An Early Morning at 26th Street 050711

Surf Report: Knee to Waist high

Atmosphere: Cloudy

Winds: Off shore

Water: Cool/Cold

Today was a sparse day for the Dump Rider Crew.  It was Dais, Khang and I that made it out into the line up.  Again, I was plagued by the excitement of surfing Friday night.  I seriously have nothing else but surfing to bring me pure joy in my life at the moment.  I am studying for my CPA test, which I am way behind, but I hope that whoever reads this appreciates that I put time in to write about it.  I study non stop for eight days a week, and am constantly putting off social obligations to study for this test.  Honestly, money does not bring happiness, but it sure brings stability in my life.  So, I am studying for this damn test.  I wake up, go to work, and go to class from 600 PM till around 930 PM on Mondays and Wednesdays, and otherwise stay home and study on all other days.  I try to swim at the Venice High School pool once a week to keep my paddling power up, so that is one aspect of my life I can count on to relieve some stress besides my weekend surf sessions. 

Therefore, I tend to get excited about my upcoming surf sessions on Friday night.  I tend to not be able to sleep, even though I’m dead tired from work, coaching, and what not.  I had a hard time sleeping at night, and still woke up before 500 AM on Saturday.  Ko was telling me that he was down to surf, but when I called him in the morning, he informed me that he got in to LA (from San Diego) at 330 AM.  I told him to sleep in since the surf wasn’t epic, and that three hours of sleep was not worth surfing. 

I called Dais at 524 AM, and set out to pick him up.  Khang was to meet us at 26^th street.  This was probably the first time in many years that I got to the beach so early.  We found street parking at the top of Highland Avenue, and started to get changed.  Khang was not far behind, and we moved up to give him a parking spot, leaving only inches in between my bumper and his front hood. 

The waves looked flat from atop the hill, so Khang and I took out the foamies, and Dais took out Maria, his fish.  We were in the water before 700 AM, and there were at most three other guys out at the peak north of 26^th Street.

The water was grey, mimicking the skies emotions.  The hues were mellow, and the Ocean was quiet as the sets rolled.  The waves had some push behind it, but nothing of consequence.  The winds were off shore, creating a spray off the top of the lip as the waves crashed on the shore.  We were stoked to be paddling out on such conditions with an empty line up.  Most surfers were on longboard, with only a few on shortboards. 

The paddle for me was difficult.  I pushed down on the nose of the foamie as the waves crashed in front of me, and that seemed to strain both my shoulders.  I was the last to get out to the line up within the three of us.  It was hard to punch through the white water on such a “big” board.  But once I got out to the line up, it was game time.

I paddled for a lot of waves during the early morning.  No one was in the way, no one was hassling for waves.  I would paddle for some small set waves that would pick up in size on the inside because of the low tide drop.  I would be able to stick my hand into the wave face and slow down on the wave to let the lip barrel over me. 

Dolphins came to play with us, with some frolicking in the water.  They would jump way above the water, and do twists as they flew high above the surface.  What a magical sight.  FUCK SEAWORLD. 

There were waves that looked like ankle slappers, and I would go down the line, crouched low to hug the wave face, and drag my whole hand in the wave face.  I hoped that my homeys saw me on the waves, but they definitely didn’t see the waves I got.  When I wiped out on the attempted barrel rides, the foamie would tug on my leg and the leash would bite into my ankle.  This hurt a lot, and it felt like teeth gouging into my ankle. 

Dais went for a few waves this early morning session, but he seemed a bit hesitant to push himself over the ledge with a flat rockered board like Maria.  Khang seemed to have  a niche within the line up to get himself into waves on the foamie. 

On one wave, I backed out for a guy on a purple and orange longboard.  He was going down the line on a left, and I was able to pull out just in time and tell him sorry for knocking off the top.  He said it was ok, and had a huge smile on his face.  He even told me to go on the next set wave that I was able to jam my hand into the wave face after popping up.  He was all smiles, and so was I.  This is the reason I love 26^th Street so much. The people here are so mellow, and are cool.  So long as you aren’t an asshole and are mindful of other around you, you will fit right in.  26^th Street’s vibe is the total contrary of the “Porto Scene” that drops in, yells at, and hassles you for waves on a continuous basis.

We three got tired of riding big boards after 45 minutes.  We all took waves in on our belly, and walked back up to Highland to switch boards. 

It felt weird to have my body halfway sunk into the ocean surface with a tiny board under me after being on a huge tanker for the first forty-five minutes.  But, it was nice to duck dive the inside waves with ease and be able to paddle with power instead of “bullshitting” with my paddle.  I tend to paddle just with my hands while on a longboard, because submerging my whole arm while paddling doesn’t produce any extra power on a longboard, so I just paddle with my hands on the surface.  With a shortboard, I make my strokes deeper and longer, and make every tip of my finger work to its full potential.

