The crew came together just after 6:30 at 20th Street. The waves there were less than impressive so we weighed our options. Forrest recommended N. Torrey Pines. Mike faltered, but then agreed to join us. We met at the first available parking spots closest to the first lifeguard tower.
Forrest, suited up (at home) as usual, so he was raring to go. I was into it. Mike on the other hand, had major reservations and announced he wouldn't surf. He got in my car and I eventually talked him into paddling out, though we did muse at how funny it would be to bail on Forrest.
The waves were big and racy. The offshore winds were funneling through the 56 corridor and were creating a rain effect that would pelt you in the face hard if you missed a wave. Of course, this means you will most likely have to drop in late on every wave.
We paddled out and it was a nasty one. I joined Forrest on the outside and quickly got swept out.
I caught a wave relatively quickly, after paddling in some. It was a good-sized right, probably about head-high. Unfortunately it only afforded me the thrill of the drop. It quickly raced off without me.
The next wave was almost identical. This time I went for a half-snap and the wave hit my board. I went flying.
Third wave, third closeout right: On this wave I didn't even get a chance to trim laterally across the wave. I kicked my board up to lose as little position as possible.
About a half-hour after paddling out, I caught my first left and it was a doozy. I popped up and set up for the barrel. Things started off well, I didn't make my common mistake of setting up too far from the wall. Unfortunately, I got pinched almost immediately by The Incredible Shrinking Barrel. The lip detonated on me and literally flipped me. I felt my body turn upside down and it happened so quickly that I turned what should have been a barrel into an impromptu sailor dive.
A right came through less than twenty minutes later. I got a snap in on the vertical part of the wave, but I was pushed off of it by the offshores. I suppose I could've snapped lower down on the wave but that looks so lame...
Mike and Forrest spotted a pod of dolphins about five or six strong. Mike's voice became alarmed and he said to me, "Stay close to me". I told him no and paddled away just a bit to see how he would react, but the dolphins ended up veering left and coming closer to me. This is probably the closest a dolphin has surfaced to me in the wild. Here's some footage of the next pod that passed us by.
I then caught a left that seemed nice at the beginning, but ended up being slow. The good news is, after kicking out, I witnessed Missed-It-Mike doing something incredible.
I didn't catch the beginning of it, but what I saw was this. Mike was desperately clinging to his rail with heavy water cascading over him. This was the heaviest thing I've ever seen him do in the water, and I've been surfing with him for ten years. I duckdived the wave and was off-my-rocker thrilled and let him know how gnarly that was.
Side Note: Mike was cold. He told me so eight times!
I also got some footy of some dolphins.
Not like you at all to paddle away when a bro needs help!
ReplyDeleteThis from the guy who wanted me close to cut down on his odds of being attacked
Delete