Kooking It UP!: Party Wave

Lately, for some odd reason, I have been really enjoying duck diving. Maybe because the waves have been getting bigger and I have been pushing myself to get out more in less comfortable situations, or maybe because I'm just getting a little nuttier lately. Over the last few weeks, I have been enjoying seeing large waves coming for my head, waiting at the last second, sticking my tongue out to tease the bomb, and smoothly going under. I love it when I make a clean dive under a big monster and feeling that crash of water lightly tapping my lower back, feeling that force of water push against my face as I pop out the other side. To me, a great duck dive under a monster can be just as exhilarating as making a big drop on that same wave. The moment when I'm moving upward through the wave, feeling it's force on my cheeks and popping out back feels sort of like a cleanse, and maybe even like a rebirth.

D paddling out into some fun waves. Plenty of Duck Diving going down. LOL

Over the last weekend, The infamous Kiwi Hippies made their way into Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz, not knowing what to do, couldn't duck dive these monsters!


That infamous rainbow umbrella always gives us away.

We started out at one of me and Panama Red's favorite spots just north of town. The waves were happening, and we all got a piece of that sweet swell. The crowds were low. Out of 13 people in the lineup, there were eight Kiwis having fun, singing and sharing waves with the five other surfers. The Kiwis may be hand full of trouble, but we are always respectful to other surfers. It's always about stoke and sharing stoke. And oh yeah, acting like seventh graders.


Prospect Amal heading out.

Dub Sack and Don Corleone's pops, Papa Chase, joined the fun. Even though he lives far from the surf, he still can rip better than most. Papa Chase was a mad charger at Ala Moana Bowls and Kaisers on Oahu back in the day. He even shared the lineup with a guy named Gerry Lopez a few times.

Papa Chase busting out his old school Gerry (before his boards had the Patagonia sticker).

Papa Chase claiming.

On our last day together, the wind was calm, but the waves were really, really small. Not sure where to go, Panama Red and I made the decision to take the fellas out to Manresa. Hoping that this beach break would catch at least something, we said our prayer and headed south. And to our surprise, there were some waves. Nothing big, more like ankle biters, but we'll take it!

Every wave at Manresa had at least two Kiwis on it.

We all found a really fun peak 300 yards south of the entrance. With a lot of foam and a weekends worth of stoke, we all shared waves, hooting and hollering, jumping on each others boards, grabbing each others leashes and giving our best "get the f'k off my wave" yell, but in all good spirits.


Panama Red and Nap Sack getting their ankles bit.

My most memorable wave of the weekend came down to a waist high wave shared with Mister Furry. While sitting around, shooting the shit and waiting for the next set, Furry and I looked out yonder and saw a nice little peak heading our way. Having priority, I turned to Furry and said "I got it." Instead of paddling out and giving me the peak, the damn guy turned towards the shore and started paddling for the wave with me. I yelled out "I got the f'king wave!" Furry yelled back "F'''''''''''''''''k yooooooou!" I stood up and still saw him paddling for the wave. I stalled a bit and he popped up and we both started flying down the line. We both started laughing like school children all the way down to the beach. It gets no better then that! Surfing a wave with one of my best buds. Life doesn't get any better.

Mr. Furry (green wet suit) and I rolling down the line.

I caught a pretty fun right. I used Don Corleone's Gerry Lopez (or as we call it, the J-Lo). The board was hand shaped by the man himself. Being that it is a bigger board (I think it's around 6'8 x 20), the foam was needed for that day. I found myself on a lone peak and took full advantage of it.

The wave is smaller then it looks.

Same wave, but mushing up and needing a bit of a stall.

While I was catching this wave, more party waves were going down...

Forget Andy Irons and Kelly Slater's epic battle at Pipe, Furry and Kush's paddle
battle for an ASP championship was way more interesting.

A closer look at this epic battle!

I decided to give up the board and sit in the shallow part of the water. I got my GoPro, strapped it to my head and caught all of this craziness on camera.

Party Wave from Kookingitup on Vimeo.

The day after the Kiwi Santa Cruz extravaganza ended, I was back in The Bay. I texted Manav to see what was up with Ocean Beach. It took about 5 minutes for Manav to text back "Get here now, it's clean and fun". I loaded my gear and drove out to my Queen. I parked in front of Manav's place, and before he even walked out to greet me, I was suited up and had my board in hand. Like every other surfer in San Francisco, I love Ocean Beach when she's clean and manageable. But I also love it because I can break out the GoPro. On bigger days, I would never take that chance because all my focus is on making it out back, my safety, my friends safety and watching for that very tricky rogue wave, which is usually 8-15 feet and wants to pummel everybody in it's path.

But today, there was no need to have a head on a swivel. We caught one shoulder high wave after another. Occasionally we would get lucky and have a head high peak head our way. And when it did, the beauty of a clean Ocean Beach peak is like no other on the left coast. Everybody was stoked. Here is the video from our session. I posted it earlier on it's own page:

Moments from Kookingitup on Vimeo.

Gracias Queen O.B. And Gracias Kiwi Hippies. Ya'll are too hood for me.