My Place of Worship - The Ocean 061211

Surf Report: 1-3 feet and clean until the tidal swings

Water: Cool and refreshing

Winds: Next to nil until high tide kicked in

Atmosphere: Gloomy

I slept relatively early last night after a night of eating some pasta con vonguole and baked fresh trout, all made by me for the family.  I was pretty satisfied, but still kind of angry about the surf session earlier on Saturday morning.  I felt groggy from my nap, and studying wasn’t helping me at all either.

I woke up around 600 AM and rolled around my bed for another twenty minutes.  I got out and started to do my yoga stretches and breathing exercises.  Come to think of it, I didn’t do my usual yoga and breathing exercises Saturday morning… all I did was stress out about getting Nicky and meeting up Mikey and getting to Malibu in hopes of surfing some nice waves and then getting skunked.  I felt rushed that morning, and should have taken a slower approach to my day.  So Sunday, I made sure to take my time doing some stretches and breathing.  I did some poses I usually wouldn’t do, and I called the usual suspects for the Sunday morning.

Nicky woke up to my phone call, and told me that he just woke up.  I told him I’d be there in a few minutes.  Khang woke up to my phone call too, and I told him I would be there in twenty minutes because I had to pick up Nicky. 

I stretched for another ten minutes, and made my way downstairs.  I filled up water jugs as I munched on some almonds, slowly chewing them forty times until they became buttery mush inside my mouth.  I washed each mouthful of munched almonds with almond milk, and headed out with the water jugs. 

Bryan was to come meet us today at Venice today, and he texts me a little before 0700 saying that he was late, but heading over.  I text him back to tell him not to rush, for I have yet to leave the house.

I only packed one board today: my Aloha thruster.  I had a feeling I should pack my longboard, but I opted not to, for I didn’t want to burden the car of the boards loggy, bulky, space-taking self.  I headed out to pick up Nick the Quick.

Bryan texts me that it was too late to tell him to rush, for he was rushing already.  He then texts me that Venice was closing out, and that he would head to Sunset.  I had told him the night before about our debacle at Malibu, and that Sunset would probably be the same today, if not worse, but I guess he thought he was making a good call.  I told him “Good Ruck,” and didn’t hear back from him for the rest of the morning. 

I pull up to Nicky’s house, and he doesn’t answer his phone.  I walk into his house, and luckily it’s unlocked.  I tug at his foot as he pulls away quickly, as if to say Don’t Bother Me.  I tap him and wake him up, and we get his stuff in my van.  Then, we headed to Khangs. 

Nicky tells me that Sundays are reserved for those of us who choose the Ocean as our place of worship.  The Ocean, to us, is our church, our temple, and our synagogue.  The Ocean is where we find peace, servitude, solitude, and freedom.  We surfers congregate in the Ocean and share this wonderful place with other mammals and humans.  To me, surfing has become extremely spiritual to me, and I feel empty without surf.  I used to go to Buddhist Temple every Sunday, at times even being a Sunday school teacher to elementary kids there.  But I grew increasingly disgruntled with the structure of the Temple.  I would ask, why do I have to go THERE to practice Buddhism?  Buddhism should be practiced outside of the Temple, and I have felt that I have been taught enough Buddhist idioms and fables to know the principles of the Teachings.  I don’t claim I know all of them, but I know well enough how to treat a human being and the environment around me.  So, I grew detached to the place of worship as I continued on with my life, and discovered that I get the same, if not greater, satisfaction from the Ocean while surfing.  I feel connected with nature and the universe when I surf, and I learn great lessons in both human interaction and natural environment interaction as I surf and make mistakes or achieve a goal.  To me, and to a lot of my surf buddies, the Ocean is our place of worship, and Surf is our religion. 

The morning was still gloomy, but pretty warm.  Well, warm for SoCal June gloom status.  There was a slight nip to the morning, but it wasn’t enough to call for a sweatshirt. 

We pull in to Khang’s place and give him a call.  As we waited, we rode our skateboards up and down the parking lot.  Nicky practiced his ollies and I did my carves.  Khang comes out and we exchange good mornings.  We pack up all our stuff and head to El Porto.  Since Venice didn’t seem like a good choice from Bryan’s perspective, we decided that we might as well go surf El Porto and enjoy ourselves in the spot where we all learned how to surf. 

We got to El Porto’s parking lot a little before 0800.  There was one parking spot open on the left, right when we entered, and we snagged it.  For some reason, there were a lot of surfers already out.  The waves looked surfable, but the crowd didn’t justify the small conditions.  There were some mushy peaks out front of 45^th Street, and a peaky A frame rolling through in front of Shitters.  We three debated where to paddle out.  We got changed as some other surfers parked in front of us debated on whether or not to paddle out here.  One was an Asian girl and another one was white.  The Asian girl flashed a big smile to me when I smiled at her.  They were both going to be surfing on longboards, which seemed to be the good call today.

