Go For It 020913

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Surf: 4-6 feet, with the occasional 8 footer marching through

Water: Cold

Atmosphere: Sunny

Winds: Strong off-shore

I’ve been lagging on my blog posts, so here we go…

I remember this day to be an awesome and challenging day.  The day was awesome because there were only three guys out for the majority of the session.  The day was challenging because there were only three guys out for the majority of the session.

The few days before, it had rained lightly over the skies of Los Angeles.  I knew Matt was at National Guard duty, Khang was still nursing his neck, and the rest of the crew… no idea, really.  I just knew that I will be surfing on Saturday.

I got to the parking lot and the lot is one-third full.  Ross was getting changed.  He seemed pretty psyched about surfing.  There was still no one out in the line up at 6:40.  I scratched my head in confusion.

Then a set rolled in, creating hurdles of white water on the inside.  A lot of the locals looked at this, shook their head, and mumbled amongst themselves.  Ross changed his mind and said he was headed to the Avenues in Torrance. 

“Is it any better there, than here?” I asked him.

“No, but it will be closer to where I live.  Go Klaude, GO!”

Well if Ross told me to go, then I have to go.  I marched down to the sand and watched Calvin and Davey paddle out.

The paddle out wasn’t so bad, just a few sets on the head, and I was ducking them all with ease.  I got out to an empty line up, and stared at the horizon.  When a surfer is out alone in the big empty Ocean, it gets a bit lonely. 

Calvin waved me down and said, “Man, I’m glad you came out,” as if he shared the loneliness in the line up. 

Davey paddled towards us from South of the tower, and we three bobbed up and down together. 

Davey got a nice right to start off.  He hacked the first turn and made a sweeping cut back on the second before kicking out. 

Calvin was further North of us, and took a nice, long left.  He snapped three turns off before reaching the inside. 

Then came my turn… a nice set right.  I paddled and gunned for it.  This wave was all mine.  I felt the board flutter and feather from the wind rushing up the face of the wave.  The sun was in my eyes, the spray was covering my face, and I popped up.  I start pumping long lines on the face.  I never felt so fast on my Kadowaki Rocket shape.  Before I knew it, the wave mushed out from the tide, and I had to kick out. 

Davey was the clear cut stand out performer of the day.  He was going both left and right on his tiny board.  He always rides boards around 5’5” or smaller, and tears shit up!!!  He has the overall greatest skill set of 26^th Street.  He was taking off deep on the rights and making almost every drop.  He would kick out on a lot of the rights because they mushed up so much though.  The lefts were definitely where the open faces were, and since Davey is goofy footed, he took full advantage.

Some of the real sets of the day bludgeoned me.  They made me realize that I needed a bigger board for these sets.  On two occasions, I had to ditch my board in an effort to save myself.  These rogue sets were solid four foot Hawaiian scale, with eight foot faces.  The set that clobbered me first was a behemoth that boiled from the outside.  The peak was beginning to spike up as I saw and paddled furiously to the outside.  The crest of the wave broke right where I wanted to be, and so I ditched my board at the last second and plunged into the dark, sandy bottom.  I felt the lip pushed me down, and so I protected my head with my arms and balled up my legs.  The wave washed me around and around, and then picked me up once more.  The same wave washed me up, and pounded me all the way down.  I felt my right leg being tugged by my leash.  “I’m probably tomb-stoning,” I thought to myself.  As bad as this was, I didn’t feel any panic.  I knew I could hold my breath, so I just waited until the wave let me go.  Once she let me go, I paddled back up, and laughed.  I smiled all the way back to the line-up. 

“Yo, I saw your board tomb-stoning,” Davey told me.  “I was wondering if you were gonna be ok, but you came up and laughed so I figured you were ok.”

“Yea, that was heavy, but it wasn’t that bad.  I felt my leash tugging on me, so I figured the board was tomb-stoning,” I told him. 

After I got a small left, I got caught inside.  I drifted passed the lifeguard tower, and so I got out, ran around, and waited to paddle back out.  Orlando called me over to say hi, and we both waited for the sets to die down.  And then we see Davey, paddle for an outside set – the bomb for the day.  He took off at the perfect spot, and tagged the lip once.  Then he pumped a few times, and did a sweeping carve.  Then he pumped a few more times and hacked the lip for a third turn.  Oh, but he wasn’t finished yet!  The section ahead of him started to break, so he put the pedal to the metal, and bolted off to the races.  He made it around the first section, then around the second section, and finally came to the inside.  He then tucked in, and disappeared from our view.  The wave was sandy and brown-white from the inside froth and then the exit started to close.  At the last second Davey gets shot out of the closing barrel and exits through the doggy door.  Elvis has left the building!!

Orlando and I hoot and holler like little groms at Davey.  He gives a wide grin at us and acknowledges us.  Then, he paddles out for more. 

The second paddle out was definitely gnarly.  I thought I waited long enough, but I was wrong, getting caught on the inside.  Water started to shoot down my suit and I thought to myself how in the world did I get out so easily earlier? 

The rest of the session is a blur, except for the fact that I got worked on the inside a few more times.  I had a few waves but they weren’t as good as the first ones I got.  And now, the line-up was crowded.  Well, crowded was a relative term for a day like this.  We went from three people in the line-up to about eighteen.  Still a 500% increase in the crowd is a lot.  

The session was awesome because of the lack of a crowd.  The lack of a crowd allowed for me to pick and choose which waves I could go for.  The session was challening because of the lack of a crowd.  The lack of a crowd meant that I had to go for waves I might normally not go for, and I felt that I backed out on a lot of waves even if I was in position.  I am kicking myself in the ass for that.  Today, I learned that I need to GO FOR IT.  I really felt like I could have pushed a little harder than I did today.  I could have gone for bigger waves, I could have put more oomph on my turns, and I could have done better.  I need to go for it.  For anything in life.  Go for it.  Go for it.  Go for it!!!!

Mahalos Mother Ocean.