My buddy from Hawaii is back from Bali, and hit me up about surfing. "A big south swell is coming in", he said. I didn't think anything much of it...and agreed to meet him at 10am this morning out in Malibu. I was coming form a friend's apartment so didn't have my board and didn't feel like braving Hollywood traffic to get it, so headed up the 101N to Kanan and out to Malibu. I checked out the surf before I went, and knew immediately this was a special swell. Dume was packed. "Everyone and their mother is here" I texted him. Cars were everywhere and surfers, like it was already Labor Day weekend. I went out to the cliffs that overlook this special spot. It was pumping and guys were getting rides all the way down.
I rented a board at Clout for $15 and headed back. My buddy hadn't shown up so I suited up and headed down the long path to the wiry staircase that leads down to the beach. It was really only then that I realized how big these waves were. They were huge and guys were watching them, people taking photos, the way they did at Sunset or Pipeline. It was crazy. Down below, on the beach, I watched the waves- trying to get a feel for the frequency of the sets. There was no way to paddle through any of these waves. You could be seriously hurt in the whitewater and one thing about Pt Dume are all the rock outcroppings by the shore. There's a cove off to the right (from the beach) that most people were launching out of. Some of the biggest waves were coming around that northern point. I watched for about 25 minutes before putting on my leash and making my move.
I haven't experienced anything like today since Hawaii- maybe the time in Haleiwa or Sunset Beach, when I got worked so hard I thought it might be game-over underwater. Paddling out was fine- and I hit a few snags but duckdived through them and carried on. There were a lot of guys in the water...and honestly, some of the waves coming around the point were behemoths, dwarfing the tiny riders- some of them sailing down the faces; others getting flipped around and going under or through the ferocious spray. The power of these waves was incredible- and I heard one guy say it was like Vietnam (the war, not surfing there). Sidenote- a guy drowned yesterday at Malibu pier. Luckily, I didn't know that going out- but I was aware of the conditions. Big and brutal.
In the line-up, you have to constantly reposition. The waves don't consistently break in one spot. Sometimes it'll break unpredicatbly 100 yard back form where you are. If you stay still, you'll be in the impact zone, where the wave will crash on top of you. (aka not cool). The goal, always, is to stay out of the impact zone- whether you're going for a wave or not. But more, the goal is to keep positioning yourself and reading the water, so you can grab a wave as it crashes, at its peak, and ride it, turning down the line, and surfing up and down its face. There were some good surfers out there today- and some less experienced ones too. Another note is that waves come in sets. Frequently guys skip the first wave of a set. If you miss it, you'll get worked by the 2nd, 3rd, and sometimes 4th wave of the set. That's what happened to me.
I went for the second wave of a large set- probably 10' face and double overhead. It was large, but I thought I had it. Also- oftentimes the waves don't seem as large as they are until they actually break- so it may have been larger. I didn't have it. The wave crashed over me, throwing me down its face, deep underwater, wrapping me up in my leash, diving for the surface, all at about 25mph. I coughed while grabbing my board just as I got nailed by another mammoth wave. I was in trouble and held onto my board- which must've bounced hard into my ribcage. I was going over and around and through the water- and worried about rocks, as I was closer to shore. ..before the next one nailed me. It's hard to explain how large these were- but I was seriously worried about drowning. I got on my board- and paddled towards shore. Normally you turn around and go back out..but this wasn't normal. On shore, a guy pointed to his buddy's board and told me the guy had gotten hit by the same...but hadn't come in. There are no lifeguards at Point Dume. It's pretty much you're on your own. Luckily, the guy swam in eventually. "I almost drowned", he said.
My ribs on my left side hurt badly and I wondered if I'd cracked one. I remembered a bigger guy in Hawaii at the hostel who spent his days on the couch watching sports and reading because he was waiting for his ribs to heal. I wasn't wheezing, but it hurt like a bitch. I waited about 45 minutes walking back to the staircase, and talking with some Peruvian guys. They said Peru pumps like that once a month. Meanwhile, the kid who I was with who had lost his board was getting ready to go back out. I had the rental board another two hours so I followed him out- and instantly got worked in the whitewater. The set had come quicker and my ribs were killing me. I turned and went back in to shore, watched a bit more, and decided to drive upthe coast to see if there were smaller waves there. There weren't.
All up the coast, it was banging. There were less surfers than in the morning and County Line was abandoned. Zuma was firing and closing out immediately. No one was attempting those. There were people just watching the waves, like they had the 3rd week in Hawaii. But overall, the best spot was Point Dume. I returned the board, changed, and went back to Point Dume to watch from the cliffs. This cool local guy named Mystic Pete was watching and telling me stories about the local spots and his time coming up, places he'd surfed in South America, and how certain big wave surfers that I've admired were total dickheads. It was a cool hang- and I offered to teach him guitar in return for surf lessons. No dice. But he did wax mystic on me and said this spot on the cliffs had a real special energy and the Chumash used to say it was a holy place. He took off and I watched the surfers way below in silence, hearing the wind, and watching the powerful waves. I looked over and, like a hallucination, there was Kelly Slater beside me, also watching. For a second, I actually did think maybe it was a daydream or a vision. But it was totally him, squatting down sizing up the waves. We were there in silence watching from the cliffs for about five minutes before I said something.
"You going in?" I said. He had sort of a Clint Eastwood-like presence.
"Not sure", he said. I looked out.
"It was huge this morning...I think I broke a rib"
His eyes didn't leave the ocean.
"Really?"
"Yeah, maybe."
"There's no shortage of swell out there," he said.
I watched the waves breaking in long lines and the wind swept through the grass near me. It was a peaceful and cool moment. I didn't want to be that fan-guy who bugs him. I know he gets mobbed for photos all the time. But I thought- when else are you going to meet him?
"You mind taking a photo?"
"Ok"
I stood up and went over. I took a selfie of us.
"I'm Gabe", I said and held out my hand.
"Kelly", he said.
Later, around 6pm, I saw him surf the Malibu pier- and he rocked it, gliding up and down the waves like a world champion. He even did (no joke) a 360 aerial. And he was a cool guy.
My ribs? Doing better....But I don't think I'll be out tomorrow. ;)
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