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| Picture from "Cloud" on Stokereport.com |
As of the third week of September, the rumor was out. The very first major swell was due to hit on the last Monday of September and continue on through the whole week. My cell phone was going off every few minutes, with texts coming wildly from a thread of friends from all over the Bay asking the same question that every other crew was asking "Where we surfing?" My wife laid restless in bed, punching my thigh everytime that funky little guitar ringer would go off on my iphone as a new message arrived. But it didn't matter (don't tell my wife), fall arrived and so did our waves.
I paddled out on Tuesday morning, not being able to get some of that Monday stoke. Instead of being worked by Mother O.B., I got worked by the grind, but in a good way. I pretty much love my current gig, and I hate missing work. But I had to paddle out on Tuesday. I ended up heading for my "third favorite break" and majorly scored! My wife took the day off too, wanting to know what all the fuss was about. She was pretty astounded in the end, watching some mega sets come through. She really got a kick out of watching me take a major nose dive on a serious wave. I asked her later if she was worried about me on that wipeout, and she just said nonchalantly, "Not really..."
I also scored some waves in Monterrey on Saturday. I was attending a wedding in Forest Grove near Lovers Point and I could see the swell just coming through in the form of beautiful glassy sets. The groom, who is a good non-surfer friend, but one of the most open minded fellas I know, whispered to me "This must be porn for your soul". Yes it was.
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| Definitely some swell hitting the Central California Coast. |
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| Lover's Point. It wasn't this good, but it was happening around high tide. |
In between the wedding reception and the bonfire, I had around two hours to score. The tide dropped at Lovers Point and it went flat with rocks sticking out everywhere. I called
Manav and he told me to drive south to a white sand beach in front of a golf course. And there my friends, on a quick surf safari through Monterrey, in a spot I think they call The Spanish Harbor, I found some waves. I caught my quota of three waves in about an hour, two nice head high rights and a screaming left.
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| Spanish Bay. A local told me surfers call this spot Moss South. |
While basking in the high of scoring when I didn't think I was going to score, I looked to my right and I was accompanied by a squawking sea gull, who was enjoying all the wave action too.
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| This guy was induced by the wave porn action too. |
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| Not Mars, but the Central Coast. |
On Sunday, I was able to convince my wife into "allowing" me to pull a double session at The Hook and at my 3rd favorite spot. And yes my friends, I was allowed! The swell was still kicking up at the Hook and some really pristine sets were flowing in. I caught it when the 49ers were playing (planned attack you might say) and the crowds weren't that bad. I got into a shouting match with a local after he blatantly cut me off and at the same time yelled "fuck off" as he rolled towards Sharks. During our shouting match, the same ol' Santa Cruz banter was used as in "I'm a local!" and "I've been surfing here for thirty years!" and "Blah Blah!" and "Blah Blah!" I'm not going to go through the whole situation, but I stood my ground for once, and represented everybody else in the lineup who had been disrespected. Me and this fella were able to squash it, share some waves and even talk about our wives, shopping at Costco, the difference between green and yellow bananas, how we both love to watch The Big Bang Theory and all the in betweens. We even caught one in and walked up the stairs together. See Santa Cruz, we can all get along!
For my second sesh, I headed to my third favorite break and man, it was pumping. There were some waves that broke out farther then I've seen them do in a while and roll straight through Mitchell's. I was able catch three bombs, hit two tubes and made it out of one! It was a total surprise to really feel the wave and see it shape, take my time and position myself into the best spots to catch those tubes. Instead of rushing through the waves, I came to a point (at least on this day) where I could really slow it down, take my time and pick my spots. I was able to see the curl come, stall a bit and ride them out. I'm pretty stoked about it.
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| Patiently stalling and pulling in. And I made it out. |
I also had some major wipeouts during the last week of swell, but it's all good. My new motto is "fuck it". I have this new attitude where I'm going to paddle for a wave even if I'm late and not be pissed if I make it or not. A quarter of the time I get hammered, and the other third has been straight up fun! And when I do get drilled, it hasn't been that bad. I've just been taking
"The Slayer's" advice on just going for big ones and getting worked. And for some reason, I'm getting pretty comfortable now and been more relaxed in rather gnarly situations.
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| Mitchell's when it get's major. |
Panama Red was out on the rock, chilling with a six pack, rooting me on as I was pulling into some mackers. Panama sustained some major carnage (six staple carnage) a day before after he caught a south swell closeout bomb that drove him straight to the bottom and into some rocks. The Guy is such a charger. He's like a great NFL cornerback who gets beat deep, forgets about it and intercepts the next pass and takes it in for the score. Which means, he has a short memory and he'll be back for some more carnage this winter.
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| Panama Red. |
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| Six dilemmas of a charger. |
It's been a great weekend of waves, made a new enemy that turned out to be a really cool guy who is now a friend for life in the lineup. My wife really enjoyed watching me get thrashed and I watched another friend find happiness with a beautiful woman. And... there are more waves on the horizon.
Look out for the video from last week's swell. It will have some great surfing and some beatings on your's truly.
Nice! I need to take The Slayer's advice too. Charge!!!
ReplyDeleteI won't lie, it's been a bit traumatizing. But it's been fun too!
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