Crazy Day at El Porto (Except for the Waves)

A total mixed bag today at El Porto.  I met a few friends of the site (Hey!), had a celebrity sighting, but I also dinged Aaron’s and my board (totally my fault).  It was weird, I was super jazzed getting into the water, and then bummed when I got out.

Rolling into the parking lot I saw Thomas, a tweep whose always posting handy surf reports for El Porto.  I stopped the car long enough to say hello and shake hands.  It’s always sweet to meet online friend in real life.  Peter and Aaron were already waiting in the parking lot.  Aaron is freshly back from his honeymoon in Costa Rica (where I hear the water was warm and the waves were excellent). While we were chatting, Tyler Hatzikian parks right next to me.  We are all big fans of his work (and all long for a Tyler board).  We tittered a bit like kids, “Look! Look! It’s Tyler Hatzikian!”  Later we realized his window was down, so he probably totally heard us.  Such surf nerds.

We suited up and headed down to the water.  There was some sort of gathering on the beach where we usually go out.  A local school was having a competition.  We decided to walk farther south to give the competition some room.  Then, while cruising down, I met frequent site commenter and sweet photographer Miguel and his friend Lisa.  They were there in support of Lisa’s son in the surf competition.  Again, eFriends becoming real people; wonderfully surreal.

So now I’m on a super high from meeting all these cool people in real life and chatting.  I find Peter and Aaron out in the water and paddle out to them.  The waves are nothing spectacular.  Mostly 2 footers with the occasional rogue 3 foot wave.  While taking video of the crew suddenly I become obsessed with the idea of catching a wave with Aaron, riding right in front of him and getting some action video footage.  Instead, I ate it, causing my board to fly into Kruisechev, dinging both boards.  Oh, the shame.  Aaron’s first time out since Costa Rica, and I dinged his board.  Grrr.

Also had a grip of video camera problems but I won’t go into that as it’s not too interesting.  Suffice it to say that I am not happy with the Flip UltraHD and I am now searching for a better solution.  If you know of any good underwater HD cameras, be sure to drop me a line.