We pulled up at first light and were horrified to see very little in the way of surf and nearly 20 people out, all sitting right at the peak. I began entertaining thoughts of Zuma and the possibility of uncrowded peaks as I watched the lulls. It took about 15 minutes before I noticed that the same people seemed to be grabbing the set waves, which meant there were really 4 or 5 people who knew how to surf the place and the rest didn't matter. Better still, I knew at least 3 of those 4 or 5 and they were pretty mellow guys. My horror gave way to stoke.

I sat on the outside and waited for the sets, which came through every 15 minutes or so, 1-3 waves each, most of them fun rides to the stairs. Tried to take different approaches to the end section each time: coverup, kick out the back, snap under the closing curtain, boost an off the lip. Surfer Bob dallied back and forth between the little waves off the rock and the occasional set wave; I saw him get one particularly nice ride on Mr. Scott as I began to paddle back from one of mine, and another good one towards the end while I stood in the shower.

As we left the Malibu Boardriders were gearing up for their annual event of tandem surfing with young kids who are working through bouts with cancer or other disabilities. I've shared the water with them once or twice before and it was a great thing to watch.