Surf Report: 1-2 feet
Water: Cool (too hot for my wetsuit)
Wind: On shore
Atmosphere: Gloomy (Mr. Sun couldn’t break through)
Today was a small, small day.
Today was a day that proves one doesn’t need epic waves to score a fun time in the water.
Today was a day that provided some playful waves for a group of surf bums like us to enjoy and be stoked.
The crew was Khang, Khoa, Dais, Matt, Death Wish Dave, Christina, Cheryl and myself. The day started out slow, and rightfully so, since there was no swell in the water. In fact, it was probably the smallest day of surf this summer, at least for me.
The sky was grey and gloomy, with the marine layer hovering over our heads like a bad hang over from a Thursday night. I debated if I wanted to bare back it (I forgot my rash guard) or wear my 4/3 wetsuit. I chose to wear my 4/3.
Dave parked on 33rd Street while the project kids parked on the upper lot of 26th Street. From the vantage point, we could see it wasn’t a big day of surf at all. However, the water looked crystal clear, and there were some fun waves coming through. Dave walked down to the lot to greet us and walked down with the four of us.
Matt and Christina were already in the water by this time. I didn’t mind the slow start for the day because of the tidal swing from the full moon. I hate surfing 26th Street at low tide, because it’s super dangerous from the shallow water. I think the best time to surf 26th Street is when it is going from low to high tide.
Khoa took out Maria, the twin fin blue fish, Khang took out both his foamie and his …Lost board, Dais took out his J7 thruster Desire, Dave took out my old longboard, and I took out my single fin longboard. I asked Khang if he minded if I come back during the session to either change into my boardshorts or change my board. He gave me the key and told me to decide whenever I wanted.
We hit the water by 800. We could see from the shore that Matt was already paddling into some lefts right in front of the 26th Tower. His textbook style was unmistakable from the shore. We five hooted him and waved at him from the shore. Then, Christina paddled in to greet us all.
The water wasn’t too cold, but if the sun was out it would have been better. I was glad for about the first twenty minutes about wearing my 4/3, until I started sweating profusely in my wetsuit. The water was so clear, you can still see your feet while sitting in the line up. I dove in a few times to cool down, and I could see the sand with shells and see the ripples created from past swells on the sand bar. It was just a aquamarine playground in the water today.
I felt like a cheater. I was on this huge board paddling into waves that weren’t really breaking. But, the single fin 9’0” just let me in to every single wave I wanted to get into. Honestly, I felt guilty, but I was smiling from ear to ear.
“Damn Klaude, I haven’t seen you this happy surfing in a long time!” Dais chuckled.
Indeed, I was super stoked about catching the waves, but I was more stoked at the waves everyone else was catching. It seemed everyone was getting waves, and we were all hooting each other into waves. We were even hooting the other people getting waves. I love 26th Street.
Uncle Miles paddled by us, smiling to us and greeting each and every person he saw. We all agreed that out of all the locals here, he is the most approachable, aka least intimidating. He has a great, fluid style, but catches everything with such grace that you can’t help but smile and hoot him.
I was impressed with Matt’s paddle power today. He was still on his JS, but he muscled his way into waves that some longboarders had difficulty paddling into. Bali definitely changed his paddling power. We all were in awe of his paddling power just muscling into waves, and I attribute his paddle power to his titty dance. If you haven’t seen Matt do his titty dance, you are definitely missing out in life. If you ask nicely and slip him a five dollar bill in between his boardshorts, he might just do it for you…
Khang was catching some nice waves today. Towards the end of the session, he caught this one right, plowing through the white water section, and then turning up the lip and exposing his board’s nose half way out the water.
Cheryl came today too! She was fashionably late to the party, on her longboard. So count em: one, two, three longboards from the DRC! She and Christina had a small paddle battle where Cheryl got into the wave easier on her longboard, so Christina backed off. Cheryl took the wave all the way to shore, and had this huge smile on her face.
Christina caught a lot of waves too, with Matt pointing out she was in her Warrior 2 stance when she glided on the wave.
Dais was kicking a lot to catch the waves today, and rightfully so. The waves were so mushy, there was a lot of effort involved in catching them! When he did catch them, it looked like it was hard to maintain speed on the wave. There’s no swell, so we do what we can with the waves we are given.
