Monday, November 26, 2012

Wetsuit to Dress Suit 112112 - Venice Beach


Surf Report: 2-4 feet
Water: Cool
Atmosphere: Clear, sunny skies
Winds: offshore

Surfing before work again!  I woke up late actually, so I was half asleep “trying” to decide if I wanted to surf.  I told myself, “Would you rather be in the office right now, or in the water?”

And off to the beach my van went. 

I had to keep it close location wise, so I surfed Venice pier today.  The commute took a little under twenty minutes.  I found parking in the neighborhood and took out my single fin.  I walked across the cold, hard pavement.  Every time I stepped on gravel or a stone, I would think of how Hawaii’s natural gravel and stones I would have to walk on to get to a surf spot.  We are so spoiled here in the sense that we do not have to brave the elements to get to a surf spot.  We park, we walk down the beach, leash up, and paddle out twenty yards. 

The waves looked small from shore.  They looked clean though!  South of the pier was working best in my eyes, but there were tons of people north of the pier.  I wonder why?  I must be missing something.  Probably missing my glasses. 

I leashed up a little way south of the Pier, near the lifeguard tower.  The water was cold, but the sun was out so the cold was bearable.  I paddled further and further towards the pier since the waves were breaking so nicely.

There was an afro surfer dude on this one peak.  He took off smoothly, pump and slide down the face, all the way to shore.  I sat where he sat, and I got the same wave. 

He sat where I was, and caught another wave.  I sat on that spot, and caught a nice right again. 

For a good half hour, we traded three foot waves that peeled perfectly to shore.  I was able to get two turns on a wave on my single fin, and it felt really good.  It felt different than my usual shortboard. 

This afro surfer dude’s name was Oliver.  He lives in Hollywood, and has family down in Huntington.  He was supposed to meet a female friend of his, but she didn’t show.  He was riding a Firewire board, which had dimensions of 5’11” x 22” x 3”.  It was a fatty board, and there was no wonder why he was catching the waves so easily.  He and I chit chatted while trading waves on what we do for work, where we grew up, and where we surf. 

The waves started to slow down, so I paddled towards the pier.  The pier is usually reserved for the best of the best, but today, the best of the best wasn’t patrolling the area.  I saw that the surfers south of the pier were of novice ability, so I decided to sit on the inside of them.  I saw a wave pop up, and started to paddle for it.  There was a guy with a green board who paddled for the wave on my inside.  So, I was snaking him.  But, I knew he wouldn’t be able to go down the face so I stand up.  I see him bog out on the bottom, and I take off pumping down the line. 

I end the wave on shore, and wave bye at Oliver. 

I changed from my wetsuit to my dress suit.  We had a big meeting at the office, so I had to dress accordingly. 

I was super glad that I surfed in the morning instead of heading straight to the office.  I scored some good surf before work and had a great time.

Mahalos Mother Ocean!!  

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