Happy Mother's Day 050811

Surf Report:  Ankle to waist high

Atmosphere: Cloudy

Water: Cold

Winds: Strong off shore

OK, let’s keep this short. 

I woke up.  It’s 600 AM

I called Khang.

Khang said he’s going out later.

I gave him shit about it, being the irrational fuck I am.

I checked the tides.

The tide was a negative low at 8 something.

I call Khang back, telling him I will wait

I call Christina, telling her that she should wait till the tide drops out. 

It’s really dangerous at Manhattan Beach when the tide is super low. 

I do yoga

I go back to sleep

I wake up at 800 AM. Fuck my life…

I get to Khang’s house around 830 AM.  Khang and I are sporting the only Laker purple and gold sighted in LA.

We get to 26^th Street to an empty parking lot.

Don and Long Arms give us props for supporting the Lakers.

The waves look like shit.

The wind is on shore

The waves are small

The water looks grey

We paddle out anyways.

Christina spots us and heads in.

We all say hi. 

We paddle out.

I snake a foamie.  He tells me to “watch out bro.”  He’ll get over it.

I caught a few insider double ups

Khang again catches some waves of the day

The cleanest right rolls through and he’s on it.

He does a “sorry excuse for a turn” 

We laugh. 

He was able to paddle into a wave that doubled up. 

They doubled up after his pop up and create a speed bump. 

It looked like a small Shipsterns Bluff wave.

He falls on the speed bump. 

I laugh.

Christina catches some mushy waves that take her to shore.

This asian lady catches some nice waves on her longboard

I catch some more waves, nothing memorable, or credible. 

The foamie catches more waves.

The line up empties out

The sun shines through

The ocean turns from grey to blue, and looks beautiful.

I start singing

I paddle for more inside double ups

Khang also catches the wipe outs of the day

Khang paddles for a set wave.  He wipes out as his feet slip on the pop up. 

I laugh

We keep the session short to one hour.

Christina has left without saying bye.  I was a bit pissed.

She later comes down to the parking lot to say bye.

She was unable to paddle back out on her “last wave” to say bye.

I told her that her will to say good bye to us was weak. 

The asian lady on her longboard took off.

A truck full of Phillipino’s pull up and talk about the Pacman fight. 

We take off back to our house.

Happy Mother’s day.  Mom, I love you with all my heart.  You’re the only woman in my life that will always be there, and will not break my heart.  And even if you do break my heart, I still love you. 

An Early Morning at 26th Street 050711

Surf Report: Knee to Waist high

Atmosphere: Cloudy

Winds: Off shore

Water: Cool/Cold

Today was a sparse day for the Dump Rider Crew.  It was Dais, Khang and I that made it out into the line up.  Again, I was plagued by the excitement of surfing Friday night.  I seriously have nothing else but surfing to bring me pure joy in my life at the moment.  I am studying for my CPA test, which I am way behind, but I hope that whoever reads this appreciates that I put time in to write about it.  I study non stop for eight days a week, and am constantly putting off social obligations to study for this test.  Honestly, money does not bring happiness, but it sure brings stability in my life.  So, I am studying for this damn test.  I wake up, go to work, and go to class from 600 PM till around 930 PM on Mondays and Wednesdays, and otherwise stay home and study on all other days.  I try to swim at the Venice High School pool once a week to keep my paddling power up, so that is one aspect of my life I can count on to relieve some stress besides my weekend surf sessions. 

Therefore, I tend to get excited about my upcoming surf sessions on Friday night.  I tend to not be able to sleep, even though I’m dead tired from work, coaching, and what not.  I had a hard time sleeping at night, and still woke up before 500 AM on Saturday.  Ko was telling me that he was down to surf, but when I called him in the morning, he informed me that he got in to LA (from San Diego) at 330 AM.  I told him to sleep in since the surf wasn’t epic, and that three hours of sleep was not worth surfing. 

I called Dais at 524 AM, and set out to pick him up.  Khang was to meet us at 26^th street.  This was probably the first time in many years that I got to the beach so early.  We found street parking at the top of Highland Avenue, and started to get changed.  Khang was not far behind, and we moved up to give him a parking spot, leaving only inches in between my bumper and his front hood. 

The waves looked flat from atop the hill, so Khang and I took out the foamies, and Dais took out Maria, his fish.  We were in the water before 700 AM, and there were at most three other guys out at the peak north of 26^th Street.

