Enjoying the show: Sat morn, 11/12/11

Talk about a great weekend of surf.

In spite of the on and off showers this weekend, I was motivated to get in the water because of my non intentional hiatus from surfing this last 4 weeks. A pretty nice swell came in with the storm this weekend, with 3-5 foot hallow waves Saturday. The off shore winds were so strong that they created so much spray it blinded me with every attempt to get a wave.

photos courtesy of Christina

Saturday was pretty gloomy, it was cloudy and cold, but luckily no rain was falling that morning. I got to 26th at around 8:00, greeting KK and his dad in the parking lot. Christina had already been in the water for 30 min, and was out feeding money into the meters. She exclaimed she was out of breath after the first 10 minutes fighting to get into the line up. The waves were pretty big and with a lot of power. We chatted with Bruce for a little while and saw perfect a-frame waves forming and a guy get partially barreled. Amazing.

Christina and I were on the sand stretching and contemplating about today's wave size. I was hesitant of getting to the line up because I was on my long board and i'm not very good at turtle rolling or getting over  large waves. Klaude's friend Tom had just got of the water and said he lost both his contacts from a few wipeouts. Crap, these waves are so powerful they knock the contacts right off of you! We psyched each other up and as Mr. Kimura was setting up his tripod, he asks if we have life insurance. Great.

The water was freezing, probablu a good 5 degrees lower than when I had last surfed. Christina made it out to the line up pretty quickly and I was right behind her. However, I got caught in the impact zone and was stuck there for a good 10 mins. I gave up after awhile and tried to catch the inside waves with no avail. Finally there was a lull and I made it out. There were less people where I had drifted down to, and the waves were slightly smaller. But after another 15 mins of not catching anything and with mostly close-outs, I decided to join the pack where Christina and Klaude were, despite the much bigger waves. It was pretty crowded, and some guys were getting some long rides, hacking off the top, and making it to shore. Khang and Dais showed up, and out of all of us Khang had the most success that morning. He caught some head high waves and Klaude's dad got some good photos of him that I have yet to see. Big Wave/One Wave/Deathwish Dave made it out too! He was on his long board and we hung out mostly in the outside, avoiding the sneaker sets. However, he lived up to his name, paddling for the biggest outside waves, making spectacular wipe outs, crashing into people, and partially getting up on one wave. Go Dave!

I ended the day with zero rides, only multiple attempts and wipeouts, enjoying the surf show and the company. Don't worry though, I made up my lack of waves the next day with an awesome morning of pristine surf conditions.