Around The World In 80 Waves

The damage to my surfboard means that I would be unable to surf for a few days. However on this trip that is unacceptable and after packing up the car in its Mexico rigging at the motel in Newport Beach, I head down past San Clemente where my board is being straightened out and hire a 9’4″ molded board from the Rip Curl shop near the Trestles break where I was surfing yesterday. From there I drive another freeway junction south to the San Onofre state run beach park.

This beach is famously next to a nuclear power plant and I am reminded of that upon turning off the freeway. The facility is adjacent to the sand and one suspects that in this seismically active part of the world they have revised their tsunami risk management procedures in light of the recent events at Fukushima.

The two huge reactors which are actually being closed down are in sight the whole time I am in the water, and for some reason they keep reminding me of something I saw at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.

As for the surf it is average at best. There are plenty of people out in the slow knee high conditions, and every ride is a party wave with everybody dropping in. I saw six people on one wave before going in. Having to hire the bigger 9’4″ board was a blessing in disguise because the extra volume meant I could easily catch many of these waves during the two hour session. Things quietened down in the water and for half an hour there were just myself and a lady in her fifties working on our nose riding technique which was lots of fun. (I have to say that hers was much better than mine too.)

On the down side there is so much kelp in the shallow water which keeps wrapping itself around my legs, the fins, the leash. I am not too freaked out by the sensation at first, which I can only equate to feeling like you are having an ongoing battle with an octopus. The good thing about the kelp is that the sharks are not supposed to come through it because they are also afraid of getting trapped and they need to keep moving for their gills to work. However one cheerful soul in the water tells me I should put San Onofre Shark into You Tube, which I do later in the day. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOBeXD91fI) Having moved quite far south I had hoped I would be far less likely to see anything. Apparently not. Great

I’m not glowing like the Ready Brek kid after surfing this nuclear break although I can now turn light bulbs on just by walking into a room and start the car without needing keys!