Dais took a lot of waves on this shortboard session.  He tweaked his knee on the earlier session, but showed little signs of a bothered knee as he paddled and popped up on some of the sets that came through.  He came through the line ups with his long hair and paddled into empty peaks that offered up some nice rides for him.  He still took some questionable waves, but hey, if you don’t paddle for those, how would you know if they were questionable in the first place?  At least he pushed himself over the ledge, which is more than what I can say about others who don’t even try to go for those scary looking waves.  As the great Edison said, “A genius is 1% inspiration and 99% effort.”  Dais made the effort to paddle into those steep ledges, and paid the price, but I guarantee you he learned a great lesson from them. 

Khang had two waves of the day on the shortboard session.  He was the first one out of our crew to catch a clean wave that he was able to pump up and down on.  The second wave of the day came on a set that he took from the three “wise men” (old geezers) on longboards.  He paddled, popped up, and I had to back out on the wave because he was going down the line pretty fast.  He was able to take the wave pretty far, and made it all the way to the inside.

The wave after that, I was able to take.  It was a rare double up that opened up nicely and I smoothly paddled into it because no one was in position.  The old geezers, the two groms, and the two locals near us were no where in sight.  I was able to pop up, make the drop, bottom turn up the face, pump a few times, then cut back, then pump a few times again, then cut back again until the wave lost all its power.  I was super stoked and pumped up, even though none of my friends saw this wave.  However, one of the groms put me right back in place when he took a nice right and completely blew his tail out and did a wrap around cutback, pump down the line, and blew his tail again.  This kid was probably no older than 16 years old, and he was shredding harder than me!  I was put in my place. 

At this point, Khang and Dais drifted down further south.  I tried to maintain my spot in front of 26^th Street.  However, the three old geezers, the two locals, the two groms, and Roy were taking all the waves that came through.  It was tough competing with them.  They were always in the “right position” at the “right time” and I would be able to paddle into them, but they were already on the wave, so I didn’t want to snake them.  

The old geezers took all the outside sets that didn’t even break but doubled up and take the waves all the way on the inside.  The two locals (the white dude with long hair and the Phillipino dude on his neon ….Lost Mayhem) took some really good waves.  The two groms took any high tide mushers that rolled through and made them into 7-8 point rides by busting out the fins.  And Roy would take the waves on his fish and tear the shit out of the waves.  The spot was firing, but for every one wave I got, each of these guys got three waves.  So, doing the math now, I got one wave, they got twenty four waves.  OK,  perhaps that’s a bit exaggerated, but it felt like that to me.  I wasn’t able to catch SHIT.  They just tore up the place.  I need to get better.  That’s all I thought.  I need to get my paddle stronger, I need to get my positioning better, I needed to BE better. 

I got fed up and took a wave in by 920 AM.  I wasn’t tired per se, but I was frustrated and had enough.  The waves were fun for what it was, but the way to end it wasn’t the way I wanted to end it. 

I got changed and walked down south to try to find Khang and Dais.  I saw Khang’s board and sat down to watch them surf.  I saw a young grommette tearing it up on the rather empty line up where they were.  It seemed like she was just so light weight on her board and would tear the shit out of any wave that came here way, going both right and left. 

Apparently Khang was able to pump down the line on one wave, bottom turn, and made a THWACK sound as he rebounded off the lip on a right.  Dais said he was able to see this, and he threw a Matt sized spray, which equates to about a cup of water being thrown out the back.  Heck, that’s more than what I can do, and I definitely have yet to hack off the top of the lip.  Plus, HE HAS A WITNESS.  He was so amped off of that THWACK, he told me about in such an animated manner that I felt that I let him down for not seeing it.  I honestly regretted not drifting down south with them.  I wish I had just let the current take me down south instead of competing with those other dudes. 

However, I made my decision.  I had made my bed, and I had to fuck in it.  Oh well, the morning wasn’t completely lost.  I had a lot of good waves, and that one wave that I got where I was able to cutback twice made my session.  I was just bummed I wasn’t able to finish strong on the session like Khang and Dais were able to. 

Till another day, Mahalo Mother Ocean.   

PS: Ok, so I took about an hour writing up on this session.  During this one hour, I could have been studying for this all important CPA exam that I study for constantly, but you know what?  My creative outlet has been mellowed out somewhat, and whatever future money I am able to earn from passing the CPA exam won’t equate to any experience I have in the water, so take that and shove it down your throat, CPA exam.