Mushy April with The Seven Samurais - 043011

Surf Report: 1-3 feet and mushy mushy mushy

Winds:  Slight off shore

Water: Cold

Atmosphere: Sunny!

I woke up this morning before 500 AM and started getting ready for the day.  I called Khang up and he sounded drowsy as hell.  I did my post-wake-up yoga, and started to head to his house. 

What I should have done was called Dais too.  I thought he was going separately because he had a dentist appointment, but he also met us at Khang’s.  I got to Khang’s place before the sun was up, and Dais got to his house a little after 600 AM.  Q join us as the unofficial car monitor, as he sheepishly snuggled his way back under some blankets and knocked out in the back seats.

We tried to score free parking around the 26^th Street area, since our plan was to meet up everyone at 26^th Street.  Matt told us he found parking around 33^rd, and we actually ended up finding parking there too.  It was pretty lucky, since Khang pulled up to the street, and a BMW was just pulling out of a spot.  With a little bit of luck on our side, we changed into our wetsuits as the sun rose up brightly over the million dollar houses in Manhattan Beach. 

Matt made his way down the street and joined us and we made our way down 33^rd Street.  The beach was pretty empty, and there were about ten heads out at this point.  We saw Gary again on his neon green bonzer out in the line up.  Matt was telling us about his bowel movements when he jumped up and had that wide eyed look of OOPS.  He thinks he might of shitted a little bit in his wetsuit.  It’s ok, all day today my butt was itching because I needed to take a shit, but I held it in the whole session.  It was one of those poops where you feel it come down, then it goes back inside you, and you’re alright for another hour or so.  Then it drops back down. 

The waves were… mushy today.  The tide really jacked up the whole place.  The high tide was to peak at 848 AM, and so there was a lot of water moving around on the inside where the waves are supposed to break.  It was a pretty frustrating morning for me, but I was glad to have the crew out.  It was Matt, Dais, Khang and myself, along with Gary. 

There were a few nice waves that came through:  some of them peeled perfectly into a beautiful right hander that sprayed off the top of the lip and opened up all the way to shore.  Khang was in position for this perfect wave, but was unable to get in.  We all gave him shit about it.  I think he beat himself up the most, though.  He was scratching right at the peak, but just didn’t get enough oomph into his last few paddles, and the wave passed him up. 

Dais caught a lot of waves today.  I think his wave count is steadily growing.  He has been putting in the hours, and they are definitely showing. 

Matt caught some nice waves all the way to shore.  Nothing spectacular this morning since there is barely any swell, but he did manage to catch a few waves all the way to shore.

I for one caught a few measly rides that were not worth mentioning.

Matt decided to paddle down south towards 26^th Street since that’s where we first planned to meet.  I followed him.  We paddled and paddled, all the way to 26^th Street, where Matt saw Christina and Francis.  Dais and Khang eventually drifted down here too, so we had the full DRC crew in the line up.  We all got together for a little pow wow and then tried to hoot each other into waves. 

Again, it was frustrating.  But, I had a lot of fun.  Why?  Because I’d rather surf crappy waves with my friends than an epic wave with everyone and their mama out.  Francis took a lot of waves, some on his belly, all the way to shore.  He was definitely leaving us behind in the dust when he caught the waves though.  He did some nice little cutbacks into the white water, pump down the line and cutback again, and then take the wave all the way to shore on his belly.

Matt still got some nice lefts in the mushy conditions.  The tide was dropping down again, so it was cleaning up the conditions and making them more consistent.

Dais paddled for the inside double ups that jacked up in the little holes. 

Khang was in the middle of the pack at 26^th Street, but made his way further south to join us and took the wipe out of the day.  He was right in front of me when I saw him paddle for a close out set.  It wasn’t that big of a wave, but the way he wiped was pretty epic.  I saw him paddle and he read the wave as a bad wave, so he threw his board to his left, and made his body go right.  I saw through the crashing wave his board and him go over the falls, and then his board flung up in the air after she went over the falls.  Dais and I hooted at that gnarly wipe out.

Cheryl made it out today too!  I was actually not expecting to see her, but she made it out on her fish towards the end of our session.  She seemed to be more comfortable in these conditions, when it’s not too gnarly and pretty forgiving, for she caught a few waves while I rested on the beach.

I decided to body surf for a while because the waves were not doing anything.  Francis and I body surfed for a good thirty minutes.  Dais joined us too, for his potato chip wasn’t doing any good for him either.  We three body surfed until I did something stupid:  I was going under the waves, and decided to dolphin kick all the way to the bottom.  I then smashed my face into the sandbar, and got a bloody nose.  I came up with blood dripping down my face.  Francis was wide eyed.  Khang was wide eyed.  I thought I should keep body surfing, but Francis convinced me to get out. 

So I dried up on shore for a bit.  Christina was already chilling on the shore.  Francis, Dais, Khang and Matt made their way out of the water.  Cheryl came out a few minutes later. 

Matt decided to go home and get some studying done.  Francis was going to go out again, and so I decided to follow him.  Khang and Dais made their way back to the line up.  Christina and Cheryl were going to hang out for a bit and make their way back out too. 

In the next thirty minutes, I witnessed this one girl catch a wave that turned on all my gears.  She was on the outside of me, so it was her wave.  I watched her as she paddled, popped up, and made this long, drawn out bottom turn.  She did a small cutback and hacked part of the wave.  She took the wave all the way to shore.  What a turn on!

So, I caught about three waves after this, and they were actually clean waves.  I was able to pump up and down on each wave, and cutback into the white water.  They weren’t critical waves or anything, but they were clean. 

The mushy waves were surprisingly pulling us further and further south.  We all drifted a few blocks south until we decided to call it quits.  The conditions were getting worse and worse.  At least I got my fill for the day in this last half hour.  Last wave I took was a left that I was drop-knee’d on, and tickled the face of the wave with my left hand. 

All in all, it was a fun day with the crew.  It was good to see the DRC out in full force.  We had a total of seven members in the line up today!  It was great to have spent time with friends in our temple. 

Mahalo Mother Ocean!