la nina chased us south but didn't quite drown us in Ventura. i kept up my optimism with a daily 5000mg of vitamin D, a 6'6" and PCH. i found some filthy brown barrels. i carved over filmy detergent on glistening wave surfaces. i let the putrid puissant waters suck me through steaming close-outs. why do my kidneys ache?
detox paranoia.
i wasn't looking forward to LA after the rainfall.
wondering if any sensible people would paddle out after such a storm, i walked down to the beach and answered my own question.
you either surf or you don't.
beautiful head high beach break tubes breaking over perfect knee to waist deep sand bars. hundreds of my closest friends, rushing down the stairs at 7am. 'we love TOOOPPPPAAAZZZ' they scream at me... 'you coming out?' OK, i say. i find my slot and wait patiently for a peak to pop up. when it does, i paddle hard, catch a wave and hope i'm not going to drive the nose of my board into the sand. i don't. i turn, crouch, get engulfed, spend some time rolling around in the froth, find my board and stroke back out to see how many times i can do this. mmmm Los Angeles has waves... who'd have thought... a dozen or so waves later, i hit the dry sand, take in a breath of post-storm-fresh-south-bay air and think of nothing else in the world.
1200am, i listen attentively. i try to make sense of some of the insane stories, i'm being told by D. car crashes, speeding tickets, doctors, drug dealers, bikers, tattoo parlours, women, wheeling and dealing, plans and scams, anxiety and addiction, fame and fortune, fights and fucking, stars and gutters.
detox paranoia.
630am it resumes but for the first time ever, i'm ready for it.
i try not to think of waves while i sit listening within a hub of his random tangents, again.
you either live or you don't. he tells me.
i suppose, i think to myself.
i hope you live, i tell him.
if i can ever get to sleep again, i might. he shrugs.
going surfing again? he asks.
i'm going to try.
you're fucking crazy.
what else am i going to do? i plead.
645am pelicans cruising in a flock of four, dolphins fishing in a pod of four, four surfers south of the jetty. the rising sun to my rear, i make a decision to be the fifth.
i try not to think too hard about what it all means as another steep glassy peak pops up in front of me. i commit to giving it a go.
perhaps D will also.
Los Angeles Brings It All Together (Official Slogan)