The water was grey, mimicking the skies emotions.  The hues were mellow, and the Ocean was quiet as the sets rolled.  The waves had some push behind it, but nothing of consequence.  The winds were off shore, creating a spray off the top of the lip as the waves crashed on the shore.  We were stoked to be paddling out on such conditions with an empty line up.  Most surfers were on longboard, with only a few on shortboards. 

The paddle for me was difficult.  I pushed down on the nose of the foamie as the waves crashed in front of me, and that seemed to strain both my shoulders.  I was the last to get out to the line up within the three of us.  It was hard to punch through the white water on such a “big” board.  But once I got out to the line up, it was game time.

I paddled for a lot of waves during the early morning.  No one was in the way, no one was hassling for waves.  I would paddle for some small set waves that would pick up in size on the inside because of the low tide drop.  I would be able to stick my hand into the wave face and slow down on the wave to let the lip barrel over me. 

Dolphins came to play with us, with some frolicking in the water.  They would jump way above the water, and do twists as they flew high above the surface.  What a magical sight.  FUCK SEAWORLD. 

There were waves that looked like ankle slappers, and I would go down the line, crouched low to hug the wave face, and drag my whole hand in the wave face.  I hoped that my homeys saw me on the waves, but they definitely didn’t see the waves I got.  When I wiped out on the attempted barrel rides, the foamie would tug on my leg and the leash would bite into my ankle.  This hurt a lot, and it felt like teeth gouging into my ankle. 

Dais went for a few waves this early morning session, but he seemed a bit hesitant to push himself over the ledge with a flat rockered board like Maria.  Khang seemed to have  a niche within the line up to get himself into waves on the foamie. 

On one wave, I backed out for a guy on a purple and orange longboard.  He was going down the line on a left, and I was able to pull out just in time and tell him sorry for knocking off the top.  He said it was ok, and had a huge smile on his face.  He even told me to go on the next set wave that I was able to jam my hand into the wave face after popping up.  He was all smiles, and so was I.  This is the reason I love 26^th Street so much. The people here are so mellow, and are cool.  So long as you aren’t an asshole and are mindful of other around you, you will fit right in.  26^th Street’s vibe is the total contrary of the “Porto Scene” that drops in, yells at, and hassles you for waves on a continuous basis.

We three got tired of riding big boards after 45 minutes.  We all took waves in on our belly, and walked back up to Highland to switch boards. 

It felt weird to have my body halfway sunk into the ocean surface with a tiny board under me after being on a huge tanker for the first forty-five minutes.  But, it was nice to duck dive the inside waves with ease and be able to paddle with power instead of “bullshitting” with my paddle.  I tend to paddle just with my hands while on a longboard, because submerging my whole arm while paddling doesn’t produce any extra power on a longboard, so I just paddle with my hands on the surface.  With a shortboard, I make my strokes deeper and longer, and make every tip of my finger work to its full potential.

Dais took a lot of waves on this shortboard session.  He tweaked his knee on the earlier session, but showed little signs of a bothered knee as he paddled and popped up on some of the sets that came through.  He came through the line ups with his long hair and paddled into empty peaks that offered up some nice rides for him.  He still took some questionable waves, but hey, if you don’t paddle for those, how would you know if they were questionable in the first place?  At least he pushed himself over the ledge, which is more than what I can say about others who don’t even try to go for those scary looking waves.  As the great Edison said, “A genius is 1% inspiration and 99% effort.”  Dais made the effort to paddle into those steep ledges, and paid the price, but I guarantee you he learned a great lesson from them. 

Khang had two waves of the day on the shortboard session.  He was the first one out of our crew to catch a clean wave that he was able to pump up and down on.  The second wave of the day came on a set that he took from the three “wise men” (old geezers) on longboards.  He paddled, popped up, and I had to back out on the wave because he was going down the line pretty fast.  He was able to take the wave pretty far, and made it all the way to the inside.

The wave after that, I was able to take.  It was a rare double up that opened up nicely and I smoothly paddled into it because no one was in position.  The old geezers, the two groms, and the two locals near us were no where in sight.  I was able to pop up, make the drop, bottom turn up the face, pump a few times, then cut back, then pump a few times again, then cut back again until the wave lost all its power.  I was super stoked and pumped up, even though none of my friends saw this wave.  However, one of the groms put me right back in place when he took a nice right and completely blew his tail out and did a wrap around cutback, pump down the line, and blew his tail again.  This kid was probably no older than 16 years old, and he was shredding harder than me!  I was put in my place. 

