The Tusked Beast,
known to the non-matting world as Jonathan Hess, is a ''multi-verse
renaissance-person'' of many talents...from professional dog walking to
library science to talented wave rider. Jonathan has generously offered
to cull through the past 14 years of Surfmatters and select his
favorite postings...and add his personal thoughts.
Greetings, canvas-clutchers!
This
month’s Retro Surfmatters offering was penned by Paul and posted back in
2009. Jeff C. wrote asking what was Paul’s “best surf-mat trip”, and
caught The Maestro in an uncharacteristically garrulous, possibly
caffeinated moment. Lots to enjoy here- honestly, it’s exactly what I
most want to hear from a fellow mat surfer- and rendered beautifully, as
expected…
Hi Paul,
Have
you ever thought about writing about your best surf-mat surf trip? I,
for one, would love to hear more about your stealth adventures.
Jeff C.
Hey Jeff,
This
is a slam dunk question to answer... but I don't have any photos to
illustrate it! (Which is apropos, since no one else was there that day.)
When
I woke up one Thanksgiving Day in the mid-80’s, it was threatening
rain, and it had been flat for a week. I was fully absorbed in riding
the nylon mats at the time, and I was getting in the water 3-5 times a
week…so I was in really good shape. But, since it was about to rain and
we were in the middle of flat spell, surfing was the last thing on my
mind.
Around 8:30 AM friend called me up from the South Bay and
said it was closed out in front of his house, and the wind was straight
off shore. (Which is often the case in the South Bay on rainy days.)
So,
I threw my gear in the car and headed down to Rincon for a look-see.
Sure enough, it was 3-4 feet in the cove, but with a faint, rainy-day
southeast bump. No one was in the water. Not one person. A few guys
hanging out in the lower lot…that was it.
I figured the best call
was the Overhead. It can handle south wind better, since it faces a
more northwest direction than the local points. I toyed with the idea of
going back home and getting my spoon, since Overhead was a great spoon
wave. But, I decided to stick with the mat, and headed south.
As I
drove past Faria, there was swell showing, featuring a slight south
bump that would surely get worse as the day progressed. Still no one
out. (It was Thanksgiving day, mind you…but this was the first day of a
swell before mass-media surf predictions and instantaneous surf
reports.)
The outer reef at Overhead was cracking, as expected,
and wind and texture were a lot better. That was the call, but I wanted
to go down and check out California Street. The long, long walls there
were made-to-order for the "new" mats. Unlimited speed potential when it
was over 4 feet.
When I got there, the sets were 6 feet. The
wind was from the south, but not ruining it. Like all the other spots
that morning, no one was in the water. I figured I'd get out there and
snag 2 or 3 walls across the point before the wind destroyed it.
I
suited up and walked all the way past the Pipe, towards Hobo Jungle. I
wanted to paddle out up top, and drift down with the current, especially
since the swell was consistent, and I’d be punching through the white
water on a mat.
I slipped out during a lull without even getting
my hair wet, and started moving from the Pipe down towards the parking
lot. The wind was starting die down, but there was a residual south bump
lingering. I picked up a wave in front of the lot, and rode it all the
way down to the pier. Great fun. The swell had more depth than was
apparent from the beach.
After I pulled out of my first wave, I
decided to stay in the water rather than go into the beach and walk back
up. I paddled out parallel to the pier, then worked my way back up the
point. As I was kicking along, the wind started blowing again, but this
time it was from the north/northwest…¾ offshore from behind. The ideal
wind direction for California Street. I looked over towards the parking
area, and there were still only a handful of cars there, and none of
them appeared to be surf cars. It started to dawn on me, this was going
to be an epic go out!
It was still overcast, but out towards the
islands, there was a large patch of blue sky starting to show. That
meant that the bulk of the daylight was coming from the west. It was
maybe 10:30 in the morning, when the sun is usually coming from the
opposite direction, but the waves were backlit…like morning in
Queensland. My favorite lighting to surf!
A handful of other
surfers paddled out during the session, but I never came into contact
with them. I rode so many wave across the point, it seemed like I spent
as much time riding waves as paddling. And I could let waves go that I
would usually kill for, just to watch them break, unspoiled. A rare
feeling, even back then.
What was the most interesting was being
able to take any line I wanted on a wave, with no fear of someone taking
off in front of, or behind, me. And no fear of blowing a precious wave,
either. When I screwed up, there were plenty more where that one came
from!
I tried riding my mat with so little air, my chest was
almost touching the bottom skin. And I rode a few waves blown up almost
rock solid, just to feel the rail hold in like a fin. Each extreme
worked, but in a profoundly different way. What worked the best,
overall, was the 90 bend we had been happy with for a year or two. But
it was fun to try variations with no pressure (pun intended) to make the
most of every wave.
After 4 hours, I finally started to get a cramp in one of my calves, so I reluctantly came in.
What
I came away with from this day is that when it comes to riding good
waves on a mat, less is more. Less turning, less concentration on
myself. I just started to feel my way along, the way you do when you
ride a mat in the dark. And, the exact opposite of how one might surf in
a modern, competitive/photographic environment.
Later that
evening, another friend called and asked if I surfed that day. He said
he’d been in the water at Faria all afternoon, and a few guys came and
went, but that was it. He had it to himself. He was riding a fin-forward
hull, and conveyed a lot of the same observations I had about my day in
the water down in Ventura. “I stood there and did nothing on most
waves…just flying…it was incredible!”
I looked at the surf the
next day, and it was a Victory-At-Sea, post-rain-front blow-through,
with 30 knot west winds, and dozens holiday surfers out at every spot.
At the time, I certainly appreciated what I had experienced the day
before…but not as much as I do now! I don’t think I got in the water
again for another week.
I still have the mat I rode that day,
BTW. In fact, it was the original "Standard" 4GF shape. Since then, the
canvas strips got peeled off, and several other non-skids have been
added. It's a damn mess now! The last time I went surfing, a few days
after Christmas in 2008, I rode that mat because I knew I wouldn’t be in
the water anytime soon, and I wanted to see how it felt after all these
years.
The first wave it jumped into second gear before I got to the bottom of a 4 foot wave!
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