Surf Camp Trip 052811 Part 1

Surf Report:  Choppy and disorganized wind swell, about 3 feet plus

Winds:  On shore and side shore trade winds

Atmosphere: Gloomy

Water: Cool

Today was day one of our “Good-bye to Matt” San Onofre camping trips.  It served as the DRC’s first unofficial surf trip together, with as many as eight surfers in the water at a time. 

I have been looking forward to this whole weekend (as other DRC members have, also) for a very long time.  There was swell in the water the whole weekend, and the weather was supposed to be beautiful for the whole weekend, making being at the beach the clear cut choice for any SoCal resident.  Couple this anticipation with a crappy surf weekend last week, we DRC members were eye-humping this weekend and mind surfing the Trestles A-frames all through the week. 

I prepared to pack starting Thursday night.  I was already deciding on which boards to take, what gear to pack, and the food to bring.  Camping trips are one of the rare times I actually prepare ahead of time for.  I usually just go with the flow and forget to bring some stuff, but not on this camping trip.  I wanted a comfortable, smooth ride throughout the 48 hours we were spending with Matt over the three day weekend.  I had taken out all my fins on my board, bagged them up, and had made a checklist for what to take and hoped for the best.

Friday night rolled around, and I wasn’t too “amped.”  I was excited, for sure, but I wasn’t all antsy in my pantsy.  In fact, I was pretty calm about leaving the next morning.  I had finished coaching and double checked how the ride situation was going to be handled with the other DRC.  We were to be out on the road by 600 AM so we can meet Matt and have an early session.  That meant I had to wake up a little before 500 AM to pick up Christina, pick up Dais, then head to the projects to meet up the twins.  No problem.

Saturday morning rolled around, and my alarm went off at 430 AM.  I did not want to wake up.  I turned off my alarm, and saw that Christina, my morning call person, had not called, so I went back to sleep.  Just as I waltzed back into dream land, my phone rang loudly.  Christina?  Nope.  It was Khang. 

“Yo man, you up?”

“Yea, I just woke up… you ready?” I replied.

“Yea, I gotta go shopping real quick, but I am ready!!  I haven’t slept at all!”  Khang said.

Ok, so I started to do some yoga stretches, and get warmed up.  I called Christina twice, and then called Dais.  Surprisingly, Christina wasn’t up, and Dais was.  I started to pack the ice chest with blue ice and the steaks that I had prepared, and packed it in my van.  I did one final check of my gear, and set out into the dawn. 

The sky was a soft blue hue, and the sun was starting to show slowly over the concrete towers of West LA.  It was a familiar sight that I will always see as I made my U turn to pick up Christina.  She had left me a message saying that she will be ready by 505 AM. 

We packed all of her stuff into the car, and set out to pick up Dais.  He was pretty amped, but I’m sure the wake up time was a bit unreasonable.  We packed up all his gear and he sat in the back as we made our way to the Projects. 

Khang and Khoa were already waiting for us, with engines warmed up, when we pulled into the parking lot off of Stoner Avenue.  The sun was lighting up the sky, and there were birds chirping in the trees.  We all unloaded our stuff, and started to play tetris with the gear.  We somehow fitted two bikes, five skateboards, a bbq pit, two tents, a goza mat, all of our wetsuits, and five sleeping bags into the back of Khoa’s truck.  We then fitted eight surfboards, a few blankets, an ice chest, backpacks, and food into Khang’s bang bus van.  We waited for two new additions to the pack of five people.  Sean and Eloyssa were struggling to get to the projects, and so we waited for them to arrive.  As soon as they arrived, I sat in the back with all the gear in the van and we had four people in each ride to head down to Basilone. 

I texted Matt to apologize for the new additions.  I knew he didn’t like surprises, and I didn’t know about the new additions until that morning, so I let him know at least before we arrived.  I took a short nap thereafter while Khang gunned down the 405 in the bang bus. 

I woke up around Long Beach, and saw Khoa’s truck behind us.  After that, Khang smoked them badly, driving down the 405 to the 5 as we talked surf, basketball, and what not. 

Francis was a little bit ahead of us at this point, but he was making a pit stop to grab some ice for everyone.  Khoa was way behind us, and planned to make a stop at a grocery store, but we told him to come drop off the stuff first so we can surf.  Shan had already arrived at the camp site.