At this point, Khang and Dais drifted down further south.  I tried to maintain my spot in front of 26^th Street.  However, the three old geezers, the two locals, the two groms, and Roy were taking all the waves that came through.  It was tough competing with them.  They were always in the “right position” at the “right time” and I would be able to paddle into them, but they were already on the wave, so I didn’t want to snake them.  

The old geezers took all the outside sets that didn’t even break but doubled up and take the waves all the way on the inside.  The two locals (the white dude with long hair and the Phillipino dude on his neon ….Lost Mayhem) took some really good waves.  The two groms took any high tide mushers that rolled through and made them into 7-8 point rides by busting out the fins.  And Roy would take the waves on his fish and tear the shit out of the waves.  The spot was firing, but for every one wave I got, each of these guys got three waves.  So, doing the math now, I got one wave, they got twenty four waves.  OK,  perhaps that’s a bit exaggerated, but it felt like that to me.  I wasn’t able to catch SHIT.  They just tore up the place.  I need to get better.  That’s all I thought.  I need to get my paddle stronger, I need to get my positioning better, I needed to BE better. 

I got fed up and took a wave in by 920 AM.  I wasn’t tired per se, but I was frustrated and had enough.  The waves were fun for what it was, but the way to end it wasn’t the way I wanted to end it. 

I got changed and walked down south to try to find Khang and Dais.  I saw Khang’s board and sat down to watch them surf.  I saw a young grommette tearing it up on the rather empty line up where they were.  It seemed like she was just so light weight on her board and would tear the shit out of any wave that came here way, going both right and left. 

Apparently Khang was able to pump down the line on one wave, bottom turn, and made a THWACK sound as he rebounded off the lip on a right.  Dais said he was able to see this, and he threw a Matt sized spray, which equates to about a cup of water being thrown out the back.  Heck, that’s more than what I can do, and I definitely have yet to hack off the top of the lip.  Plus, HE HAS A WITNESS.  He was so amped off of that THWACK, he told me about in such an animated manner that I felt that I let him down for not seeing it.  I honestly regretted not drifting down south with them.  I wish I had just let the current take me down south instead of competing with those other dudes. 

However, I made my decision.  I had made my bed, and I had to fuck in it.  Oh well, the morning wasn’t completely lost.  I had a lot of good waves, and that one wave that I got where I was able to cutback twice made my session.  I was just bummed I wasn’t able to finish strong on the session like Khang and Dais were able to. 

Till another day, Mahalo Mother Ocean.   

PS: Ok, so I took about an hour writing up on this session.  During this one hour, I could have been studying for this all important CPA exam that I study for constantly, but you know what?  My creative outlet has been mellowed out somewhat, and whatever future money I am able to earn from passing the CPA exam won’t equate to any experience I have in the water, so take that and shove it down your throat, CPA exam. 

First of tha Month 050111

Surf Report:  1-2 feet.  Worse than yesterday

Winds: Off shore

Water: Ice Cold!

Atmosphere:  Sunny!

I got a late start today.  To be honest, I wasn’t really too stoked to surf today.  It was kind of a force-yourself-to-surf-so-you’re-not-so-pissed-you-didn’t-on-a-Sunday surf session.  I didn’t mind dragging out my yoga this morning, for I was still in “beach mode” this morning. 

I got a text from Matt saying that he, Lina Joy, and Shan were going to be at 26^th Street.  I told him I would be there shortly.  I called around to see if anyone would let me borrow their longboards.  I called Christina and Ann, and came up empty.  Oh well, I will take out the potato chip again. 

I pick up Dais and the sun is already blazing down on us.  We make our way down to 26^th Street and score some free parking up on Highland Avenue.  We started to get changed when OOPS, Dais forgot his wetsuit.  He just brought his giant Ziploc bag.  I offered him my boardshorts, so he wore those for the time being.

We skated down to 26^th Street on the smooth pavement of the strand.  We saw surfers getting out going back to their cars and houses.  The conditions looked similar to yesterday, where it was super mushy and a day where longboarders were the only ones catching anything.

