Around The World In 80 Waves

I get a call early from Ding Dr X who tells me my board is ready. After catching up on a little bit of admin I scoot back northwards to San Clemente where I check out his handywork.

I have to say he has done a brilliant job and he gives me a pile of stickers to soften the blow of the bill, all of which I almost lose straight away, by driving off after leaving them on the roof whilst attaching the board.

I am in San Clemente so check out the break by he pier there. It is the weekend and straight away I notice that there are loads of young ladies looking very fine in bikinis.

I dont take any pictures though (Sorry boys!) because I am pretty sure that they are all jail bait, and my fears are confirmed when I get to the beach and find that there is a high school surf contest going on. The contest is taking place on both sides of the pier monopolising the best of the waves, and the rest of us have to put up with the scraps outside of that.

The surf still isn’t much to write home about, and unless you are in the contest each wave consists of a drop, a quick turn and then the wave closing out, dumping on the shore in the proces.

I still have the hire board so choose to take that out so I can get into the waves as early as possible and also because it will prevent any further damge to the L’Oreal board for at least this session. The paddle out is very easy but as soon as I get out back I am met by a sea-lion popping out of the water next to me just to remind me I am not the only thing in the water.

Unperturbed I catch three great waves (albeit brief ones) and three monster wipeouts soon after, but spend most of the session being heckled by the grommets (or young surfers) who are getting peeved that I am able to catch the waves far easier than they are on the bigger board I am armed with. Surfer don’t get older they just get bigger boards and the groms will learn that soon enough. I dont hang about in the water for long today because I hear there is a big game on, so I get changed quickly and then head southwards again to my hotel and the match.