By the time we got to the base, it was around 0700.  Lauren was still asleep in her tent.  Shan was stretching on a yoga mat.  Matt greeted us with open arms, and directed us to park in the camping spot.  This spot was nice, with a huge area for parking up to three cars.  I begged to be let out of the back, and surprised Matt by exiting out the trunk.  He wasn’t expecting me to be back there.  We started to unload some of our surf gear so we could surf, but realized we had to wait for Khoa to arrive with all of our wetsuits.  We lollygagged around the camp site, and watched the waves roll in.

The waves were pretty decent in front of the camp site.  There were both lefts and rights, but the rights seemed to be working best.  Down south at Old Man’s there were packs of longboarders hogging the line up greedily as they took left after left from the point break.  The gloomy clouds added color to the blue green sea, and the white caps jumped up like sheep on the horizon as the wind chopped up the ocean. 

Khoa arrived with all the rest of the gear, and I eagerly pulled out the wetsuits from underneath the rubble of camping gear.  I was excited to go surf with all of our friends.  We introduced everyone to Matt, and we started to get changed.  We told Matt and Shan to go ahead and surf, and we would catch up with them as soon as we got changed and settled everything.  They went ahead and started walking towards Churches as we started to change. 

Francis soon arrived thereafter, and we all greeted him.  Nicole was still passed out in the passenger seat, and Francis looked a bit weary from the early morning and drive down to the camp site.  But, that wouldn’t stop him from surfing!  He asked where my cooler was and put in a bag of ice in it for me.  Most of us were all changed, but Khoa still needed to settle in, so Francis decided to paddle out with Khoa.

So, Dais, Khang, Christina and I set out to find Matt and Shan.  We walked up the shore line as the morning winds blew the waves in.  The waves were choppy!!  It was nice to see that there weren’t too many people in the water yet.  We were approaching the Bud Light Lime contest site when I felt something prick the bottom of my left foot.  I yelped in pain, and tried to brush off whatever was pricking me.  I saw something fuzzy get flicked off my foot, and some puss come out of a black tip that was lodged in my foot.  It turns out that I had stepped on a bee, and the bee left me a stinger inside the middle of my arch as a present.  I asked for Khang to take it out for me, and he was able to take the stinger out pretty quickly.  The part around the stinger started to swell up, and it was a discolored pink around the wound.  Every step I took on the sand was painful, shooting a throbbing pain from my foot.  Khang asked if I was allergic, and I told him we will find out soon if I was.  Dais told me if I get dizzy, just get out of the water.  I told myself that I was not going to be allergic to some stupid bee sting, and that I refuse to be hindered by a bee sting. 

Just then, we saw Matt and Shan get out of the water, and they said it wasn’t too good where they were.  So we moved up passed Churches (where the contest site was set up) and looked towards Middles and Lowers.  Middles looked fun and empty, and Lowers looked fun but there were some people there.  So we paddled out at Middles, over looking Battle Positions aka BP’s. 

Matt and Shan got in the water immediately, and we all followed soon after.  Dais and Khang stayed on the shore for a while longer.  The paddle out was long, and the sets were chopped up so at times you were duck diving a lot, and then you weren’t duck diving at all.  Before I even got to where everyone was, I saw a wave forming in front of me.  I swung around mid paddle, and took off on the wave. 

“Surf on your back foot… surf on your back foot,” I kept telling myself. 

I felt the board cut through the chop as I made the drop.  I could hear the chop hitting the bottom of my board.  I pumped down the line, and tried to make it passed the white water section to no avail. 

From that point on, I felt really good surfing with my bee-stung foot.  I felt as though it was a lucky bee sting, especially since I was not feeling any wooziness or dizziness.  Khang and Dais made it out to the line up, and we had our little crew assembled.

Shan stayed way south of us, right in front of the contest site.  He said he caught a lot of rides surfing there, but he joined us after an hour or so surfing by himself.

