Twelfth Log Entry 9/21/04

After yesterdays monster surf at Huntington, we decided to head to the relative calm of Newport Pier, where the beach faces more west and gets less of the south swell. We showed up there at 6:00 to find that it was a little too sheltered and the Santa Ana winds were destroying what little surf there was there. So we drove up to the river jetties. The surf there was big, clean and hollow. The set waves coming in were head and a half to double overhead and they were fast. The first one I tried to take off on just pitched me. I was much too late. The second one I got to my feet, but turned immediately instead of heading down the face. That works at HB, but it didn't work here. I ended up getting pitched over the falls. It seems that the bigger days are still a challenge and the ease of surfing I describe in previous posts only applies to small and medium days. The crowd was out today too. I was paddling out and watching other surfers take off on a peak when I saw this guy get right on this huge wave. He made the bottom turn, straightened out was right in the curl. This wave pitched over his head while he was standing with his knees only slightly bent. It was a full on stand up barrel, straight out of a Tahitian photo shoot, only it was in Newport Beach. People were hooting and hollering for the guy. It was pretty exciting to watch. Getting into a standup barrel is the Mecca of surfing. It is what every surfer wants. When my alarm went off I motioned to Travis that it was time for last call. He shrugged and I though he didn't understand what I was saying. I signaled again and he shrugged again. Apparently he had just gotten into a barrel and simply didn't care what time it was. He was going to stay out until he was ready to go in. I have been in that mood before, although not today. If you ever are lucky enough to get there, then you understand what surfing is really about. It is a hit and miss activity. You are at the mercy of nature, and if everything comes together just right to provide good surf, your timing has to be on and you have to get a bit lucky with the crowd. It is difficult to learn and can be hard to do. It can be ultimately frustrating, but when a day of surfing is good to you, you can ride that high through a lot of mediocre and bad days. Like the bumper sticker says, a bad day surfing is still better that the best day at work. I got a good left and flubbed another takeoff before the crowd started getting to me. I almost landed on some guy as I took off on one wave and decided that I should call it a day. On the way in I caught a little inside wave that was my ride of the day. I gotta say, I prefer 4-6 to 8-10.