This morning I got up a little later than normal and shot down to Del Mar. The initial viewpoint didn't give much hope. As soon as I passed the train tracks, I saw a nice steep left, reeling, with no one on it. My foot hit the gas just a bit harder...
I parked just past the best free parking spot, which was occupied by an older pick-up truck. It had a Bruce Lee likeness stenciled into the tail gate (kind of cool, I guess) and an air intake crudely cut out of the hood. The guy whose truck it was was suiting up. I was in a hurry to get out there and managed to beat him to the sand. This is always easier when the other guy doesn't know you are racing, though!
I tried jogging up the very small hill to the sand but I was for some reason having leg issues. The night before, I was sitting on the couch and I got up and got a shooting pain in the muscle on the top inside of my knee. I slowed my pace and pick-up guy caught up. We paddled out around the same time, though he was about thirty yards south of me. I noted his distinctive purple Rusty board.
I paddled out into quite the crowd, something I hadn't counted on based on my snapshot of that left from the road.
I sat inside of the pack and immediately caught my first wave, a very short left. I stayed toward the top of the wave and went for a floater. When I was on top of the wave, the shooting pain in my front leg returned. YEOWCH! Here is the carnage:
I saw purple board guy paddle for a wave with a guy within five yards of his outside, look at him AND TAKE OFF ON HIM! What a douche move.
I spotted a massive guy that reminded me of a very hairy Shawn Briley though he didn’t charge nearly as hard. The guy was out in his swim trunks plus dozens of pounds of blubber.
Purple Board guy paddled back out and set up, this time to the north of me. Trunks Guy and Purple Board both paddled for a wave, Trunks being in position. Purple Board did the same thing as he'd done on his last wave (this time in the opposite direction) and I heard a throaty “HEY” from Trunks. If I had to fight one guy in this pack the LAST guy I would pick was Trunks. Purple Board was asking for it.
My dream sequence of Trunks snatching Purple by the throat and repeatedly punching him in the face (while I cheered on) never materialized, but something nice did happen. One of the numerous kooks took off on Purple Board, went straight and fell on the drop RIGHT in Purple’s way! I let out a “YESSS!” and had a huge smile in my face. A guy in a hood looked at me and smirked
As you have probably already surmised, I wanted to say/do something to Purple but a quick run-through of my options revealed no positive outcome so my frustration with him was being dissipated by his almost instant karma.
He took it like a champ, I must say. The kook apologized and Purple was gracious about it. Damn it, I wanted to keep on hating him and he halved my anger towards him by being cool about being dropped in on.
He instantly unredeemed himself by saying to someone, “I dropped in on somebody”. Then he added, “It’s too crowded not to”. What a MORPH! A crowd is no reason to drop in on someone. They might have waited an hour for a wave to themselves. No excuse, bro. FU.
I caught a left and it was somewhat similar to the last wave. Favoring my knee, I went for a bank off the top rather than another floater.
I then caught a meaty one and decided to go as vertical as possible. I banked hard off the bottom and hit it late. It was a solid hit, but alas, another no-make.
I went in as the crowd was driving me cuckoo. I passed the Bruce Lee truck and fantasized about putting my fist through its glass.
The swell is backing down and will probably be unsurfable starting Friday. I’m hoping to get one last session in tomorrow morning.
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