We get to 26^th Street and find Shan and Lina sitting on the beach.  I introduce myself to Lina to her ice cold hands.  Matt came out and gave us a small report:  Small, mushy, and only a few rides.  Christina was chilling on the sand already, taking a break. 

Matt, Lina and Shan leave from this point.  I stretched out, and paddled straight out.  It was super cold.  It was like winter water.  I took a wave in on my belly, and told Dais that he has to borrow a wetsuit from Matt, or he’s not going to be able to enjoy anything.

“Anything is better than nothing,” I told him.

So he went up to the parking lot and borrowed Matt’s towel and wetsuit.  A true sign of friendship is when you borrow your friend’s wetsuit that he accidentally pooped in yesterday. 

I decided to go leashless today because it wasn’t that big and gnarly.  I saw Kyle in the line up, and he was leash less too!  So I got to join the cool gang.  Matt informed me of a “local guy” ripping.  That local guy was Roy on his fish again.  We said what’s up to each other, and traded waves for the first hour or so.  He was tearing it up as usual, going left on these beautiful rides, pumping up and down, and hacking the lip off. 

He would push me into some waves that were questionable but opened up nicely.  I got a few rides in, but that was all.  Dais came out with Matt’s wetsuit, and albeit shivering, was catching those inside double ups.  It was just one of those days where shortboarders were not going to get that many waves.  We hungrily watched the outside sets being taken by longboarders as the waves bogged out, reformed on the inside, and we would try our best to catch them. 

Kyle was definitely a stand out!  He’s so light and agile, he is able to get into a lot of waves pretty easily with his excellent positioning and paddle power.  He definitely has earned his keep in the 26^th Street line up. 

Kyle’s dad Damon was on a foamie today, but he switched to a more serious longboard.  He said that the foamie was cool, but that he wanted to turn into waves more, so he switched boards.  And boy did he turn it up.  He took almost every wave that came his way.  He used to be noob status in my eyes, but now he’s able to paddle in to a lot of waves, so I give him respect for that. 

His wife Patty was on her foamie on the inside.  As Christina pointed out, it is so much fun watching her surf because she catches the smallest waves on the inside, but has the brightest smile out of anyone in the line up every time she’s sliding down a white water wave. 

I actually asked her if I could use one of their foamies, but she said that Kyle took hers out just now.  I was a little bummed, but thanked her.  She smiled back so cheerfully.  I opted to hang on the inside, and try to paddle for some hopeless mushburgers.  No dice.

So I decide to take a rest.  My shoulders were tired from the reckless paddling and coming up with nothing.  I sat next to Christina and watched the waves.  Just then, Patty started to walk up towards us and offered me her foamie.  She said her hand got caught on the leash and got yanked, so she was going to body board now with fins.  I was so stoked!!  I took that thing out immediately.

Dais took a small rest on the sand while I paddled out on the foamie.  I realized how easy it was to paddle into waves with a foamie.  That thing just cruises on the surface and you don’t really need any paddle power to get into waves. 

First wave I went for and I was down the face.  It was just too easy. 

Second wave I went for I tried to tuck myself into the small barrel. 

Third wave I went for I walked up to the nose, only to fall off when I was hanging five for a split second. 

Fourth and final wave I went for I busted a switch stance, to which I fell.  I was still really happy with these four waves.

Dais watched me as I caught those four waves hanging on the inside on his potato chip.  He had eyes of envy but a pure smile of stoke on his face.  As I brought the board back in, I decided to go back out and body surf.

Dais and I body surfed for a good 45 minutes.  I think that body surf session was the most fun I had all day.  Dais definitely is a superior body surfer to me, since he and I would paddle for the set waves that doubled up on the inside, but he would take them about ten feet longer.   We drifted a whole lifeguard station before getting out, walking back, and paddling out in front of 26^th Street again.  We were trying to figure out how to take off on an angle when body surfing, but all we could manage was to go straight.  Body surfing is so much fun because you can feel the wave ripple and flow on your body.  You can really feel the power of the ocean as you glide down the face and have that wave push you to shore. 

Christina was still chilling on the sand, baking up into a crispy piece of tofu bacon.  She said she brought salad for her lunch, to which Dais responded:  “You don’t make friends with salad!  You don’t make friends with salad! Hey!” 

We said our good byes and skated back up to our parking spot. 

