The Coolest Wave and the Scariest Dolphin

Well, like the title says, I encountered the coolest wave and the scariest dolphin, today! Here’s my story . . . and I’m stickin’ with it. ; )

Today was foggy and overcast. The marine layer had crept in well before I woke up and was sticking around all day. Every once in awhile this happens and it might not be as nice as a sunny day, but it’s definitely cool and different! Thankfully, I recognized this before I left my house, so I not only wore my wet suit, but I also wore my 5mm neoprene socks, a sweatshirt, a hat, a hood and gloves. Everything kept me very comfortable in the 63 degree weather.

The 2 mile ride to the beach was fantastic. Seeing things in a slightly different light was nice for a change. And for some reason, I felt an inner peace and happiness. As rode my bike with my board under my arm, I looked around at the locals driving their cars and I felt them saying, “Thata boy. Don’t let slightly inclement weather get you down. Go get ‘em.” Or something like that.

Upon reaching the boardwalk at Diamond St., I examined the surf. It was pretty good from Crystal Pier to Tourmaline. I watched a couple surfers try to catch some of the waves and fail. Shaking my head, I rode my bike South and didn’t stop until I got to PB Surf Shop on Garnet. I noticed Mackey standing outside, so I pulled up my cruiser for a chat. I love talking to him. He always seems like such a simply genuine dude. Plus, I feel his kindness and gentle encouragement helped me get my butt down here to exercise, beginning last March, when I hungered for a change and some much needed discipline and love. I used to change into a free rental wet suit in their shop and leave my stuff in there before catching waves. In fact, he and Danny even let me keep my board in their shop! Extremely nice of them, especially because I was and am undeserving of such kindness and privilege.

So, Mackey and I talked about whatever for awhile. Sometimes, I hear about crazy surfing adventures. Sometimes, I tell him true stories about my surfing escapades. Today, I almost forgot to tell him I’m going to Hawaii next month, but I turned my cruiser around after driving off about 10 yards and told him. He was stoked to hear it and began telling me about a secret surf spot he found on the North Shore. San Diego is beautiful and the surf is great, but I’m deeply excited about this upcoming trip to Oahu!!! Even small waves would be welcome because I won’t have to wear any wet suit. If memory serves me correctly, the water is in the 70’s.

I noticed the tide was very low and it reminded me that there was a super low tide around 10:30am. Super low tide is great for tide pools, but usually not for catching waves. It was about 2 hours later, so the tide was rising, but still low. I discovered (or rediscovered) how difficult it was to waste time! I ended up doing my same routine of riding my bike to about Tower 24, checking the wind direction and thinking about the best break to take, then choosing and doing it.

After I parked my bike, hopped the boardwalk wall and walked in front of Tower 23, I felt a bit apathetic. I wasn’t entirely sure why, but I knew the weather and lack of people had something to do with it. I tend to feed off the energy of others. When the beaches are packed or when there are lots of people working hard to catch waves, it inspires me to give everything I’ve got. This time, I had to drink my Red Bull before I felt that way. I had to change my mind too and realize again that just because today was different, it wasn’t necessarily bad and it could even be better in some ways.

I only had a 30 minute surf session this time, but it was both unique and fantastic. The waves were a bit bumpy because we had a serious South eddy. The wind was probably around 10mph. I would normally know the exact amount and direction, but for some reason my iPhone’s Weatherbug application wasn’t working. Surfline.com said it was 8-14 knots, but that was just an estimate. I believe it was gusting a bit because it certainly wasn’t howling or 10mph the whole time. In fact, it seemed pretty calm most of the time and it didn’t freeze my cheeks like it had done before.

When I’m in the water catching waves, I become extremely analytical. No, I’m not talking about life’s deepest questions, but I’m referring to analyzing every wave. There is probably nothing worse than paddling out over, under and through whitewash, fighting to get out and then taking a wave that quickly closes out and provides no real ride. This is why I become very picky and look at the texture of every way. Should I take this one left or right? Is this one going to break on me, past me or right with me? Is this wave going to wall up and close out fast? Nearly every session, by being picky, I find good waves to ride. This session was no different and I even rode one amazing wave that I can hardly describe. But I’ll try.

As I looked at this wave rolling in, I realized I needed to take it right. If you’re looking at the wave from the beach, I’ll be going to your left (my right while riding). Taking it right was the right choice because the left side was walling up and wouldn’t have given me a ride. So, I take this 5’+ wave right and immediately want to spin, so I spin the board, but for some reason my body didn’t spin with it and the board did a 180 degree turn. My weight must have been positioned just right to do this. I actually spun the board with my hands and promptly sat on it with my butt, riding it quickly and to the right all along. If I had been positioned any differently, I would have eaten it. So, I’m riding this wave like I said and I figure, let’s do more spins! So, I do a 360 spin and I’m still riding it with good speed! So, I do another 360 spin and I’m still riding! It was truly phenomenal. I had never ridden a wave like this before. The wave finally ended and as I was being pushed along by the whitewash, I flipped another 360. Finally, I hopped off and shot my board out from under me. Wow, what a ride . . . it was absolutely nuts!

Before this wild ride, something else very cool (yet a little scary) happened to me that had never happened before. I see dolphins and sea lions swimming around from time to time; perhaps once a week on average. Every time except one, they were swimming either North/South or South/North, parallel to the beach. That one other time, a sea lion was swimming from waist deep water out into the deep sea (which was a little unnerving). Well, this time, a dolphin was swimming right at me! From about 20 yards ahead of me, this dolphin was swimming directly East and directly at me. Now, I’m not an oceanographer or anything, so I’m not entirely sure it was a dolphin (I never am), but I’m pretty sure it was. Nonetheless, it made me a bit uncomfortable because I figured this animal could swim awfully fast and I wasn’t sure about his intentions. I guess I haven’t heard of any dolphin attacks . . . but you don’t really take comfort in that when you’re by yourself in the water, on a board, about 100 yards from shore. So, I took the next wave very far, into knee deep water and turned to look for the dolphin . . . and never saw him again.

For what it’s worth, this made me realize something important. I had just been thinking about the phrase “it takes a village.” It deserves more thought and attention, but in short, I believe our position in life relies partly on the people around us who either love and “promote” us or hate and “detract” us from reaching our goals and our potential. We all need other people to love and help us, just as they need us to love and help them. Well, the water is another, similar community. I exist in the water because the creatures who live there accept me. They do not eat me, but they allow me to live there with them and they even fascinate me. Likewise, they exist because humankind has allowed them to do so by taking care of the environment, not preying on them too much, cleaning up after mistakes (e.g. oil spills), etc.

Here’s to another great day (even though I only shared a small part of it here). I thank my community and my Creator and hope that I can be a light to them as they have been a light to me.

Oh yeah, one more thing. After my session, I got a cup of coffee at Be Curious and I relaxed. There were four kids with rented, foam surfboards trying to stand and immediately falling in all different directions. Dude, I was tempted to run down there with my iPhone video camera and record them! It was so funny! I laughed out loud several times. Thanks again to the lil c and the big C for loving on me. I certainly don’t deserve so much so often.