Dawn Patrol

The start of any good weekend should include a hunt for quality surf... maybe not this early though. However, anything truly worth while rarely comes without a heavy price. So my buddy Joel and I woke up at the crack of dawn, and met up at the trestles parking lot, a couple miles from San Onofre State Beach. In the dark, we loaded up into my car, and headed off for the beach. We arrived at the entrance just before 5:30 am, and still on a day with small surf in the forecast, had to wait in a line of cars about 10-15 long. The line proceeded to lengthen with every passing 5 minutes, and at opening time (6:00 am), disappeared behind us into the darkness. 10 $ to get in... /2, no biggie. Through the gate, winding down the bluff, past the entrance, you come around a corner that exposes a view of the beach. At this point (if you're not a regular), you're stomach sinks a bit. You have to drive south, down the beach quite a ways to get to the area where the best waves break. When the surf is small, that's the only place the waves break, which was the case that morning. The beauty of Old man's at San Onofre is that it's a sweet little stretch of coast that has a primary peak situated perfectly to receive the brunt of any good (or not so good) S-SW swell that might be passing through. Waves break pretty far outside (far from the shore) at this spot, in front of the "Old Man's" life guard tower, allowing for some wonderfully long rides. Because we were (in a way) "rookies" at the whole dawn patrol situation, we didn't rush to get right in the water...which we now know is KEY! We were some of the first people in the water @ about 6:15, but that didn't last long. By 6:45 am the water went from looking like the face of a 15 year old, sprinkled with a few zits, to a canvas peppered with humanity like a Jackson Pollock painting. For about 30 mins., I caught some surprisingly nice waves... without "old men" in front or behind me: KEY! Bonus: I felt like I had finally tapped the true potential of my new CON long board, which had kind of been a sore spot of mine since the theft of my G & S about a month ago. Hint: you need a long board, especially when the surf is small. Joel found this out the hard way, sitting on his 7'6" SR egg... sitting, literally. The waves are slow, especially outside at the primary break, which demands the extra couple feet of foam an LB provides. More importantly, you really need the big stick to compete with the baker's dozen of surfers paddling for every wave that roles through. As many people as there were, I still had a blast. The waves at Old Man's were probably of the best form I've surfed all summer. The water was warm (70 ish), which helped cut the chill of the air on a pretty overcast morning. We were in the water about 2 hours... the longest I'd been in the water all summer. All in all, It was a pretty successful trial run. We definitely learned few things, that will make the next DP better. It was good to hang with Joel too. It had been awhile. Good times. LCBS... and was.

Post Script: I had the best burrito at Pipes Cafe in Cardiff, on the way home.

Addendum: I forgot to add... you can NOT have alcohol at San Onofre. Wow! I would never have guessed. Beach & beer go hand in hand in my book. Times they are a changin'. Just thought that should be pointed out as critical info for serious beach goers.