Electric Morning of the DRC 110611

Surf Report: 2-4 feet

Water: Cold

Winds: Howling off shore

Atmosphere: Pelting rain

Khang called me on the way home from San Onofre yesterday. 

“Yo, you surfing tomorrow?”

“Yea man, you know I am.  It’s day light savings time!  So one extra hour to dawn patrol… or one extra hour for you to drink!” I joked.

“Nawwwwwww maaaaaaan, I’m trying to surf!  Can you pick me up tomorrow?” Khang asked.

That caught me off guard.  He wanted to surf instead of go out drinking?  Ok, so it’s on like Donkey Kong.

I woke up sore as hell.  I had a few texts, including one from Christina saying that Matt said it was not raining on his side of town, so she’s heading out.  I called her.

“Yea, I’m just getting in my car right now.  Matt says it’s not raining there, so I’m going! See you there, KK!”

Ok, so I had to make haste.  I tried not to rush through my stretches, but I had to get out.  I didn’t want to let anyone down, especially myself.  Something told me I had to surf 26^th Street today. 

I get my water jugs filled, get out of the house, fill up gas at Costco, and pick up Khang. 

Khang, in his fucking U$C sweatshirt.  I told him to take it off, and to not come into my car ever again with that disgusting sweatshirt. 

We get to 26^th Street, and the rain is starting to pour.  I question whether or not we should surf right now.  It’s cold, it’s wet, and it’s raining.  Why the hell are we gonna surf??  We should go back home and stay in bed.  Somehow, we pull on our wetsuits and head down to the sand.

For some reason… I couldn’t wait to get to the sand.

The energy was buzzing all around us. 

Waves just pounded the shore as people got long rides. 

The winds howled and blew the top off the waves for every wave. 

All the locals and regulars were out. 

My heart skipped and pounded. 

We see Christina and Matt from shore, and paddle out where they were.  The waves just pumped, and churned, and dumped.  The spray off the top of the lip of waves was blinding.  The rain pelting our faces was amazing.

The energy was ELECTRIC.  It was crazy, almost chaotic, to be surfing right now.  But it was a controlled chaos.  The waves pumped, the crowds hooted, and the waves were ridden. 

Christina paddles for a nice, solid three footer.  She cranks and musters and digs and scratches on the face.  She arches her back in cobra position.  She disappears behind the wave’s back as I see her pop up half way.  Khang and I stare at her backside.  We then see her, crouched and low and on her feet and on the face.  She screams and howls down the line.  We hoot for her, and she just goes and runs and slides down the line.  She takes the wave all the way to shore.

Glen was also there too.  We joke on how his board is so huge they can catch Himalayas or Waimea Bay.  He paddled and dolphin kicked into waves that took him all the way to shore. 

Matt takes off on all the lefts.  He powers his way through the pitchy face and the foam ball and the white water and pumps up and down and delivers kisses to the feathering lips on the lefts.  On more than one occasion I wanted to snake him, but I didn’t want to get in the way of a goofy man and his lefts.  The waves just come and come and come, and Matt catches and charges through each wave, bettering his last. 

Rick was there too, doing his thing.  He pumped and carved and took off on everything that would come his way.  He went both right and left.  He surfed both rights and lefts equally well, but cranked out more turns on his front side. 

Khang took off on a wave in front of me as I made my way back into the line up.  He busted a cut back that I’ve never seen before.  I hooted him for that as I duck dived and the water gushed into my mouth.  The spray would shower me as I emerged from my duck dive, almost blinding me from the spray. He took this gnarly left right off the peak.  The howling winds blinded his take off and slotted him right on the face of the wave.  He made his way fast and far and down the line.  He kissed the lip on his back hand to create a small spray at the end of the ride.  I hooted him. 

I saw Kyle pump up and down and do a fins-free reverse.  It wasn’t quite an air reverse, but he is getting damn close. 

Jordan was also there too, ripping and tearing and lacerating the waves that would come her way.  She had her hoots and hollers for the outside waves too.  We all let out at least one energetic hoot today. 

Roy calls me out and we greet each other.  He hoots me into a few waves.  I hoot him into a few waves.  Roy kept blowing my mind with his inside game, sitting and waiting and listening to the waves.  He did his stylish, polished, groovy, goofy foot style surfing.  But mostly, he would hoot me into waves, and I would try my best to live up to his expectations. 

Ross was also out there throwing me a shaka as I paddle back out.  He pops an air on a rampy left and sticks it. I let out a hoot for him. 

The horizon churns into a dark gray, and it was almost impossible to see for a good twenty minutes.  The rain starts to thunder down on us, as most people left the line up. 

The rain drops pelted us on our heads and shoulders and hands.  The rain hit the water so hard, it looked like it was raining upwards.  The off shore spray showered us on every angle, and the waves just came and came and came.  My heart just pumped and pumped and pumped.  The energy was electric. 

Matt was a man on a mission going left.  He took off on all the critical waves at the critical moments and muscled through every section as far as he could. 

I told Matt, “I couldn’t ask for a better day to be surfing with all my friends today.” 

The only thing that was missing would be Dais and Francis to share in this moment.

The energy was just electric and chaotic and churning. 

I caught a lot of significant waves today, but that wasn’t what was important to me at all.  It was the fact that my friends were all out on this crazy, rainy day.  If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be surfing on a day like this, and if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be so energized and pumped up for these waves.

And just like that, the rain stopped, and the sun shown through.  Just like that, Mother Ocean closed the window on the beautiful moment, and gave us sun shine.  Just like that, for the first time in my life, I felt that sun shine was a damper on my bright day. 

Christina took a wave in, I took a wipe out wave in, and Khang made his way in too.  Matt stayed out for a few more, but I could see all the debris lining the shore, and the drainage pipe gushing out all the shit washed away from the hills.  The sun shine brought the shit, the crap, the ugly, the gross, disgusting, disturbing, urban run off.  It was just polar opposites of what is expected, that the juxtaposition was amazing.  The sun shine was a total flip of the switch, and it was a reality check:  the party is over, the lights are on, and you have to face that enigmatic figure you were making out with in the dark room at the party.  The yin and yang were completely flipped over, and I was glad to have experienced it with my friends. 

Mahalos Mother Ocean.

I couldn’t have asked for a better time in the water surfing with my friends. This is a surf session for the memory bank, forever immortalized in our heads.