The Local Card 091314

Surf Report: 2-3 feet and weak
Water: Warm
Atmosphere: Sunny
Winds: marginal

Nicky's older brother, Kenny, had asked me if I could take him surfing sometime soon. I replied, "Of course! Just hit me up whenever you want to go."

"Is it cold? I can't do cold water really..." he said.

"Well, you should be fine, the water's been warmer lately."

That was in March of 2014.

He gets back to me during the week, and we agree to meet at my house early in the morning.

He arrives at 630 AM. He says he was up till 200 AM playing Cards Against Humanity with his family. "BUKKAKE" came up for his mom. She didn't know what it was, so they let her look it up on google.

"She pulled up the weirdest definition on some site that was like Urban Dictionary. It was so funny!" Kenny says.

We load up our stuff and head to 26th Street. Matt's been telling me how good it's been during the week, so I am optimistic about the waves. This is the earliest I've been out to surf in a long time. No sleeping in today! I'm on it, coach.

Kenny didn't bring a beach towel. Sigh... just like his brother. I lend him mine while giving him shit about forgetting a basic of beach gear. I am lending him Mel's board, a fat, thick pin tail. Hopefully he has some luck on it.

Joyce is in the parking lot, and I wave at her. Her friend Toru is parked across from her. I tell her that we'll be surfing right out front.

"What, let's go to Marine Klaude!"

"Why?"

"It's less crowded there, and I had fun last time!"

"Uh, no, I'm ok, I'll surf here. Come surf with us!" I tell her.

She hesitates. Her body language says it: I'm surfing Marine today. You have to join us at Marine.

We paddle out, and I start giving him pointers. He is laying on his stomach, and is listening intently. He tries to sit upright. The board boggles and wiggles, and he is back on his stomach again. He tries again, only to be side saddled and tossed off by the board.

"Ho, maybe she doesn't like you too much?" I chuckle at him.

He smiles back. He enjoys the new challenge.

I tell him the rules around here, the pecking order, how to look left and right while paddling... he hangs onto every word.

I introduce him to Ross, Bruce, Roy and some other 26th Street locals. He likes the vibe here a lot. "It reminds me of my Jiu-Jitsu class. Every one is so mellow and friendly. I like it here."

The waves today are small, but they have good shape. Actually, they have really good shape! I'm stoked. And, the crowd is not that bad. It's actually pretty manageable because I'm using my local card. I get my fair share of waves, while hooting others into waves.

Even some of the other locals start telling Kenny to paddle for waves. Gene, the ukulele lover and longboarder, hoots him in.

"GO KENNY GO!!" he says.

Kenny hesitates, and then starts to paddle. Too late bruh, gotta paddle earlier. I drop some knowledge on him: You must paddle for a wave like your life depended on it, especially if a local hoots you into one.

I contemplate pushing him into a wave so he can at least get on his feet. But I don't. He's a man, he can learn for himself. I'll just give him advice, like move up on your board, and paddle longer strokes. Kenny goes for one. He's late at popping up, but gets to his feet. The wave tosses him over, and he eats shit. He comes up smiling! "Dude, that was so fun!"

We surf until 930 AM. A good two and a half hour session. Kenny caught only one wave, but he is stoked. I'm stoked to have caught a good session too.

Back at the car, I see a text message from Joyce. "I didn't have fun today. Why didn't you surf with me? I'm not telling people that I'm going to surf anymore. I wanted to surf with you."

Wait, how does that make sense? We were already parked at 26th Street. Why walk ten blocks to surf a different spot that is of more or less equal quality? I have my local card at 26th Street. I don't have it at Marine.

"I thought we are supposed to surf together." I shoot back. 

Kenny and I decide to go to breakfast. I drive us to a spot called Red Bread right across the Costco on Washington Blvd. We find parking, and walk to the store front, only to find that the place has closed and moved to Santa Monica! Mierda!!!

So, we decide to go to a place called Flake on Rose Avenue. We get there to a line. I order an Acai bowl and a Cro-Jo sandwich. Kenny orders a Cro-Jo sandwich too. In fact, he pays for my Cro-Jo. We sit outside, talking over Jiu-Jitsu and surfing similarities. I tell him that I will love to try some Jiu-Jitsu, and he lights up. I can feel his passion from this guy about Jiu-Jitsu. He just absolutely loves it. He is very passionate and driven about Jiu-Jitsu, and I love it.

"I wanna come see you in your element," I tell him through a smile.

"Yea, come through! It will be fun!!"

We eat our Acai bowl and Cro-Jo. The Acai bowl... is good, but expensive as fuck. Getting extra berries on top is an extra $2, bringing the total to a whopping $10 Acai bowl. Coffee is $2, thankfully, and good! It's not burnt, tastes great black, and does the job. The Cro-Jo is awesome. Their special sauce is a cross between chipotle aioli and nut butter. I am thoroughly satisfied.

We drive back and I have to take a massive shit. Eric is outside, filling up his air conditioning fluid. Kenny starts talking to him, and I take the fattest deuce of the day. Coffee poops... yep, they feel great after a great surf and a great meal with great conversations with a passionate person. As I sit on the porcelain throne, I listen to a voxer message from Donny Duckbutter.

"Klaude, oh man.. we just got out of the water..."

"Is that Klaude?" says Bri. "Klaude! Klaude, I was clowning people today!! It was sooo good."

"Yea, dude, we had the same spot as always, and people would come, but we would just keep trading waves between the two of us, so yea, they all left. I'm so tired right now..."

And I stopped listening to the message. I had to get back out to Kenny and Eric, and get on with my day! I had to get to work, work hard, then head to inland Artesia and attend a quincenera! I give Kenny a trash bag to put his wetsuit in, we both say our good-byes, and I get ready for work. It's blazing hot today... and I'm kinda glad I'm going to an air-conditioned office.

Fuck... they scored. I should go see them in the morning... at least catch some surf with them and Rick.... haven't surfed with them in so long...

Mahalos Mother Ocean