Ok, full disclosure, this should technically go into the Spring surf report but, I liked the the subject heading I came up with enough to justify a separate post.
On Friday afternoon my youngest son and I headed out to the N. coast for a couple days of surfing and one night of camping. E does not have a proper learning board, he was taking out my old Ricky Young 7'0 pin tail thruster with the hopes he could master it. This was a custom board and frankly, one I had not ridden since 1998. We will get back to that later....
Wind was up so made our way to Short Sands....we were on the north end and suiting up for some buttery bumps (chest high) and there were probably 10 guys including 2 sup'ers out so basically empty. The kid made it outside ok and got dumped on a handful of waves and rode some whitewater, not bad, but did not feel the stability he had experienced on other longer boards I had rented for him. So I let him try my board, and I grabbed the Ricky. While he worked the white water, I cozied up to a luscious right on third creek that just kept giving as tide was slowing coming in. The RY brought back old memories of surfing as a much younger man, and for a moment in time, the magic all came back. I spotted a rising peak, paddled for the top, took two paddles and slipped right into the pocket, the right held for what felt like 100 yrds and multiple turns top to bottom. I hooted after, three strangers gave me some hoots an I celebrated a special moment in time....too bad the kid missed it
As I was making my way back in to get ready to head to the camp spot in Rockaway, I noticed a flock of surfers all making their way down the beach...at first we thought it was a surf class, then I thought it was a Seaside Highschool Reunion, but more and more surfers kept coming down the beach, it had to be close 75 people. Then we noticed surfers had flowers with them...that was when the lightbulb went off. I asked one of the guys if they were celebrating a life. Turns out they were doing a paddle out for the surfer who died at SS on Monday. He was only 42...wife and kids. Apparently a combination of chest pain, head trauma from getting hit with his board and other complications caused him to die in about 3 ft of water. The helicopter did not make a pick up because he had already been dead for 30 min. I didnt get his name but he was definitely loved. It was a heavy moment for my son and I since we spread my brothers ashes at SS about 15 yrs ago, so full circle moment for sure.
Went to grab some camping food, then set up camp at the Kelly's Marina camp site...not bad at all, have to say....for $40 bucks, very reasonable. Getting hotdogs ready then realized I forgot the buns....luckily one of our camp neighbors had an extra bag o buns so it worked out. The only bummer was that the inflatable sleeping beds were both fully deflated by 3:00 am so back and neck were a tad stiff by first light.
Decided to rent a bigger board for E at Cleanline, scored a 8'2 Torq for 30 bucks. Heading out to Indian Beach, first time surfing there since maybe 2003....best score was free parking since it was National Park Day....low tide provided nice clean lines but it was pretty packed. We got a couple fun ones but there were two groms who were slaying everything they saw, it was fun to watch them absolutely kill it for a couple hours.
All in all, a couple fun days....heading back on Thursday/Friday/Sat....will keep you posted!
Tex