Nicky of course would be on his fish, Lucy.  Khang opted to take Dais’s fish, Maria.  And I had no other board except my Aloha board.  Khang threw in three hours of quarters for us, and we all headed down the sandy steps to El Porto. 

As we walked down the beach, we couldn’t decide where to paddle out.  Should we move down to Shitters?  Or was 45^th Street breaking?  Well, we decided to go out to 45^th Street since it was less crowded, and seemed to be breaking, albeit with less consistency.  We said we could change spots after an hour and a half if we didn’t like it here. 

Khang, as always, was the first to hit the water.  Nicky and I stretched out on the beach as we watched the waves roll in slowly.  There was little to no wind still, but we could feel the on shores approaching.  We started to paddle out soon after.

As I paddled out, I saw Khang catch a nice little right.  He made it through the flat section and kept going, high in the curl, until the wave bogged out on the inside.  I thought to myself, “Sick! Well, maybe it’s the right board choice.”

I felt the conversation I had with Nicky earlier reverberate in my mind.  This is my Temple.  I should relax and enjoy it.  As the waves rolled in, I caught a few small rides that put a smile to my face.  Another surfer would smile back at me as I paddled back to the line up while I smiled from my last wave.  It wasn’t epic conditions or anything, but the waves looked glassy, and the water was clear.  The gloomy sky seemed fitting to the oceanscape, while the horizon touched the vast ocean far, far away. 

Nicky caught a nice left in the first ten minutes too.  He pumped down the line and disappeared on the inside before re-emerging with a huge grin on his face.  Then, a miracle happened:  Nick the Quick caught a right!  He took a wave that was right behind another wave, which usually is a dangerous thing because of the back wash created, but this one was clean and had a feathery peak right by where he sat.  He grabbed his rail to direct his board down the right, let go, and made it down the line in speedy fashion.

“See, miracles do happen here too!  You went RIGHT!” I joked at him. 

“Yeeaaa for our temple!! Miracles do happen!” he told me. 

I saw Khang catch another right a little further down from us.  I hooted and whistled for him.

He said, “I’m really glad we came to El Porto.”

Just then, a wave broke right behind a mushy wave, and gave me some face to work with.  I paddled for it, going at an angle.  The wave didn’t quite break so I belly flopped on my board.  I tried to maintain speed as I dropped in on my belly, and finally when the wave started to wall up with a nice face, I pop up to my feet.  I do a few pumps, bottom turn, and hit the lip.  I come unstuck after this maneuver.

I wanted to make sure to catch a lot of waves today.  I didn't want Khang and Nicky to have all the fun on their fishes.  I wanted to make sure to hear Randy's words inside my head, that you don't need a fish to surf waves in Cali.  Yes, it does help, but it shouldn't really matter.  I wanted to prove to myself that I don't need the fish even in lackluster surf today.  

Khang took another right as he got to the open face and did a cut back to get back to the white water.  He redirected his board back to the face, getting out to the open face again, and then did another cut back before getting unstuck from losing speed. 

“It’s so clean and glassy!” he said.  “I can’t believe it’s like this today.”

I couldn’t believe it either.  It was a small day, but for the size, it was just perfect.  The Ocean was doing nothing too crazy, nothing too gnarly, just really mellow and easy going.   Even the outside sets were soft and mushy and would roll over you when you duck dived deep. 

Nicky caught another right, right in front of Khang and I.  Khang was paddling back out and Nicky stalled just a little bit to avoid running over Khang. 

I took a few lefts but I was really working on my rights today.  I belly flopped again on a wave and waited to pop up until the wave face walled up on the inside for me.  I got to my feet, and bottom turned up the face to hit the lip again.  This time, I lost all my speed (probably from putting too much weight on my front foot) and the wave bogs out on me.

Khang took a left out of no where.  I thought he was going to go right, but the left opened up nicely for him.  He goes down the line and at the end hacks a small cup of water off the top.  I show him the amount of spray he got out of that turn by cupping my hand in the water and splashing, and he laughed. 

Nicky went for a left where he snapped two quick turns.  These turns came with some spray too, equal in amount to Khang’s sprays.  We are all still noob status.  Well, I guess we are in the highest of noob status.  We need to break out of this ceiling. 

I catch another right, and this time I pop up while dropping down mid face.  My right hand starts to grab the rail of my board and I feel the water gushing through my hand and the board starts to jostle around, as if my hand was another fin directing the board.  I tightly clench the board rail and feel the board stabilize.  I then pop up and pump down the line.  I bottom turn, and try a floater.  I on the lip, but I was in a lay back position as I tried to redirect my board down the wave face.  I fall down in the lay back snap position like a barney. 

There was a bald dude in the water with a blue funboard.  Man oh man, was it his day.  He caught almost every set wave, making it down the face and pumping his board down the line.  He looked so graceful, I hooted him on every wave as he smiled going down the line.  Give Aloha, and receive Aloha back.