Another day of surf, and another morning spent at temple, being stoked.  There is no swell on tap for this week or weekend, so we shall see how this pans out.  There is apparently a NW/SW combo swell coming for the weekend, but it is waist high max. 

Mahalo Mother Ocean. 

Mushy April with The Seven Samurais - 043011

Surf Report: 1-3 feet and mushy mushy mushy

Winds:  Slight off shore

Water: Cold

Atmosphere: Sunny!

I woke up this morning before 500 AM and started getting ready for the day.  I called Khang up and he sounded drowsy as hell.  I did my post-wake-up yoga, and started to head to his house. 

What I should have done was called Dais too.  I thought he was going separately because he had a dentist appointment, but he also met us at Khang’s.  I got to Khang’s place before the sun was up, and Dais got to his house a little after 600 AM.  Q join us as the unofficial car monitor, as he sheepishly snuggled his way back under some blankets and knocked out in the back seats.

We tried to score free parking around the 26^th Street area, since our plan was to meet up everyone at 26^th Street.  Matt told us he found parking around 33^rd, and we actually ended up finding parking there too.  It was pretty lucky, since Khang pulled up to the street, and a BMW was just pulling out of a spot.  With a little bit of luck on our side, we changed into our wetsuits as the sun rose up brightly over the million dollar houses in Manhattan Beach. 

Matt made his way down the street and joined us and we made our way down 33^rd Street.  The beach was pretty empty, and there were about ten heads out at this point.  We saw Gary again on his neon green bonzer out in the line up.  Matt was telling us about his bowel movements when he jumped up and had that wide eyed look of OOPS.  He thinks he might of shitted a little bit in his wetsuit.  It’s ok, all day today my butt was itching because I needed to take a shit, but I held it in the whole session.  It was one of those poops where you feel it come down, then it goes back inside you, and you’re alright for another hour or so.  Then it drops back down. 

The waves were… mushy today.  The tide really jacked up the whole place.  The high tide was to peak at 848 AM, and so there was a lot of water moving around on the inside where the waves are supposed to break.  It was a pretty frustrating morning for me, but I was glad to have the crew out.  It was Matt, Dais, Khang and myself, along with Gary. 

There were a few nice waves that came through:  some of them peeled perfectly into a beautiful right hander that sprayed off the top of the lip and opened up all the way to shore.  Khang was in position for this perfect wave, but was unable to get in.  We all gave him shit about it.  I think he beat himself up the most, though.  He was scratching right at the peak, but just didn’t get enough oomph into his last few paddles, and the wave passed him up. 

Dais caught a lot of waves today.  I think his wave count is steadily growing.  He has been putting in the hours, and they are definitely showing. 

Matt caught some nice waves all the way to shore.  Nothing spectacular this morning since there is barely any swell, but he did manage to catch a few waves all the way to shore.

I for one caught a few measly rides that were not worth mentioning.

Matt decided to paddle down south towards 26^th Street since that’s where we first planned to meet.  I followed him.  We paddled and paddled, all the way to 26^th Street, where Matt saw Christina and Francis.  Dais and Khang eventually drifted down here too, so we had the full DRC crew in the line up.  We all got together for a little pow wow and then tried to hoot each other into waves. 

Again, it was frustrating.  But, I had a lot of fun.  Why?  Because I’d rather surf crappy waves with my friends than an epic wave with everyone and their mama out.  Francis took a lot of waves, some on his belly, all the way to shore.  He was definitely leaving us behind in the dust when he caught the waves though.  He did some nice little cutbacks into the white water, pump down the line and cutback again, and then take the wave all the way to shore on his belly.

Matt still got some nice lefts in the mushy conditions.  The tide was dropping down again, so it was cleaning up the conditions and making them more consistent.

Dais paddled for the inside double ups that jacked up in the little holes. 

Khang was in the middle of the pack at 26^th Street, but made his way further south to join us and took the wipe out of the day.  He was right in front of me when I saw him paddle for a close out set.  It wasn’t that big of a wave, but the way he wiped was pretty epic.  I saw him paddle and he read the wave as a bad wave, so he threw his board to his left, and made his body go right.  I saw through the crashing wave his board and him go over the falls, and then his board flung up in the air after she went over the falls.  Dais and I hooted at that gnarly wipe out.

