I never paid much attention in school, but I did study a lot about the waves and the weather. I say study, but it was not studying in the traditional sense of the word. There were no books, no homework, and no stern teachers in wingtips keeping me after school.
I studied storms as they developed in the the north and the south. Big winter storms that begin off the tip of Alaska, in the Aleutian Islands, and march down the coast, unridden for the most part before colliding with Santa Cruz and Steamer Lane. While formed in violence, by the time they arrive in Southern California, they are fairly gentle.
The same holds true with south swells that form off Mexico in Chubascos (Hurricanes) before finding their way up the coast, smoothing out and breaking gently, for the most part, on our beaches.
While there are beaches in the San Diego region that receive direct hits from Aleutian and Chubasco swells, North County gets little if any of it.
The problem becomes obvious when viewing an oceanographic map of our region. We are sheltered from direct north or south swells because we live in a cove. That means that Swami’s can be flat, and Coronado or Trestles can be 6-8 feet. This worked in my favor when, prior to surf reports, friends and I jammed out of town and rode waves while other friends lounged on the beach, complaining that there was no surf.
None of that matters much anymore. I am now content to ride tiny waves with tiny crowds in warm water. I can think of few things more relaxing.
Today was just such a day. The set waves were barely knee high, but the water was clear and warm, and the crowd was down. All of those factors made the decision easy as to which board to ride. I picked the longest board in my quiver, an 8-foot-8 Mike Hynson pintail gifted me by Ocean Magazine publisher Robert Wald. The board rode well. I did not.
Coincidentally, I saw both Wald and Hynson today at Seaside Market where Mike was signing the latest edition of Ocean Magazine for friends and fans. This was in anticipation of his achieving a well-deserved spot in Huntington Beach’s Walk of Fame.
Beyond being the co-star of Bruce Brown’s masterpiece, “The Endless Summer,” Hynson, mostly through rail design, has been greatly influential in the evolution of the surfboard.
Once the crowd headed home, I drove down the coast until I found a wave worth riding. It was not much of a wave really, something that would have appealed to me when I was learning to surf in my early teens.
But there was something about it — the beauty and serenity it produced made me think of summers past. Endless summers of sunshine, saltwater and gentle waves. Heaven.
Earthly heaven always has at least one demon in the party. This one came from tourists spraying each other down with sunscreen. Being forced to breathe someone else’s skin saver should, in my opinion, be illegal.
Mike Hynson will take his place rightful place on the Surfing Walk of Fame on Main Street in Huntington Beach on Thursday, Aug. 8 at 10 a.m.
