Happy Tax Day with Da Boys 041712

Surf Report: 2-3 feet, occasional 4 foot predecessors of tomorrow’s swell

Water: Cold

Atmosphere: Sunny

Winds: Calm on shore

Happy tax day!!  I hope all of you filed your taxes on time this year… what a day for me!  I thought it was going to be a day of chilling and kicking back, but noooooo, we always have work to do, even if we are done with our tax work!  My boss promised to leave by 400 PM, but we ended up leaving at 445 PM.

I planned to meet with Dais at El Porto for an afternoon session.  I wasn’t expecting anything at all, especially with the drive on Vista Del Mar being so bleak and flat.  On top of that, the smoke stacks were billowing clouds of white on shore. 

I get to the parking lot and see that 45^th Street is packed.  I don’t get it, I guess that peak is working, but is it really worth being so close, nut to butt with other surfers?  I pass the bathrooms and park there to find a smaller peak with a smaller crowd.  I call Dais, and he tells me Matt was on his way too.  I get psyched.  I haven’t surfed with Da Boys in a long time, so it’s gonna be fun to see them out in the line up again.

I wanted to wait for them to get there, but I had to pee.  BADLY.  So I get on to the sand and unleash as I walk, squishing the sand with every step.  The waves look ok, nothing to write home about, but hey, it’s an afternoon sesh!  It will be fun.

I get out into the line up and immediately get swept away by the current.  It turns out I wasn’t out in the line up at all, but rather in the reform area, where the current was weird and strong.  The clean up sets pounded me on the inside, and I spent the first thirty minutes or so duck diving.  I caught a reform here and there, but it wasn’t anything memorable.

I duck dive a wave and see a black figure take off in a low crouched stance.  Immediately I knew it was Matt.  He took on a left as I duck dived, and we finally got to mingle for a bit before paddling back out to the line up.  Dais was already in the line up too! That sneaky ninja.  Didn’t even know he was out. 

After I met up with Da Boys, the waves just kept coming.  A lot of them were down the line, closing out waves, but they were still fun.  I think I took a lot of lefts today, but was unable to make it around the white water sections.  My pumping on my back side is still not where I want it to be!  Definitely something I need to work on…

My wave of the day came from an unexpected right.  It started to feather right in front of me, and no one was in position, or wanted a piece of the wave.  I paddled into it, popped up and saw I could take the high line.  So, I grabbed the wall of the wave just as I practiced before on numerous surf sessions.  Except this time… THIS TIME!! I felt the lip go over me as I crouched low.  I couldn’t see anything at all, but when I did, the lip was crashing behind me, and the section ahead of me was just breaking into a close out section.  I think I even surprised myself by getting a little shampoo action from the barrel.  The section was closing out, and so I shot my board forward, and cannon-balled onto the flats. 

I could not stop smiling after that!  It was just my wave of the day. I was satisfied.  I was content.  Done for the day.  Man, it might not be a legit, hallow, spitting barrel, but it was a barrel that I made it out of, and it’s still so memorable.  I didn’t have that view of the C section, but still… MAN!! That one wave made my whole session.

I kept that to myself though.  I wanted to see my friends catch some waves.  Rick was out too, on his yellow fish, and was catching some nice reforms.  Dais was in the reform section, going for some steep reforms that seemed like he could make it, but he would slip and plunge into the flats.  I saw him paddling back a lot of times, so either he was caught on the inside, or he was getting his.  I’m guessing the ladder rather than the former.  Matt just kept going left. LEFT LEFT LEFT.  That’s all he goes for now.  I’m glad though, since now I can go right!! 

Matt took a late drop on a left, and basically did the splits as he dropped in.  He ate it pretty bad, and so I laughed loudly.  He smiled and laughed too.  I know he’s probably killing himself inside, but hey, at least he’s laughing at the wipe out. 

On one of my last waves, it was a bigger set wave that I took off late on.  I had switched my board to a quad fin, hoping that it was going to stick to the face of the wave and not slide out like I did on Sunday.  Surprisingly, the board stuck the landing, and I started to pump back side, but the section got way ahead of me.  I should have called it a day right then and there, but I wanted to be with Da Boys for a while longer, and watch the sunset with them. 

Photo Courtesy of Donny Duckbutter

I took a close out in, and finally called it a day.  Dais came in about ten minutes afterwards, with a huge smile on his face.  That smiley face summed up our whole session.  The waves were a far cry from epic, but surfing with our buddies just made them a million times more fun. 

Mahalos Mother Ocean!!!  An unforgettable session on such a nonchalant quality wave.  It just goes to show, sometimes, it’s the people you surf with that make the session.