Cheryl made it out today too!  I was actually not expecting to see her, but she made it out on her fish towards the end of our session.  She seemed to be more comfortable in these conditions, when it’s not too gnarly and pretty forgiving, for she caught a few waves while I rested on the beach.

I decided to body surf for a while because the waves were not doing anything.  Francis and I body surfed for a good thirty minutes.  Dais joined us too, for his potato chip wasn’t doing any good for him either.  We three body surfed until I did something stupid:  I was going under the waves, and decided to dolphin kick all the way to the bottom.  I then smashed my face into the sandbar, and got a bloody nose.  I came up with blood dripping down my face.  Francis was wide eyed.  Khang was wide eyed.  I thought I should keep body surfing, but Francis convinced me to get out. 

So I dried up on shore for a bit.  Christina was already chilling on the shore.  Francis, Dais, Khang and Matt made their way out of the water.  Cheryl came out a few minutes later. 

Matt decided to go home and get some studying done.  Francis was going to go out again, and so I decided to follow him.  Khang and Dais made their way back to the line up.  Christina and Cheryl were going to hang out for a bit and make their way back out too. 

In the next thirty minutes, I witnessed this one girl catch a wave that turned on all my gears.  She was on the outside of me, so it was her wave.  I watched her as she paddled, popped up, and made this long, drawn out bottom turn.  She did a small cutback and hacked part of the wave.  She took the wave all the way to shore.  What a turn on!

So, I caught about three waves after this, and they were actually clean waves.  I was able to pump up and down on each wave, and cutback into the white water.  They weren’t critical waves or anything, but they were clean. 

The mushy waves were surprisingly pulling us further and further south.  We all drifted a few blocks south until we decided to call it quits.  The conditions were getting worse and worse.  At least I got my fill for the day in this last half hour.  Last wave I took was a left that I was drop-knee’d on, and tickled the face of the wave with my left hand. 

All in all, it was a fun day with the crew.  It was good to see the DRC out in full force.  We had a total of seven members in the line up today!  It was great to have spent time with friends in our temple. 

Mahalo Mother Ocean!

Aloha Welcome Back Khang - Venice Toughness 042611

Surf Report: Waist to Chest high max
Winds: Strong side shores
Water: Cold
Atmosphere: Sunny

Back to Venice Beach.  Back to where my wave riding all started.  Back to surfing with KHANG!

Welcome home Khang, we missed you a lot.  He met up with me this morning at Venice Beach and looked psyched to get into the water.  He knew that he was going to get his ass kicked but that didn't really matter.  He was back in LA and back to surf.

I took out my new used board that I finally finished painting with my dad.  My dad helped me a lot on this:

It was a two day project, where he printed out a stencil, cut the stencil out, I prepped the surface, and we stuck the stencil on the board.  We did a few coats of paint for the ALOHA (taken from the Aloha for Japan logo) and spray painted that Saturday.  Then Sunday we did the MAHALO on the back.  The little figure on the end of the Mahalo is my dad's trademark icon that he made for my surfing.  Pretty cool!  It wouldn't have turned out this great if it weren't for my dad.  He is truly an artist.

North Side of the Pier

So back to the surf.  It was super windy.  It wasn't on shore like the past two weeks, but it was definitely the strongest winds I've felt in a long time.  Getting changed was a cold experience, and when I was carrying my board down the beach the board seemed to act like a sail and I could feel it sway and point the way the wind blew.  The sets were unpredictable, and the white water kept pouring on in.  It was a hectic line up, with no one out.  The battle today was against Mother Ocean and the Elements.  There was so much spray coming off the top of the waves, I saw about forty rainbows get created over my head. 

The north side of the pier looked jumbled up, and the south didn't look as inviting either.  However, we weren't there to just watch the waves:  we were there to surf!  So we paddled out south of the pier. 

It was only fitting that upon Khang's return that we dawn patrolled Venice beach, where we always spent time in the water.  Again, this is the spot where I first learned the pure joy of "wave sliding" on a body board when I was in 7th grade and he and his twin brother Khoa were in 6th grade.  It is still one of my favorite memories to relive. 

South Side

The paddle out was sort of brutal.  It wasn't that bad, but the first duck dive sure opened my eyes.  The water was cold enough to give me an ice cream head ache.  Khang was resilient, paddling up and under the white water waves that seemed to be an endless tirade of brown horses with white manes rushing at us head on.  I probably did about thirty duck dives before I got out to the line up.  Khang was right next to me the whole time, so it's good to see he didn't lose too much of his paddle power.

