Meet and Greet, Slide and Glide 071011

Surf Report:  1-3 feet

Atmosphere: Gloomy

Water: Cold (had to bring the wetsuit back in action)

Winds: Slight off shore

Sunday is always a stay at home day.  It’s also a day where slow starts are welcomed, especially when the tides aren’t cooperating with us.  I got up around 620, went back to sleep, and started to stretch at 0700.  I started making phone calls around 0705. 

Khoa and Khang was the surf crew for today.  We were all pretty tired, but we made it to the 26^th Street parking lot by 0800, and were changed by 0830.  Khang was the only one who bare backed it out of the three of us. 

Tide Killed It!!!!

We paddled out in front of the 26^th Street tower.  The waves looked pretty fun, with some small lefts rolling through nicely.  They didn’t really pitch or anything, but the tide definitely seemed to be high and some of the waves would be wobbly on the top.  The outside sets weren’t that far out, but they were some beautiful looking lefts that sparkled with off shore winds. 

The paddle out today was sort of punishing to me at least.  I saw 1 and 2 paddle out pretty easily, but I seemed to be sucked into a whirl pool of white wash and didn’t seem to be going anywhere.  By the time I got out to the line up, I had drifted about twenty yards north of the life guard tower.  Khoa and Khang were sitting there too.  I chose to paddle further south and sit in front of the lifeguard tower.

I caught my warm up wave to get my feet wet.  It was a right that seemed to have a clean face on it, until I initiated my bottom turn and saw that the right met up with the left breaking from another peak.  That left doubled up the right, and I found myself in an awkward situation.  The wave jacked up as I kept going forward.  The nose of my board went into the flats first, then I was flung forward, smack face down.  That one kind of jostled my head around, and I came up a little bit dazed.  Oh well, that was my warm up wave anyway. 

The guy who let me go on the wave asked how it was.  I described exactly what happened and he chuckled, saying that same thing happened to him already. 

The mood, as always, was mellow at 26^th Street.  I saw a lot of new faces in the line up, but I saw some familiar faces too.  We met Glen in the parking lot and I split the peak with him on a wave.  I smiled and greeted all who made eye contact with me.  It was about a 90-10 chance of getting a response from someone.  There were longboarders, body boarders, shortboarders, and that one Sri Lankan looking kid on his shortboard, hanging on the inside.  This kid has been coming every single week for the last three or four months.  He goes for the inside waves and seems to be stoked to be catching them.  I can only imagine how he would surf when he is our age!  I will try to talk to him next time, but it’s kind of dangerous to just sit on the inside like he does.  I feel so vulnerable sitting on the inside, not only to Mother Ocean, but to other surfers too. 

The peak right in front of the tower was working nicely.  They had lefts coming in most of the time, but the occasional right would roll through too.  On one right, a longboarder started to paddle for the wave.  Not to be outdone, I gunned for it.  He yelled out at me, “Are you going?”

“YEA!” two more paddles and I was in.

I took off down the line, bottom turned, and then did a small cut back.  I made it down the line again, and bottom turned up into the falling lip, and fell.  I was still stoked.  I got two measly little turns in!  The noob in me was giddy, but I tried not to show that on the surface.

“Hey, thanks man, next wave is yours!” I told the longboarder.

I should have said next wave you’re in position for is yours, because I took the next set left.  That wave I was able to go back side, bottom turning and maintaining speed.  I still need to learn to pump on my back side. 

I met two Brazilians in the water.  One was bare backing, and the other was wearing a jacket.  The bare back guy, Mauricio, was around our level, so I hooted him into waves every time he would go for them.  Alex, the other Brazilian, would try to go for waves, but didn’t quite get into them.  They were super friendly and we struck up a conversation with me speaking a little bit of Portuguese.  They were from Floridanapolis, and told me I should go surf there one day.  Definitely a spot on my bucket list…

I allowed myself to drift down after sitting on the peak for a while, and ran into 1 and 2.  Khang took a small left grabbing rail as I watched from the inside.  Then, Khoa took a right, crouched low into the pocket.  He was heading straight for me as I hooted at him.  At the last moment, he saw me and jumped off his board, landing on mine on the inside.  We will call this move the Board Hop. 

The spot north of the tower was plagued with weird tidal swirls and nasty double ups.  I was stuck sitting for a while waiting for a wave as I watched the 26^th Street fire off some lefts.  I did get some more waves, but that wasn’t what has been ingrained in my memory…

This girl was in the line up, wearing a bikini.  She was pretty cute, so naturally, I surfed around her.  I was on the inside when this girl paddles for a left.  She was goofy footed and pops up nicely, only to find herself in the middle of a double up as she slid down, mid face.  No where to go but DOWN!  I hooted for her as she took off on the freak double up.  She basically did the same thing I did for my warm up wave, but probably on a bigger set wave.  The board just nose dived into the glassy, green surface, and she got flung face first into the shallow flats.  Luckily, this was a beach break and not a point or reef break.  She came up, a bit dazed.  I laughed with her, saying that was the gnarliest wipe out I’ve seen, and that she was a soldier for going for that.  Her name was Kim, and she seemed a bit gun shy after that wave.  But, I still remember that gnarly wipe out.  I don’t know about you, but girls that wear their ovaries on the outside are pretty hot.  She ended up getting swept away from the current, and I paddled in on my last wave. 

Just another day surfing 26^th Street, and I got to meet a few new people while surfing some nice lefts and a few rights.  I’m so happy that I get to surf so often.  I try not to take for granted the conditions given to me by Mother Ocean, since I know my time with her is limited.  I have to take advantage of whatever she throws at me, even if it is a freak double up set wave that pitches into three feet of water. 

Mahalos Mother Ocean!  Hope to see you soon…