Quick Surf Story Post

In southern California, the dementos come out to surf around 9am. It is very crucial to get on most surf spots before then (there are a couple that are unknown enough you can surf anytime...or intimidating enough). Last weekend I went down to Newport for the first time since the "guy tried to run over my head with his surfboard TWICE even though I was nowhere near the wave face" incident. After that session, I got in my car, was angry about how much I can't stand bodyboarding in socal (smelly yucky water, crowded waves, and generally overly crappy surf), and then drove about 150 miles north to score very, very good surf. Since then I've basically written off Newport. This weekend one of my friends convinced me to get up early and give it another try since the south swells are starting to arrive and I can't escape to north swell land forever. So I did. And for a few hours it was definitely worth it. Glass, barrels, and small waves. But mostly an emphasis on glass and barrels. And a-frames. Anyway it was super fun. The surfers who paddled out were awesome. Actually skilled and had style and we just shared wave after wave after wave. I purposely spent the morning waiting as long as possible to drop in so I could practice air dropping. Lots of fun. And a lot less intimidating than pretty much all my sessions in the last few months. FUN surf.

So then around 9:30 it turned onshore and for some reason this meant everyone should paddle out. Immediately, it got crowded and people started swearing at each other or otherwise fighting for waves. Here is where it doesn't make sense anymore. Do they really need to fight over 2-4ft onshore waves? I mean c'mon...not cool. Anyway, I was near the peak of a wave and two guys were on it (to my right). One of the guys paddles for the wave and other guy goes to drop in on him. Meanwhile, I started paddling over to the peak just in case they missed the wave. Now, the two guys are yelling at each other and generally being overly aggressive...since they both were trying to get the same wave going right. I look left...and realize the wave is not a right at all. Its a very good left. To my surprise, the fighting guys were too busy fighting over who gets to go right to realize they are going the wrong way. So, I dropped in and went left...into a barrel...all the way to the beach. The moral of the story is...guys, keep fighting. It leaves more waves for the rest of us.