There were two guys on pink or red fishes.  One of them was tearing it up.  His friend wasn't really doing much.  But again, this was a battle against the Elements.  The drift wasn't that strong, but it sure did pull us further south.  On top of that, the waves were so hard to read.  You would think the wave was breaking left, but then the side shore make the left stand up and transfer the peak to a right and break as a right.  For the first thirty minutes or so, I was just trying to get a feel of what the Ocean was doing and read how she was reacting.  Like any woman, she was hard to read and I still haven't figured her out.

My new used board just seemed to coast under me while I paddled.  Maybe it was just me, but she seemed to be "the one."  Hahahaha.  Duck diving, of course, was not an issue on her.  Paddling seemed easier for me on this new girl.  My first wave I took was a close out left, which was about waist high.  I made the drop and set the rail as the white water crashed behind me. 

Second wave I caught was the stand out wave for this morning's session.  It was a clean right, and I actually got to my feet pretty easily.  I think it was a mid-chest size wave that started to just suck up a clean wall ahead of me.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the presence of mind to do any maneuvers so I ripped a bottom turn and headed straight for a backdoor exit as the wall started to close out ahead of me. 

Khang scratched out on a few waves today.  He had that same frustrated look I had months ago, where I KNEW I WAS BETTER THAN THIS.  I was just not strong enough to paddle into the waves at the time (please read my post when Matt, Christina and I roll down to __________ to meet Rick and Gary T.  Actually that one is still on facebook, so just know that I was still fresh out of rehab/physical therapy, so my paddle power wasn't there for chest high waves.) 

"Hey, at least I made it out of the white water.  If I didn't even get passed the white water, I would be preeeeettty disappointed," Khang said to me.

I caught a few small waves after wards, which weren't all too memorable.  I think today was a "Welcome Home" session with one of our fellow DRC warriors that has come back.  I was glad I got to surf with him for a good one and a half hours.  He still needs to get his big sexy tricepts and rippling back and traps back, but that is just a matter of "when." 

I am definitely looking forward to this weekend of surf:  Francis has work off, Khang is back, Matt and I (hopefully) will have a lot of our homework done, and Dais... well he's always down to surf so that is a good thing :)... maybe we can all go down to Trestles and surf down there?  Or we can just stay local. 

Funny thing was that when we got out of the water, the strong side shores seemed to just stop and the Ocean seemed to have calmed the fuck down.  The waves stopped being so jumbled up and the sets came in slowly instead of being an onslaught of white mountains pouring down from the heavens.  I joked that it was Mother Ocean being pissed at Khang for neglecting her for so long, and it was her way of saying, "Aloha Welcome Back" to the prodigal son. 

Until next time... Mahalo Mother Ocean.

A Small, Short, and Sweet Redemption Session at 26th Street - 042411

Surf Report:  2-4 feet and super low tide
Atmosphere: Cloudy
Water: Cool/Cold
Winds: Straight on shore

So, this morning was more of a redemption session of sorts, at least for Dais and I.  I honestly would not have paddled out this morning and gone straight back home if it weren't for Dais frothing when he arrived at Porto.  Matt, Dais, and I watched the shitty conditions as the waves rolled in.  The guys at Porto were walking out to the line up, where the sets were breaking.  The low tide was killing it, and the winds didn't help the wave shape at all.  It was classic Dump Rider status.

Matt opted to go home, since he felt that these conditions weren't worth it.  I didn't blame him.  Christina called me and our conversation got cut off, but she ended up going home too.  The misty morning kept everyone inside their cars and out of the water.  The gray clouds hung over the coastline like a bad hangover from the night before.  The winds just smacked your nipples to a cold button, making them harder than ice and able to cut glass.

Dais said he was still to go out.  I told him I would go with him to 26th Street to paddle out.  Matt parted ways with us, and so we made the drive down to 26th Street.  Dais gave me some change to put in the meter, and we suited up.  I showed off my new fins that I just bought from Rider's Shack.  They are FCS UL-5's, and I was hoping I could go for a little test drive on these bad boys today.  However, the conditions looked ominous.  Oh well.  Don was out, Bruce was in his car, chilling, and Manny had just pulled up.  We had to go out now.  I gave Cheryl a courtesy call to give her an update where we were going to paddle out.  She opted to stay home instead. 

