Went for an afternoon surf session today with Donnie at 56th Street in Newport Beach. When we got there around 1pm, the tide was low. The waves coming off the last jetty were super hollow and tantalizing. And the water was amazingly glassy, especially for an afternoon session. The trick to the waves today was to take off at full speed to keep ahead of the curl, lest you be sucked into the maw. I was usually sucked into the maw. Once in the maw, the wave usually saw fit to knock me off my board. And not with the usual gentle nudge of white water but rather with a torrential pimp slap of salt water (often up the nose).
Still I kept giving the old college try and was victorious on enough occasions to call the day a success. All those “lessons” at El Porto taking off on vertical walls finally payed off!
Because it was overcast on the way out to the beach, Donnie left his board turned up in his truck bed. When we got the beach and Donnie slid the sock off his board I heard him say, “What the…” Despite the overcast clouds, the heat had melted all his wax on his board. Sliding the sock off the board had essentially wiped his board clean of all the melted wax. Poor guy spent most of the sesh rubbing new wax on his board out in the water. He had a rough time today slip sliding’ away.