First of tha Month 050111

Surf Report:  1-2 feet.  Worse than yesterday

Winds: Off shore

Water: Ice Cold!

Atmosphere:  Sunny!

I got a late start today.  To be honest, I wasn’t really too stoked to surf today.  It was kind of a force-yourself-to-surf-so-you’re-not-so-pissed-you-didn’t-on-a-Sunday surf session.  I didn’t mind dragging out my yoga this morning, for I was still in “beach mode” this morning. 

I got a text from Matt saying that he, Lina Joy, and Shan were going to be at 26^th Street.  I told him I would be there shortly.  I called around to see if anyone would let me borrow their longboards.  I called Christina and Ann, and came up empty.  Oh well, I will take out the potato chip again. 

I pick up Dais and the sun is already blazing down on us.  We make our way down to 26^th Street and score some free parking up on Highland Avenue.  We started to get changed when OOPS, Dais forgot his wetsuit.  He just brought his giant Ziploc bag.  I offered him my boardshorts, so he wore those for the time being.

We skated down to 26^th Street on the smooth pavement of the strand.  We saw surfers getting out going back to their cars and houses.  The conditions looked similar to yesterday, where it was super mushy and a day where longboarders were the only ones catching anything.

We get to 26^th Street and find Shan and Lina sitting on the beach.  I introduce myself to Lina to her ice cold hands.  Matt came out and gave us a small report:  Small, mushy, and only a few rides.  Christina was chilling on the sand already, taking a break. 

Matt, Lina and Shan leave from this point.  I stretched out, and paddled straight out.  It was super cold.  It was like winter water.  I took a wave in on my belly, and told Dais that he has to borrow a wetsuit from Matt, or he’s not going to be able to enjoy anything.

“Anything is better than nothing,” I told him.

So he went up to the parking lot and borrowed Matt’s towel and wetsuit.  A true sign of friendship is when you borrow your friend’s wetsuit that he accidentally pooped in yesterday. 

I decided to go leashless today because it wasn’t that big and gnarly.  I saw Kyle in the line up, and he was leash less too!  So I got to join the cool gang.  Matt informed me of a “local guy” ripping.  That local guy was Roy on his fish again.  We said what’s up to each other, and traded waves for the first hour or so.  He was tearing it up as usual, going left on these beautiful rides, pumping up and down, and hacking the lip off. 

He would push me into some waves that were questionable but opened up nicely.  I got a few rides in, but that was all.  Dais came out with Matt’s wetsuit, and albeit shivering, was catching those inside double ups.  It was just one of those days where shortboarders were not going to get that many waves.  We hungrily watched the outside sets being taken by longboarders as the waves bogged out, reformed on the inside, and we would try our best to catch them. 

Kyle was definitely a stand out!  He’s so light and agile, he is able to get into a lot of waves pretty easily with his excellent positioning and paddle power.  He definitely has earned his keep in the 26^th Street line up. 

Kyle’s dad Damon was on a foamie today, but he switched to a more serious longboard.  He said that the foamie was cool, but that he wanted to turn into waves more, so he switched boards.  And boy did he turn it up.  He took almost every wave that came his way.  He used to be noob status in my eyes, but now he’s able to paddle in to a lot of waves, so I give him respect for that. 

His wife Patty was on her foamie on the inside.  As Christina pointed out, it is so much fun watching her surf because she catches the smallest waves on the inside, but has the brightest smile out of anyone in the line up every time she’s sliding down a white water wave. 

I actually asked her if I could use one of their foamies, but she said that Kyle took hers out just now.  I was a little bummed, but thanked her.  She smiled back so cheerfully.  I opted to hang on the inside, and try to paddle for some hopeless mushburgers.  No dice.

So I decide to take a rest.  My shoulders were tired from the reckless paddling and coming up with nothing.  I sat next to Christina and watched the waves.  Just then, Patty started to walk up towards us and offered me her foamie.  She said her hand got caught on the leash and got yanked, so she was going to body board now with fins.  I was so stoked!!  I took that thing out immediately.

Dais took a small rest on the sand while I paddled out on the foamie.  I realized how easy it was to paddle into waves with a foamie.  That thing just cruises on the surface and you don’t really need any paddle power to get into waves. 

First wave I went for and I was down the face.  It was just too easy. 

Second wave I went for I tried to tuck myself into the small barrel. 

Third wave I went for I walked up to the nose, only to fall off when I was hanging five for a split second. 

Fourth and final wave I went for I busted a switch stance, to which I fell.  I was still really happy with these four waves.

Dais watched me as I caught those four waves hanging on the inside on his potato chip.  He had eyes of envy but a pure smile of stoke on his face.  As I brought the board back in, I decided to go back out and body surf.

Dais and I body surfed for a good 45 minutes.  I think that body surf session was the most fun I had all day.  Dais definitely is a superior body surfer to me, since he and I would paddle for the set waves that doubled up on the inside, but he would take them about ten feet longer.   We drifted a whole lifeguard station before getting out, walking back, and paddling out in front of 26^th Street again.  We were trying to figure out how to take off on an angle when body surfing, but all we could manage was to go straight.  Body surfing is so much fun because you can feel the wave ripple and flow on your body.  You can really feel the power of the ocean as you glide down the face and have that wave push you to shore. 

Christina was still chilling on the sand, baking up into a crispy piece of tofu bacon.  She said she brought salad for her lunch, to which Dais responded:  “You don’t make friends with salad!  You don’t make friends with salad! Hey!” 

We said our good byes and skated back up to our parking spot. 

Another day of surf, and another morning spent at temple, being stoked.  There is no swell on tap for this week or weekend, so we shall see how this pans out.  There is apparently a NW/SW combo swell coming for the weekend, but it is waist high max. 

Mahalo Mother Ocean.