We stretch out and paddle out south of 26th Street.  The pull was strong today, and I found myself already in front of the lifeguard tower by the time I reached the line up.  I tried to fight the current, but I was unmotivated to fight the current today.  I just wanted to go with the flow.

Dais was south of me, and he was getting pulled too.  He went for a lot more waves than I did today.  He was trying to take off on some ?able waves.  We saw the grommette that was always there:  the blond chick that rides a tiny Don Kadowaki board, air brushed purple and blue.  She had a few nice left handers.  One that stuck out in my mind was where she hopped on the shoulder of a near-perfect left, and busted a few backhand turns on the face of the wave.

Dais and I continuously drift further and further north.  I scratched out on a small wave.. or rather, the wave didn't let me in.  I paddled and had my hands on the deck, ready to pop up, but the wave just fizzled out and doubled up on the inside and never broke for me.  Oh well, I thought.  I told Dais that I already felt better that we paddled out today, since the Ocean always makes me feel so at home and at ease.  I guess it's the people who make you feel like shit.  

A ginger guy I like to call Matt Bonner was out today too.  I've seen him here a few times.  He too had a nice set wave that peeled left.  He was right on the peak, and popped up nicely, pumping down the line, and then hacking the lip off the top.  Pretty sick!

There was also a black guy out surfing today!  I was surprised to see a new face in the line up, especially in these shitty conditions.  I smiled at him, and said how are you.  He smiled back and said he was fine.


Again, Dais took off on a lot of waves.  They were dumpy, sometimes pitchy waves.  The low tide kept getting lower, and the conditions seemed more and more questionable.  I saw Dais took a few close outs and got to his feet in time to escape oblivion.  He would ride out the white water and hop off on the inside in knee deep water.  However, that was not the norm.  He took a lot of ?able drops and ended up in about waist high water.  He still laughed those off and paddled straight back out to the line up though.

I had one good ride today.  It was a right, and I was (somewhat) able to get a feel of my new fins.  I popped up, and started to drive down the line.  The board felt completely different under my feet, almost as if it was lighter.  I get about three pumps in, see the section close out, and so I get on my heels and back foot and eye the close out section for a small floater.  I actually landed back on the white water and made the wave.  I was stoked.

Dais took a nice left on the face.  It was one of those "right place at the right time" waves that just opened up for him.  It was pretty pitchy out there, but he still managed to catch "that one wave" that makes the session all worth it. 

I also saw him snake a SUPer.  I was glad he did, since the SUP had no chance of making it passed the section where Dais was in.  I think Dais wiped on this wave, but the SUPer left the beach afterwards.

We drifted further and further up the coast.  I told Dais we should get out soon, since the conditions seemed more and more dangerous.  The waves would jack up and pitch up right before our eyes, and then shatter into a billion white shards of milk shake foam onto waist deep water.  We tried to go for a few, but the waves just were too dangerous to even make the drop.

I think I ended up paddling in and catching one on my belly.  I was able to walk about twenty feet in ankle deep water with all the shells and rocks washing in and out of the shore.  The sun was peaking ever so slightly out of the gray sky, and so it felt good to have paddled out at least.

We both caught one good wave each, and that was all we needed.  It wasn't a super amazing redemption session, but I know our mood at the end of this surf sesh was the complete opposite of what we felt on Saturday.

After all, it was Sunday, and we surfed good ol' 26th Street.  How could we complain?

You don't want
You don't wait
You don't love
But you don't hate
You just roll over me
And you pull me in.

-Jack Johnson Only the Ocean

Mahalo Mother Ocean.

A Saturday Morning That Is Still Fun Because Surfing Is A Relaxing, Peaceful, And Make-You-Happy Sport, Until Angry Locals Who Probably Don’t Even Surf There On A Continuous Basis Start Yelling At You In The Line Up Calling You A Kook And Eventually Ruining Your Session - 042311

Surf Report: Waist to Chest high, 30-45 minute lulls in between sets
Atmosphere: Cloudy, and a bit of sun
Winds: On shore/slight off shore
Water: Cool/Cold

Today, Dais met up with me at my house, and Matt drove up to Malibu himself.  Christina met up with us three at Malibu, and Cheryl came later to Malibu when we were in the line up. 

That is all.