Thursday started like every other Thursday. An alarm and a white mat. In jiujitsu class, we reviewed guard pulls and grips and how to break them. When someone has your Gi sleeve, you’ve got to come around the back with your gripped hand, grabbing their wrist with a C clamp grip. Pop the other hand off of your lapel with an upward thrust, making sure your outside leg is forward when doing this.

After drilling, we get into sparing. 5 minute rounds, 4 rolls a piece. The rolls are getting better and everyone’s technique is getting smoother. I’m stoked to see my friends progress, asking them questions to help me get better.

Once the class was up we lined up against the wall. We were wonderfully surprised when Elan and David received a stripe each on their belts.

Cleaned the school, then off I went. A drive from Garden Grove down to San Clemente was the next task to tackle. I had an appointment with the Surfing Heritage and Cultural Center to pick up some donation boxes. The surf club I am in, the Doheny Longboard Surfing Association, is gathering donations to give to our sister surf club, the Malibu Surfing Association. Like a lot of people, their club members lost a lot in the Los Angeles fires that just recently happened, so to help our fellow surfers and water people out, we gathered surf-specific goods to help their club members out. SHACC was generous enough to donate shirts and hats to MSA.

After SHACC, I could not let myself make any excuses like I had the last two weeks of paddle training. I had to get a workout in. Baby Beach at the Dana Point Harbor was the closest spot I could easily get to.

Dana Harbor is a short paddle compared to Huntington or Newport. 2.5 miles at most. The wind is up, but the sun is out. Texture and small caps dance on the water’s surface.

I start by the pier. Another prone paddler is taking off from the sand, paddling along the backside of the island. I decided to follow. The wind is from the North, making the trip down the back quick and easy. It flew by.

By the harbor entrance, tour boats are coming in, filled with people braving the cold ocean air in hopes of seeing whales and dolphins. They watch this “where ’ s-Waldo” dressed guy swimming on a bright green board. People point. Curious.

It’s when I turn into the northbound wind that the cold wind gets you. Water spraying right off the bow of the board. Head down, paddling the whole length of the straight.

I pull into the beach and feel stoked. Despite the wind, the sun was out, and the day was just beautiful. There had been a point in the back portion of the island when it felt like a warm summer day.

My hands are cold, but my soul is stoked. I pack up my gear and head northward home. There is plenty of work to do once I get there. I’m looking forward to getting things done and what the year could possibly hold.

I hope you all have had a beautiful week. Achieving goals you set for yourself, helping someone who needs love, or just finding a moment of silence and peace in this ever-stimulated world.

Aloha,

Rev. Ben

Two Stripes, One Harbor

To Escape you Must continue

Into the Wind