Christina sat with us, going for some of the bigger waves.  I told her that she should not be in the inside anymore, and that she should go on the bigger waves from now on, especially at a place like Trestles.  The waves at Trestles are less consequential than any of the waves I have surfed, which include Porto, Malibu, County line, Sunset, Diamondhead, and Oceanside.  None of these waves are “forgiving” at all.  Trestles seem to give a surfer a cushion to perform better, and even if you fall, you are let go rather easily from the waves’ grips, and come out unscathed.  I have yet to hit the bottom of the Trestles cobblestone reef when I wipe out on a plus sized set.  So Christina paddled for one of the set waves that I also went for, and I took the wave on my belly while she stood up in front of me.  I had a butt shot of her the whole ride down as she got to her feet and stood up on the wave.  Nice one!

Matt was a busy bee out there.  He would move from peak to peak, even paddling towards Lowers to score a few rides.  I saw his text book back knee bent backside bottom turn from Lowers, and he did a small hack off the top.  I may be blind, but I can recognize any of my friends’ style from afar.  When he came back, he got this one ride where he walked all the way up to the nose and spun around to go switch stance, but the wave eventually bogged out on him and ended his ride. 

Shan got a nice little wave with his arms flailing in the air.  I think he realized that Trestles is a pretty forgiving space and pushed himself.

Khang had some really nice, long rides.  He seemed to be determined to go for the bigger ones that rolled through, and I didn’t see him fall on any of them.  I remember at least three waves that I watched from behind as he took off and did a small splash on the front side. 

Khoa got one really good plus sized wave.  He was right on the shoulder as the wave crumbled, and was able to take off as I duck dived in front of him.  He took that one all the way to shore and had the hugest grin on his face when he returned to the line up.

Dais had a high wave count this session.  He would paddle for some of the insiders that rolled through, kicking with his feet and popping up on some small waves.  Then he would come back out and go for the bigger waves, making it down to the face and then eating it as the wave crumbled and bogged out from underneath him. 

Khang and I switched boards.  His …Lost board was bright white, and man, did it fly.  I was actually scared of how fast that board went, and I only got two belly rides on it.  That thing was made for a place like Trestles with its width and easy rocker.  The two belly rides I got on Khang’s board was smooth as hell.  I cut through the chop as if there was no chop.  It was quite amazing, and I wish to one day own a …Lost board like that to take on some lackluster conditions. 

Then, I switched boards with Dais.  This was the first time I ever rode his Desire`.  It was an interesting experience riding a thicker, rounded tail surfboard.  I actually had to compete with some of the groms that paddled out where we were.  The competition south of us was on, and there were pro’s punting airs just a few yards south.  It was kind of mesmerizing watching pro’s do their thing in the same water while we surfed.  These groms that paddled out with us were so stoked that they went for everything.  On one of the waves that I went for, most of the groms backed out, except for one.  There’s always that one kid that’s a hot dog, and this one was the one.  I got to my feet on Desire` and watched the other groms get out of my way, except for this one.  He pops up and soon see’s me and kicks out hurriedly.  I pump down the line and rip a bottom turn, only to stall on the bottom and not really get a bottom turn out.  I found that very interesting.  The wave was easy enough to pump down the line on, but I couldn’t bottom turn too well on it.  I gave my feedback on Dais, and he thought that his ability (or lack thereof) to bottom turn dictated that feel, but I assured him that the board was harder to bottom turn on.  I guess you have to really lean into the bottom turns harder if you want that thing to turn.  But the pump was super smooth. 

We all switch boards back, and the groms leave.  Our stomachs start to growl, and we start to think about the food that would be cooking on the grill once we get back to the camp site.  I took one last wave in and met up with the crew.

Khang had cut his foot on the walk out, Dais had cut his foot, and Matt had cut his foot on his fins.  We were again nursing wounds as we exited the beach.  We walked down in front of the contest site and saw Kalani Robb.  He said hi to us before we even got a chance to say anything.  It’s pretty cool that a stranger says hi to you first if you ask me.  We looked at the heat standings, and pointed out which heats would be nice to watch, and made our way back.  Khang and Dais stayed to watch Kalani Robb catch a few waves. 

We all got back to camp and started setting up tents.  It was a fun time setting up the tents, and we decided that we didn’t need to put up the tarp on the six man tent.  That later proved to be the wrong call. 

Shan and Matt manned the grill as they cooked chicken and vegetables for us.  The rest of us sat around the table and snacked on the food we brought.  It was beginning to get sunny and hot, and by the time Lauren had to leave for work, it was bright and windy.