Poor Little Bonzer

Is there a law which states this board is not allowed to get within 100 yards of a wave with a shoulder? The board was shut out each time I took it out. Today, I actually made the effort to find a wave with size. It's a wave I know to have a shoulder. What I didn't know were the conditions. I leave the house each morning ready to gamble. It's too early for any surf reports and often too dark for the cams. So I load up the car, drop my little man off at school and then take my chances at the beach. Often, I come home unsurfed and end up doing an alternate workout. Sometimes I'm forced to drive around a little until I find surfable waves. But it's not like I've got time on my hands to look for and wait for surf. I do have a job and I remind myself that time I spend surfing is time for which I'm not paid. I was prepared to lose a little money today in my quest for a decent wave.

I took a big chance and drove down to Orange County in search of waves for the Bonzer. I'd noticed the surf report over the weekend showed that the waves at this particular break were 4-7 and overhead on sets. Those conditions are a bit much for me. That was one reason why I stayed away from that break on Saturday. The forecast for today mentioned the swell would be decreasing. I figured waist to head high with maybe a bit overhead on sets. It was worth a shot to take a look (even though I knew a morning drive on the 405 might see me stuck in traffic for an hour or more). Well, the drive wasn't bad. And when I got to the spot, there were very few people in the water. But the waves looked a little ferocious. I got there just after low tide and decided to sit for awhile, letting the tide come up and soften the waves. Yeah, I was scared. I freely admit that. I think I sat for about 40 minutes before going in. The paddle out didn't kill me; it was nothing like the paddle out at El Porto a few weeks ago.

It took me awhile to calm down once I made it to the outside. I guess I thought the waves were worse than they were. They weren't bad at all . . . and therein lies the problem. I wanted walls rushing at me. Instead, I got wannabe walls that slowly rolled through. When the big walls came, they had no shape. And much of the time it was flat!! I got three rides . . . straight toward the beach. What made it even worse was the fact that the place got crowded. And for what? You could feel and hear the frustration in the water. It didn't help that the current was pulling us all south. It took a good 10 minutes to walk back to my car when I finally gave up and got out.

The Bonzer remains untried on a wave with both size and shape. I'm not giving up though. It'll all come together eventually. On a positive note, two guys were walking behind me on the beach as I walked back to the car. When I started picking up trash, they followed suit, saying I'd set a good example that they felt compelled to follow. Perhaps they'll pick up trash the next time they paddle out and then someone else will follow their lead as well. I'd like to think that if we can get a lot of surfers to pick up a couple of pieces of refuse, especially plastic, after each session, the surfing population will start to see this as part of the surf session ritual and everyone will do it.