Subjects:1. Reunion of the Team
2. Rediscovering the Mad Ride
It was a triumphant weekend for The Capt'n, the greatest triumph of all being the arrival of Sea Monkey and his new lady friend, Nicola. This Capt'n, being an explorer and not a poet, cannot fully express in words what a poet would call joy. Suffice it to say that in this game of life, having Sea Monkey back in California is akin to getting a Mad Ride.
Which brings me to the second subject: Rediscovering the Mad Ride.
It had been so long since I'd gotten a Mad Ride that I'd started to forget the joy as the poets would say of the surf. Not that I'm complaining, I mean I'm not sure Sea Monkey can even remember the last time she was on the Snow Pony. But getting back to me, I'm thinking that since about November, really even before then, the full joy of the surfing experience has not been upon me. First, Sea Monkey left us to go pursue the cold and darkness of the east, though in the end what she found was the warmth of love, which means that she's never moving back to California, but we're happy for her, and then secondly, what was left of Team Shredder moved to LA, which has been great in every way EXCEPT in the realm of surfing.
But this weekend was different. I got my beautiful 9'0" green rocket back from the repair shop and took it out for the first time since the awful collision at sea of which I will not speak, and it was like coming home. The cove at Tourmaline wasn't happening much, just occasional little mushburgers, so I paddled over to the pump house and found the action. The waves there are steeper and faster and lately very closed out, but on Sunday there were some peeling little jackhammers, and I got one late takeoff that shot me down the very vertical line like nobody's business. Eye of the tiger. Then on Monday I tried Cardiff, which has the potential of becoming my new favorite spot--yes I said that. Tourmaline will always be my first love and spiritual home break, and in the end probably my all-around favorite, but wow, Cardiff Reef is quite spectacular. It's so beautiful out there, the high cliffs are stunning, Pipes is a fun and exciting wave, and it's mostly women and older guys out there, so how can you lose?