The original plan was to go to Black's and be one of the first ones out in California. Doing that daunting walk in the dark proved to be too much for Forrest and me and so we decided to hit Oside.
I met him at his place at 5:30 and we suited up. We drove up PCH to Oside and skipped checking the beachbreaks, as we wouldn't be able to see. Using the pier's amber lighting we were able to make out underwhelming two-footers and our stoke subsided substantially. I thought the tide would be low, but it was actually quite high. We flirted with checking Harbor, but I had to be at my dad's for breakfast by 9:30, so we took our chances and paddled out north of Wisconsin. I transformed into Neoprene Man.
The slowly-leaking light of the sun was beginning to cut through the darkness. The first couple of vids captured by the GoPro are grainy from the lack of light, but luckily, there was enough light so as to not further ruin the footage from my first wave.
A nice left came through. I caught it, pumped once and made a snap decision to pull in due to the timing. If I'd had more time, I might have been able to get closer to the wave and have a shot at making it. I'm pretty sure it closed out as the VAST majority of waves were closing out today. Here's some goodness from that wave:
Be sure to pause/unpause the video to simulate slow motion. This is especially good for capturing my strained facial expressions on some waves!
A right came within three minutes and I was on it. It too closed out on me. Try to pause around 3-second mark:
Another left came right after I'd paddled out from the right. I didn't have a chance to pump for speed and I set up too far away from the wall. This is one of the cool things about having footage of you surfing. You usually think you are ripping harder than you really are and filming will set you straight. Also, you get to see what mistakes you are making and try to correct them in future sessions.
Case in point:
A final barreling wave came to me in the form of a solid right, giving the most tube time of the morning and eliciting an unplanned hoot from my subconscious:
All four of these barrels came through in a fifteen minute span. AWESOME! Too bad I didn't make ANY of them. Though in my defense, all of them closed out.
A lined-up left popped up and I was on it. It turned racy quickly and I did one of my super-pumps to get to the lip. I hit the wave and the wave hit the camera. I could've pulled what is considered the best turn ever performed or I could have brusquely fallen out the back. I guess the world will never know...
A solid right came through, and it had a line to it, so I went for some turns. The wave was closing on me, so I cut the radius on my second turn short. Here is the proof:
The waves slowed down and we saw some spiraling ones up by the pier, so we decided to walk to the pier from Wisconsin Street. This is close to a half-mile walk according to my rudimentary hold-your-fingers-to-the-scale-on-Google-Maps measuring method. Once we finally got up there, the feasting continued.
A MACKER came, could have been head-high and I was on it. I was frothing so hard for it that I let out a guttural noise once my conquest was complete. I mini-pumped to get around the section and I tried to do a backside off-the-lip but it was not to be. Forrest was on the very next one which was the same size so I gave him some support to supplement his stoke.
About ten minutes later, a left came and it was a racy one. I got into it fine and I got close to the wall this time, right in the sweet spot of the barrel. Unfortunately, it closed out HARD and adjusted my camera.
I then caught a left that started off quickly, but opened up and allowed me to do a frontslide slash. I pulled it all the way around, but got stuck on the wash and splayed out. In the video, you hear an interesting sound. Is that the wind howling or are the gods hooting? Too close to call...
I caught yet another left and had a similar sound in the video. I performed one of the moves I've pioneered in the sport: The wayback snap. A layback snap is one where you commit so hard to the turn your body skims/splays behind the board in the water and you use your abs and the power of the wave to lift you back up. A wayback snap is a one where you commit even harder!
If I showed this footage to my doctor, he would prescribe less extension on my legs and more weight on my front foot. Here is what I will send his way:
To finish off the session and complete the "one more!" requirement necessary to get to my dad's on time, I took this right and hit it ok. I then Fosburied over the lip and went in.
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