Back in the early 80's, we were hoisting GG's boat out of the water at the Gaviota Pier after a late afternoon session up at Bixby. It was almost dark. As we were lashing the hull to the trailer, a couple of Fish and Game guys came roaring up in a truck, stoked out of their gourds. Just by looking at us, they new we didn't have any fishing licences. And since we didn't have any boards in the boat, we had to be fishing. They had us by the balls!
We tried to convince Starsky and Hutch that we were "just mat surfing," but they weren't buying it, since there was "no such thing." They spent about 10 minutes poking and prying into every crevasse of that boat. But, they couldn't find any fish, so they had to let us go.
Fast forward to this afternoon...
I was all suited up and closing the back lid of my oh-so-cool minivan to hit a local spot during the inaugural south swell of Spring, 2011. Just as I was walking away from my vehicle towards the water, a familiar roar rose from behind me. You guessed it...a Fish and Game truck. This time it was one guy, but like all Gamies, he was this pasty white, uh, white guy.
How they all stay so pale working out of doors is beyond me. Maybe it's part of the vetting process at the academy...never seen a brother yet with the F&G, and I'm nearly 60!
He figured he had me dead to rights. I had all this "diving gear." And obviously, not the kind of citizen who would bother with the formality of obtaining any kind of licence. He went through my stuff (I had two mats and a pair of fins in my arms, as well as a towel and bottle of water), all the while asking my intentions.
"I'm going mat surfing" still doesn't register with these guys, even if you say it 3 or 4 times.
"What?" he said, "You mean just paddle around?"
"Well, yeah, but ride some waves too." I responded, trying to ease into his mind set, while being true to my intentions.
He finally let me go, but sat there watching as I walked to the water's edge, put on my fins, and paddled out. I turned to look back after I had managed to push through about 10 lines of head high whitewater, and he was still sitting there watching!
It turned out to be a good session, since the wind was kind of stiff, and nobody else was around...except my new friend, Ranger Rick!
4 comments:
Ha! Classic!
But you have to admit that the "but officer I'm going mat surfing" does sound, well a little "fishy".
Ha ha!! That's hysterical, especially the part about not one brother being in Fish & Game. What's that about? Oh, right, black people don't know what to do when it comes to water!
I rode my mat too. The swell was pumping, but the shape wasn't all that. I bet I had more fun than anyone else out there though!
Great post mate.
:-)
love the story
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