Surfing Ruined My Life

Life is just better in the barrel. This is a very old shot, but a great one.

“Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!”  I screamed as I cruised through a solid over head draining barrel coming out dry hair.  It was one of the many I had gotten.  My buddy Brennan shouted back watching the whole thing go down from the bank he was sitting on.  I came off the back shook the water off my hair and paddled over to Brennan.  “Its all time out here man” I said.  “I knew you were going to say something like that” he replied smiling.  “You know Brennan for me I would take a day of surfing like this over a night of sex with the hottest woman in the world” as I laughed in naivete jubilee.

Brennan opened his mouth to say something but before he could I was already paddling down the beach positioning for my next wave another kegger followed by a giant full rotation frontside ally-oop stuck cleanly to the gaping mouths of the two kids surfing the peak adjacent.  Everyone had this shit eating grin on their faces out there.  Why shouldn’t we?  After all it was solid 4-6+ft clean, hucking tubes and only six of us out there sharing eight different perfect peaks.

It was after 12pm too which made no sense at all because the River Mouth always blows out by 10.  My boys Brennan and Christian decided last minute to high tail it down to the Barb from SF for a stag romp chuck full of Lisanity and they definitely got what they bargained for.  We went to some janky Montecito garage sale where I scored a pair of binoculars and a copy of Camus’ The Stranger, one of my favorite short stories, and a vintage 1960’s California surf guide for 11 dollars.  Brennan picked up this crazy shirt with people dancing on it.  Christian scored some multi use pocket tool he kept bragging about.

Prior to that we had a good old fun night of drunken debauchery at the Wild Cat upon their arrival.  At that moment sitting there in the line up thanking the stars for allowing me to have such a great session nothing else mattered. My mind was clear and all I  could think about was my next wave and how much fun I was having.  How much fun everyone was having.  Surfing can be such a drag with bad conditions, excessive crowds etc, so much that it begins to cloud the reason why you do it in the first place.  Then a session like this happens and everyone out there is super stoked hooting and hollering like groms again.

I did not know anyone out there with me besides Brennan and I was as stoked to watch the other guys get amazing rides as much as getting them myself.  Everyone was just laughing and talking and having a gay old time.  Add a crowd of around 60 guys and less then stellar conditions and it would have been a totally different story.  Instead of stoked on one another we would have been grumbling, giving dirty looks, trying to be intimidating all because that guy sitting next to you, your brother may get the next set wave you had been waiting for the last half hour.

Unfortunately in our highly urbanized population sprawled southern California society the latter and not the former is the case more times then not.  It begins to wear you down.  I am not going to lie the world around me, “the real world” not Lisanti Land has been starting to take a serious toll on my psyche as of late.  Things didn’t work out at my new job.  My roommate Danny whom I really was starting to be very pleased with living here let me know he is moving.  My finances are in less then great shape as well at the moment.  Even my tireless quest to find love again has all amounted to more stress then I ever like to have.

By the weekend I was worn down.  I had not had a fun surf in nearly a week either which did not help things any.  Already in great spirits thanks to the arrival of my friends the surf was just the icing on the cake.  It was an amazing beach day as well.  It almost never happens that the wind, weather and waves all work together to create a perfect day.  I know surfing is all about the waves and conditions but there is something about surfing when the sun is out and people are enjoying the beach that just feels so right.

We were lucky to sneak in about two solid hours of surfing till the wind finally came up and trashed it.  I was fine with that cause I had gotten way more then I could have ever expected or hoped for.  That is one of the finer things in life, when you are thrown a brief lull in the midst of a terrible storm.  I could not have asked for anything more this weekend then to spend it with some of my better friends enjoying every moment.  After the surf we got food at my favorite Thai place in Santa Barbara. “Your Place”.

I was pleased since I almost never get to enjoy a meal out anymore. I think the last time I ate at “Your Place” was with Kooky back in March.  From there it was home for a little R&R before gaming up for another romp on the town.  It was another night that did not disappoint.  We talked to some ladies, did some dancing, Brennan found and lost the girl of his dreams.  I ran into my old friend Britters who was in town for a wedding and she was always one of my favorite gals to party with back in the day.  It was almost like a reunion of sorts for all of us remembering a time a few years ago when our lives were a bit more simple.

Things are constantly moving forward at at such a rapid pace that we lose sight of where we are going and even forget where we have been.  Every so often I like to stop and have a look back.  I think its hard to remember the direction we are trying to go with out taking a look at where we have been.

The stuff that makes life worth living…