May 12, 2014 Monday

Pacifica	Linda Mar
9:00 am to 10:00 am	3' to 4', sets to 6'
Mid upcoming tide	NW onshore breeze
Air temp - 52 degrees	Water temp - 51 degrees
Clear, sunny and warm - start of a heat wave	Fun session

As soon as I saw the two lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic heading north towards San Francisco on Highway 1 at Rockaway Beach I knew I was going out at Linda Mar. Regardless on conditions there was no way I would turn around and head north through that traffic. The typical rush hour commute from Pacifica is horrible – reminding me of my old commuting nightmares in Los Angeles when I was first married.

I was meeting my son Kevin at Linda Mar for a morning session. Why we chose this morning was a long story, but here goes:

On Thursday May 1st my 94-year-old mother passed away and the family was busy preparing for a memorial service for her on May 23rd in Palos Verdes in Southern California. I was planning to drive down a day early to insure arrangements at the church were in place, and Kate and daughter Allison would fly to Los Angeles early on the day of the service and fly back the next day. 

For me, this would be an opportunity to get in some surfing and visit old friends. I wanted to take my 9' 2" Haut which barely fits into my Jeep Liberty surf vehicle and allows me to safely lock it inside the car. Son Kevin had borrowed it seven months ago for his girlfriend to use. Since then I had been using my friend Brad's 9' 4" Becker, which I have to strap to the top of the car because it doesn't fit inside.

Here's another complication: Kevin was leaving on a ten day consulting job in Stockholm, Sweden with the return being the day of my mother's memorial service. He changed his reservation to return to Los Angeles in order to attend. If all flights were on time he could arrive in time.

"Kevin, I need my Haut back for the trip south."

"Dad, I have a good idea. Why don't I ride back with you and we'll surf somewhere along the way home. Can you take my board and gear? I'll bring both boards over on Mothers' Day when we come for brunch."

Great, we had a plan. But he forgot to bring the boards over Sunday morning. I was ready to drive into the city after the brunch to pick them up.

"Dad, I have a better idea. Let's go surfing tomorrow morning (Monday) at Linda Mar. I'll meet you there and bring both boards." That was what we did and that was why I was here at 8 am commenting on the northbound traffic at Rockaway. So there we were with lousy surf and a traffic jam to go home. Of course we went out.

The waves were all over the place – a 5 ft. wind swell at 8 seconds, a textured choppy surface and only a few people in the water. We headed to the south end for the mellow waves. But they were bigger than they looked and all the set waves closed out. After a few bumpy rides Kevin suggested that we head north. We rode white water to the shore and walked north to the channel in front of the main bathrooms. The waves were a little better there, but not by much – the big ones were still close outs.

The challenge for me was riding my smaller Haut board, which I hadn't used in seven months. The Becker is bigger, paddles faster and catches waves easier. But I surprised myself – I did fine on the Haut. It paddled well and maneuvered better in the waves. By lying close to the nose, I was able to push into the waves. A couple of more times on this board I will be back into my old form. After an hour we headed in.

"Dad let's head to Starbuck's for a coffee, they have Wi-Fi there." We stuffed both boards into my car and caravanned across the highway to the Linda Mar shopping center. We said our good-byes. The next time I would see him would be in ten days at my mother's memorial service. As I drove off, he was sitting by the window, cafe latte in hand, laptop opened and participating in a conference call. Good luck Kevin.