  The wave was just so beautiful and clean. 

I was really amazed at how good the conditions became as we spent more time in the water.  Matt was shivering as his rippling back and thighs shown through his wetsuit.  Dais was all smiles (as always) and Jay had this O-face going on.  Michelle was smiling in the line up as she popped up on another wave.  Cheryl might have been a bit frustrated not being able to catch too many waves.  I for one was having fun on my old girl, and felt redeemed from my debacle yesterday. 

Matt took this one right, where he walked up to the nose, and spun around as if he was on a longboard.  I think he was trying to just mess around and it brought a big laugh to my face.  He was catching a lot of waves today too, and I really can’t comprehend where he gets this energy from.  He surfed Friday twice, Saturday twice, and now he’s dawn patrolling Sunday too.  It boggles my mind. 

By this time, the winds stopped too, and the line up was getting packed to capacity towards Outhouses.  One guy took a wave all the way from Outhouses down to our peak.  He was a really skilled surfer, doing cut backs and turns and pumping down the line.  Our little peak, dominated by the DRC, was being surfed by only us.  The wait was longer, but it was just us.  Well, us and this one Asian dude.  I think he was a little pissed since we took everything and he wasn’t getting any rides.  He was probably thinking, “Hey, we’re Asians!  Let’s stick together like the rice we eat!”  Fuck that shit.  I remember I had a nice open face but he was totally on the inside in my way, so instead of risking him getting hit by me, I straightened out and let him duck dive under the wave.

“I’m so tired, but I don’t want to get out,” I told Matt.

“I know what you mean!  You just think you don’t have any energy left, and then a few sets come in and you automatically want to paddle for them,” he said to me.

And speak of the devil, the waves just kept coming in.  DRC kept trading wave after wave.  I took one last wave which wasn’t an epic wave per se, but it was good enough.  I didn’t want to risk injury from over-surfing, so I was satisfied and went in.

On my way in walking on the cobble stones, I saw and poked an orange star fish the size of my hand.  I have never seen a starfish in the wild that big!  I felt like a kid at SeaWorld again. 

We all seemed to be stoked from head to toe.  The sun came out as the winds blew on shore.  Our campfire was kept alive by Boris, and we started to prepare lunch.  We had all kinds of foods from left-overs from Boris to chili to apple pie!  What a treat, what a sight! 

So to sum it all up, this camping trip was sporadic like the rain, and quite impromptu.  It was definitely a learning experience for future camping trips with the DRC, and definitely sets the tone for any future endeavors.  It also set the bar kind of high in my opinion, seeing how many people showed up to surf and hang out.  My “surf trips” included sleeping in my van in the neighborhood of Huntington Beach, stealing water from the local neighbors’ showers and buying fast food.  I did not expect the electrical outlets or the amount of food brought and made, but I did expect the awesome vibes we all had with one another.  Mahalos to Braddah Matt for making this happen on such short notice.  This is the first of many camping trips, I am sure.