Makoto and I woke up the day after Christmas with a strange realization: we had no plans, no obligations, and no responsibilities today. Translation: no excuses handy to save us from driving for surf.
So we somewhat reluctantly drove down to surf Steamer Lane with 100 other members of the "tribe." As you know, surfers come in all shapes, sizes, and ability levels in Santa Cruz, and they're all thrown into the same big Melting Pot of a lineup.
Normally, the most experienced (and angriest) surfers gravitate to the outside, while farther inside the competition is much less fierce. My usual strategy is to take advantage of the kooks surfing Indicators. Let those old walruses fight over mushy sleigh rides at Middle Peak - I prefer the long, walled up waves at Indicators.
The best moment of my session came on a gem of a wave - one of those speed walls you occasionally see at low tide but never seem to catch. This time, I actually caught it, and even more bizarrely, after a couple whacks of the top, this wave actually started to barrel. Everyone knows I NEVER get barreled backside, cause I suck. But this time I greatly benefited from a mistake (nearly fell coming down from lipper, setting me up behind pit) and I actually pulled in. One big problem: I'm flying down the line grabbing rail, with no line to take but the right one, and there's some poor kook chick on a funboard caught inside in front of me. I wasn't about to change my line (as noted, extremely rare for me to get a wave this good at the lane, let alone pull in on it) so I kept gunning right towards her.
What does she do? Well, instead of paddling like hell, she literally froze up, put her hands in her hair, and started screaming at the top of her lungs like Janet Leigh in Psycho, with this look of pure, undiluted terror on her face.
I'm not exaggerating here - this chick could have starred in any horror movie. The fear on her face was unbelievable, and her scream was equally blood curdling.
I missed her by an inch, linked the wave to Cowells, and I cant's help but laugh every time I remember her face.
the same girl almost skewered me with her board not 10 minutes earlier. I felt the same way inside, screaming as she barreled by me, I could see myself spitted on the point of her fun board. Luckily I kept my senses about me and duck dived to the left instead of the right.
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