There were no buds with me, so my surf session was not as awesome as the rest of the crew had at Porto today, but it was still fun. And today I made the conscious decision to not bring any media equipment with me today. No pictures, no video – just surfing.
I took the Electric out again. The Revolver might have been a better choice, but the Electric was still super fun. The waves were still great too. Not the dragons from yesterday, but fun rides. Waves were splitting left and right for maximum rider potential.
Though there was one wavehog out there who refused to share the stoke. Everyone else was being very groovy about sharing waves, encouraging each other and making sure everyone got a turn. But this guy would paddle around others to put himself into position. On a split wave, he’d go in the “opposite” direction. (So if he should have gone right to give another surfer the left, he’d charge down the left and cut off the other surfer.) It was maddening!
First I tried to just paddle away from him. But every time I moved he seemed to move with me. He didn’t have it out for me in particular, but he always seemed to be in my bubble. At a certain point, I’d had enough. I forced the issue. Another beautiful wave rolled right up into my wheelhouse. He paddled around me to give himself position. I made eye-contact with the dude and politely said, “I’m still going.” We both dropped in, but I had better position. I drove him right down into the chowder. I didn’t see him after that.
I’m not trying to glorify my actions. On the contrary, my behavior was out of line. I never recommend taking any sort of vigilante action out in the water. I was lucky. Seriously, that guy could have been nuts. And he could have come back and wielded his crazy all over me. Two lessons here: 1. Don’t be a chump; 2. If someone is being a chump, let them be a chump. Still…suck it wavehog!
I did have one extra gnarly wipeout where the board and I flopped wildly in the white water. I didn’t realize it until I got out of the water later, but I cut my foot. It was just a flesh wound, but it was bleeding. I imagined the seen from Finding Nemo when Bruce gets just that tiny whiff of blood… Still that was nothing compared to poor Tracey who actually cracked her fiberglass with her head!