The waves started to shut down as the high tide started to become even higher.  The back wash created some weird warbles in the waves as they undulated up and down.  Some of the waves would break, but most of them didn’t.  I sat outside of every one in order to get the set waves and have first peck at the wave.  I figured, if I see the wave first, paddle for it first, and get onto the shoulder, I should have the wave to myself.  Well, that plan finally worked today, when I saw a right pop up.  I actually thought it was a left, and was paddling left until I saw the lip start to crash on the left as I geared up for my pop up.  I then leaned more on my right shoulder as I popped up in order to head down the right.  I love surfing because everything can change in a second, and one must adjust to the conditions.  I was able to swing into the wave on a clean right, and made it down the line.  I bottom turned, and then hit the lip again, this time trying to expose the big red O on my board above the lip.  I become unstuck, but I felt great for trying to even attempt these maneuvers. 

Nicky ended up drifting all the way down towards the Jetty, and walked all the way back.  I don’t know how that happens, since there was not too much of a current.  He must have taken left after left after left, heading further and further and further north towards the Jetty.  He said he got stuck in some weird rip tide and had to get out and walked to where we were, which was in front of the rusty tank. 

Khang was a little further north of me, where he was taking some nice rights all by himself.  I was sitting in some weird bowl where the waves didn’t roll through, so I paddled towards him and rejoined the group. 

I took a wave that I was pumping down the line for.  This girl surfer started to paddle for it, and stops halfway after trying really hard.  I was a little disappointed she just QUIT after trying so hard.  I had to straighten out for her because of that, and by the time she backed out of the wave, my bottom turn was weak and slow.  I lost all of my speed and bogged out at the lip.  I later find her name was Catherine.  I told her to go next time and commit to the wave.  I made her laugh by saying that if she doesn’t go on the next “big” wave, I would be really sad.

Out of no where, a set wave lurches its closed out face at us.  But hey, we were all in position for it.  Nicky, Catherine and I paddle for this no hope close out.  Before I knew it, I was head over heals getting shot over the falls and free falling about three feet. 

OOPS.

I resurface, and look around.  Catherine was wipe out, and so was Nicky.  I give Catherine props for going for that one, and I was happy that Nicky was pushing himself over the ledge too. 

The waves continued to shut down.  Khang decides to take the last wave in. 

I told him I would take the last wave in too.  Just then, I hear a voice calling. 

“Hey!”

“Who dat?” I asked.

“Hey, it’s me!”

“Jay? Jay Guerrero?”

“YEA! How’s it going man?”

Jay was our battle buddy on our first Trestles camping trip.  He is the one that popped Matt’s cherry to going to San Onofre, and that is where Matt fell in love with the spot.  So, thanks to Jay, we in the DRC all surf the waves of San Onofre. 

We catch up as he talks about how he was in Alabama for the last month or so for his job.  Pretty crazy stuff if you ask me.

Also, he shows me his new board that he bought at a yard sale.  It was a stubby 5 foot twin fin fish.  The board looked like it had some history on it, with little or no rocker on it.  The twin keel fins were glassed on, as he gleamed with pride on his purchase.  That shit looked fun!!  I wanted to ride it too, but I didn’t ask him, for this was his first day back in the water for over a month. 

He introduces me to his friend Hiana and James.  He informs me that he is with his “group” of twenty plus people.  Holy shit, twenty surfers?  Man, that is nuts. 

I take a few waves with him, and then tell him I would go for the last wave.  I realized that I had Khang’s car key, and that he was probably waiting at the car for a while.  The waves weren’t that great this morning, so I didn’t want to press my luck or seem too desperate to catch another wave. 

I paddled for one last right, and start to pump down the line.  Jay was going for it too until he spots me and pulls out.  I laugh at him, and then say good bye. 

There seemed to be more and more people filing in to the parking lot as I came back to a waiting Khang.  The waves seemed to have shut down thirty minutes ago, but more people were coming… These people missed the sermon, the singing, and the after service snack.  All they got were crumbs and left-overs from the Ocean. 

So today’s session was pretty fun.  At least I had a lot of fun, most notably thanks to my mind state.  I was in a better place, mentally and spiritually.  We hoped to spend some time in our place of worship, and we enjoyed ourselves. 

We waited for NostraDaisus to show up, and watched the waves from the parking lot.  But, as time ticked by, the waves seemed to have gotten worse and worse, until there were only shore pound rides and a makeable set wave every thirty minutes.  The El Porto wave machine had shut down.  By the time Dais got here, there were really no waves to ride.  He decided not to go out, and we all headed back to congregate at DK’s house and watch some surf porn, Stoked and Broke.  Highly recommended, and a fun adventure DVD that makes you wonder why the hell do we surf?  It’s all because we are STOKED.

Mahalos Mother Ocean, it was another fun day spending time with you.