Into the Wind
The alarm came quickly. 3:30 am is dark and cold. I’ve got my morning chores to do before showering, followed by my “long” commute to the sewing shop. My first order working from home is waiting for me.
The last couple of days and the weekend before my dad and brother have been putting insulation into the garage roof to help with the winter cold and summer heat that can’t be escaped when you’re out there. I get to cut out the bases and letter parts for signal flags.
Signal flags are individually designed flags that each represent a letter of the English alphabet. Folks in beach cities, especially if there is a lively boat or yacht scene will get these to fly from their flag poles or boat masts.
I only manage to get a couple of hours of work done before I’m halted when the machine mechanics stop spinning properly and the flywheel that spins the needle is jammed up. I fiddle with stuff a little but have 0 experience with working on sewing machines. I decide to go into the house and grab my mom.
My mom is the family sewing queen. Sewing since she was a child, if there’s a repair that’s needed, she’s the one to go to. However, in this case, she couldn’t get the machine to work either. Alrighty then. We get a hold of a local mechanic, he’s out to the house in a jiffy and we’re back in business.
I’d had the plan to go paddle boarding, but as the hours pressed on, I got the urge that I needed to ride a wave somehow. I check the cams, and everything sucks. No energy, low tide, and horrible wind. Man, I feel like a crack addict jonesing for a hit. I’ve got to scratch this itch. I call my sister and ask her if she wants to go bellyboarding at Blackies after she’s off work. She’s down. Perfect.
About a year ago, I shaped up this little paipo from some scarp foam I had lying around and had been dying to try it. My weapon of choice today. On the drive over the wind was whipping like crazy. The famous Santa Ana winds blowing in from the desert out to see. Offshore perfection.
The tide at blackies is low. Super low. It felt like you walked out to the end of the pier before you could catch anything. The waves that came in though were absolute perfection in their shape. Barreled and hollow with a clean line. The golden light of sunset set the cool blue ocean on fire.
I caught a few good waves. The wind made the air very cold and was strong enough to push me further out into the water. There were only two other people out in the area I was surfing. The groin north of me though had a different, better wave with more surfers waiting for a ride.
Off Shore winds blowing palm trees in Newport Beach, Ca.
I didn’t last long in the water with that wind and got out after no more than 40 minutes. The board was super fun on the waves I caught and will be a good design for the future.
Catalina Island and the setting sun.
I changed out of my cold, clingy wetsuit and felt stoked. Catalina sat offshore, painted in orange. Watching the sunset, I was reminded of the blessing of living in this place.
Aloha,
Rev. Ben