Dave… had a reckless abandonment for his own safety (and the safety of others.) I think the other DRC members who haven’t surfed with him before finally understand why I coin the phrase DEATH WISH DAVE. He kept on going for the hairy, sketchy waves and put himself into some gnarly situations. On one wave, he and I were going for the wave that somebody was already on. I didn’t give a fuck who was on it, I just wanted to catch the wave (yea, I’m a kook.) But as I paddled for it, I saw Dave just shoot across my peripheral still on his belly. So, at the last second, I got off my board and held onto her for dear life. Luckily, my board ended up not getting taken by the wave, but I saw Dave’s board just fly up into the air and crash, tomb-stoning up and down before he resurfaced. I think the other dude on the longboard whom we snaked was pissed, but what are you gonna do? No one was hurt, and it wasn’t that heavy of a day anyway. On another wave, I saw Dave just gun for the shore on a no-hope close out and just EAT IT. I’ll take a side of ranch with my plate of poop, thank you. I give him mad props for living up to his Death Wish Dave name. It was really cool to see him just go for it.
The stand out surfer of the day for me was Khoa. He and Maria seemed to have a connection, and he caught like ten waves in the first forty minutes. Every time I looked back from my high and almighty longboard, sitting on the outside, I would see him paddling back out from the white water. I got to see his last wave from shore, and he was pumping up and down the line with the fish, and setting the rail to rail pumps perfectly on the top 1/3 of the wave.
Matt had this nice right, where he took it to the shore. He was waiting and waiting for the face to open up, and when she did open up, he unleashed some fin power on the lip, smacking it from his back side. He not only did the hack once, but twice. The second one wasn’t as powerful as the first one, but shit, it’s more turns than what any of us were doing collectively.
I didn’t want to hold back on the longboard. I switched stance every left I got, eating it mid face going goofy. I tried to take every wave as far as I could as they mushed out on the outside and then walled up further on the inside. However, my shoulder started to hurt from paddling this huge thing around so much. I think the combination of hauling this thing, turning it, pushing down on it while paddling to the line up, and paddling into waves took a toll on my shoulders. My shoulder started to ache as I winced in pain every so often. I had to switch boards.
I ran back to the parking lot and saw the meter maid handing out tickets to several cars. Good for us, we didn’t have to worry about that. I put fins into my new craigslist board, and headed back out to the line up. I could still see the green board guy taking all the waves in our little group. He was ballsy and surfed well, but he seemed to be hogging a lot of the waves, and I think he felt our “get the fuck out of this area” vibe since he was only with us for about thirty minutes. Power in numbers, baby!!
The shortboard session was super fun too! I didn’t catch as many waves as I did on the longboard, but man, it was so fun! I counted that I snaked Khoa twice, Cheryl twice, Matt once, and another old dude too. Oops. Sorry guys! I swear, I had a lot of fun catching those waves too!
We called the session after three hours of surfing with just our friends. It felt like everyone got their fair share of waves today, and that the DRC was once again “whole” since the return of Matt.
Kicking it with da boys at 26th Street! Mediocre waves? No Worries! It was still super fun with all of us there. I can’t reiterate enough that I’d rather surf with a bunch of my friends in crappy waves than just by myself in some epic surf spot. It’s a hundred times more fun when I surf with da boys (and girls, but you guys are da boys too.)
Mahalos Mother Ocean!!! What a perfect summer day for a little reunion.
4/3? No wonder you were so hot. You don't have a 3/2? I don't know about my “textbook style,” but thanks! Rid the guilt of being on a longboard. Who cares? The conditions called for it, and you adapted appropriately. Don't be stubborn. I'm stubborn, and my potato chip wasn't right for the smaller waves. Thanks for the props on paddle power, but I think we need some bigger surf to know for sure. I don't do a "tittie dance," I do the "boobie dance," and the five dollar charge isn't necessary the first time I do it for you. Khoa was the stand out surfer of the day. The guy on the green board . . . he cut off Khang like three times. Good read and good times. I had a lot of fun despite the small surf.
ReplyDeleteya, i only own a 4/3, because i am just extreme like that. only black and white for me, no gray area! i think the potato chip was fun too! regardless of what i was riding this day was so much fun cuz we had everyone out...
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