(Monday morning dawn patrol)

The wake up call, the cell phone alarm, went off at 6 and by 6:40, this was the view from my car. I was still half asleep when my surf girls waved good morning. I think they were still asleep too when I pulled up by them in the parking lot. They were half way in their wetsuits when I realized OMG…I have to get out of my warm clothes to get in mine too.

When I was waxing my board, I realized that the dimensions and shaper’s signature were on the deck and not the other side. That’s when I noticed his name. A week ago Boo and I were at one of our surf girl’s b-day parties and we finally met their friend who shapes boards locally for a major surf brand and for himself. He seemed kinda urban myth-y because the girls had talked about him so much and how cute he is. Sure enough, I decided he was my new crush because he looked like Andy Gibb- if Andy Gibb were scruffy, a surfer dude and had that constant Spicoli glazed-eye look. He had mentioned that my board might have been shaped by him. Going into the cold water felt a little better knowing that Andy Gibb had shaped the best board I’ve ever had.

I was still half asleep when I paddled out a few minutes later, but awake enough to dread the first wave that would wash over my head with the cold water. Why is that first head dunk sooooooooo cold? After I got over it and ended up in the line up, I was surprised to realize it wasn’t that cold. Gotta love that new “Super Suit” (aka, Roxy’s 3/2 cell suit!). The waves were funky. Some bigger sets would come and close out, but when I almost didn’t make it over one of them and my heart was pounding, I realized THAT was the real wake up call of the morning.

It came just in time for me to see about 2 sets of dolphins. I’m convinced two of them were mating about 25 feet in front of me because I saw a bigger fin (assuming the male) thrashing around and the smaller one was jumping around and then rolling around on it’s back and the other one was swimming on and over it. It’s always a great day when you see the dolphins, but I felt a little embarased seeing them doing the “deed”.

I caught about 5 rides, 2 of them decent, the others sloppy. I like to think the sloppy ones were because of the closed out conditions. I also realized that all the chitty chat catching up on the weekend with my surf girls was 1- a good distraction from getting scared being out there in gloomy, cold, ominous conditions, but also 2- a bad distraction from getting in my zone.

My last wave, probably about thigh high, a short right, slightly trimming, was my wave of the day. Of course, despite being not so stoked about being out there an hour ago, that one ride made me want to come back out later today. Driving through the half empty lot, feeling pretty surfer-like for having done dawn patrol on a Monday, I spotted Andy Gibb checking out the conditions. I pulled over and proudly told him that my board was one of his. He asked if I liked it and even if he weren’t so Andy Gibby, I still would have said what I said “I LOVE it!”. He noticed my board was scooted up a little forward on and offered to move it back. (Sigh….). The funny thing is that he said “You didn’t have to turn your car off.” So I told him it’s cos it’s a hybrid, which he loved. Bonus points for me!

Anyway, not a bad morning. Dolphins, Andy Gibb, oh, and one of the best things I saw on the beach…a cute Euro-Asian surfer with a cute green fish picking up a huge piece of plastic trash as he was leaving. When I was waiting for the outdoor shower after him, he had a big smile when said “Have a nice day”. I said “you too”, then realized he was the one I saw with the trash and said “Hey, and thanks for picking up the trash.”. I think the smile he had shared back was definitely the highlight of the morning.

(aprés surf)