I'd Give Up Sleep Every Day . . .

for a dawn patrol session like the one I had this morning. Damn, it was good!!! What's so surprising was that I was at the home break . . . and it was that good. I got there early, having told Soul Brother #1 that I wanted to do a DP session; I knew the tide would be best at daybreak. Mind you, I've been so tired of late that I didn't even set the alarm clock to get me up before the sunrise. I get up in the dark during the week. I'd rather not do that on the weekends. What was so cool this morning was Soul Brother #1 woke me up and ordered me to be gone. I guess he figured I couldn't do dawn patrol if, while dawn was arriving, I was still in the bed. (Note: He woke me up four minutes before the alarm would have gone off.) So, I got myself, two boards, and one dog up and out. I hit the Venice Pier first. The energy in the water was good. The shape was not. Hell, I thought, if I'm going to surf in this I might as well go to the home break. Once I got there, I didn't even look at the water. People in the parking lot told me what the conditions were and suggested I take the longboard.

Who knew? I'd forgotten how sweet the home break is when the waves are good. Did I say "good"? I meant great. And I got to surf with Ria, someone I've known for years but rarely have a chance to talk to or surf with. It took us awhile to figure the waves out. The waves at our break are usually fast, walled and pitching. It's imperative that you angle if you want to catch something and live to tell about it. Today, the waves were on the slow and mushy side. Angling the board was not helping at all. It was one of those days when you aim the board straight at the shore, paddle, and do a bottom turn once you pop-up. But once you did pop-up, you were greeted by long, beautiful shoulders. It was enough to make an athiest find Jesus!!! I got great rides. Ria got great rides. Everyone who was out there was getting good waves. I got not one, but two lefts that made me think about packing it in and going home. I usually go months without getting good rides like that. Today, I got two of them within a matter of minutes. It was cool. For awhile, it was just me, Ria, her man (who must have felt like a kook magnet today because some guy decided to paddle right up next to him, at this uncrowded beach, and start asking him about the best way to select waves), Bob, and Surfing Mary (who, as one of the three Marys at our break, was given her nickname because she owns a surf school). Of course, all good things must come to an end. We had about an hour of bliss before, one, the crowd arrived and, two, the high tide began to slow the waves down. I still stayed in for awhile. It was still pretty damn good. After a few more waves and a near-collision, I called it a day. For me, that first hour was epic. Good waves. Good company. Good weather. I don't see how a surf session can get much better than that.