Monday, yuk. Here i am back from the Baja desert, 2,000 miles, 40 hours of driving and many waves later, I wanna go back!!!! Hey, I think i will very soon....
Camped at Punta San Careless, at the end of a 40 mile rock & ravine excuse of a road, at a lovely Point and right reef setup, both broke nicely Sunday-Wednesday all morning, then blew up and got fun & gnarly when the winds hit in the afternoon.In the beautiful bay to the south, there is a little fish camp cooperative & the head of the camp (the guy with the baddest pickup truck) would come visit us bringing as much fresh fish and crab as we could tolerate. Refusing our money, he insisted the surfers were his amigos.
I got up at 4:30 am every day trying futilely to beat Craig Angel in the water. I was always second in. Angel doesn't even paddle for waves, he's always in the right spot and at first light he would be a silhouette in a soul arch against the glassy waves.
Steve Bainy who owns Infinity Surfboards in Dana Point was there with a heap of Infinity boards which I got to surf, nice weapons all. His son Daniel is also a very hot surfer/shaper, very aggressive off the top.
Surfed, ate fish tacos, slept, surfed, swam, drank warm beer & tequila (Craig & Bainy invented many a warm cocktail: the Angel Slam, warm grapefruit juice and sake; the Bloody Maria, warm V-8 and tequila), surfed some more. With two breaks to choose from it was surf heaven... even with the rattlesnakes, coyotes, red ants and my many close friends living in my van, the friendly flies.
The water was a toasty 66 degrees, air about 100. The Southern Cali contingent wore spring suits which seemed ludicrous to me, i only started wearing a rashy when the sun got hot. At 5am boardshorts and a swimsuit were comfy. And the waves, well if you like glassy machine point waves about shoulder high, it was pretty cool.
So let me tell ya about my wave. On Tuesday, i paddled out in the dark on Bainy's assymetrical tail 9' epoxy which he had lent me the night before. Craig was soul arching as usual. What's unusual tho is Bainy gets up predawn to join us, as well as Larry Cobb. That's some mean competition. I was a bit intimidated surfing with these guys but in the enviable position of riding the shaper's board knowing he wanted me to get some set waves.
Angel goes first, Cobb next, Bainy next and the fourth wave is the best. The epoxy board is light and tight and my first wave on it I shot out on the shoulder and cut back into the wave so i was aiming dead on at the crew paddling back out. Bainy and Cobb, about a foot apart, sit up and start waving frantically at me to surf around them, but I cannot resist, the board turns so easily and they're such lovely targets, I surfed right between them.
When I paddled back out, Bainy says, that's it, you win. You did a cutback on the best wave and successfully negotiated the bowling pins.
What about Craig Angel? I said. He already got a lot of waves this morning. No, Bainy insists, he cheated, he came out before the heat started, hahaha. Made my day anyways.
Thanks, Steve, Larry, Craig, Daniel, Jeremy, TJ, Justin and Jesse for showing a femme your secret spot. You stoked me!