August 6, 2011 Saturday

Pacifica	Linda Mar - north of the Pump House
10:30 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4', sets overhead
Low tide	Stiff onshore wind
Patchy sun with a fog bank on the horizon	Frustrating session

Kahuna Kupuna Surf Contest

"Greg, look over there to the left, it's low tide and we could almost walk out to the waves," I said to Greg Cochran pointing to a stretch of sand out that extended out to the breakers as we waited to enter the water for our heat in the Kahuna Kupuna contest.

"No, don't do that, you'll get killed over there. The channel is over there to the right. We have been going out there all week." Linda Mar is Greg's local break, he surfs here everyday and knows the break. Who was I to question his advice?

The horn blew and we hustled into the water to paddle out to the line-up. I followed Greg, and he was right, we easily made it out through the rough breakers. Once outside we waited for the next horn to start our heat. This was my second time entering this contest and the same five guys that were in the "Legends Division" (65 - 69 yrs) last year had returned: Greg Cochran, Jack Ellis (the Dave Sweet team rider), John Fordyce, Gary Silberstein and myself. The surf was terrible, if it wasn't for this contest I would never had gone out - low tide, stiff onshore wind, chop everywhere, consistent three to four foot walls with sets overhead. The contest was a sprint; we had fifteen minutes to catch three waves.

The horn blew to start out heat. From that point on, I was so focused on catching waves I didn't notice what was happening to the others. I didn't hesitate and paddled for everything that was catchable. I missed my first two attempts. Then I stroked into a sizeable wall and dropped down the face of a head-head right, the wave began to line-up, for a brief moment I thought I was into a good wave, but I was over anxious, nervous and slipped off the back of the board. I scrambled to get back onto my board to paddle through an incoming set of waves. I paddled over the first one and was greeted by a massive wall that was breaking in front of me. Just my luck, caught inside. I rolled to get under the torrent of white water coming at me. The force of the wave ripped the board out of hands and push me down into its washing-machine turbulence. I felt my leash go taut and pull on my ankle. Thank goodness for leashes.

I struggled to surface, grabbed the leash and reeled in my board. I wrapped my arm around my board and turned towards the incoming waves. There was Jack dropping down the face of a head-high wave coming right at me. That's him in the above photo. Look at it closely. Jack skillfully threaded the needle between John and me. That's John in the orange jersey on the left struggling to get back out and I am on the right in the green jersey.

Once back outside, I paddled around for what seemed to be forever to position myself for another wave. I finally caught a left wall, dropped down the face and the wave collapsed in front me. I rode the white water hoping the wave would reform, it didn't and I pulled out near shore. The horn sounded signifying five minutes left. Now I was trapped in a hole where the current was pushing me in. I fought hard but could not get back outside. With little time left, I turned and caught the white water of a huge wall the crashed ten yards in front of me. I worked the white water to the shore. The horn blew ending our heat. At least I had caught three waves. I walked up the steep bank of sand feeling disappointed in my performance. Like last year, I had such hope of doing well, but as it turned out, I was lucky to catch three waves.

"Loren, I think Jack won!" Jaime the starving artist cartoonist excitedly exclaimed to me. "He caught more waves and bigger waves than Greg." Jaime and his wife had traveled to Linda Mar complete with beach towels, blankets and beach chairs to watch us compete. I had no idea how the others had done. Greg was favored having won it several times before and because he's excellent surfer.

"Loren, I think I won," Jack stated when he walked up to greet Jaime and me. Jack was feeling good about his performance. "And I hit Greg out there." Coming down another wall as Greg was paddling out, Jack was heading right at him, Greg had to bail out and Jack ran into his board. Both boards ended up with dings - in their new boards, Greg's favorite 9' 6" Harbour and Jack's new Bluecoil board.

All five of us felt good for having competed and vowed to do it again next year. The results were announced that night at the contest dinner, which I didn't go to but Jack did. The next day I received an email from Jack announcing the results: Jack 1st, Greg 2nd, me 3rd, John 4th and Gary 5th.

Thanks to Jaime for taking pictures with my camera during our heat. Below is a link to my photos. A professional photographer, Debbie Durham Cissna took pictures of all the heats. Check out her photos via the second link below. The photos of our heat are 108 to 115.

When you look at all the photos, there's no doubt that Jack won. He caught and skillfully cruised down four sizeable walls of water. I'm determined to try again next year and I'm going to follow Jack's lead. This year, Jack spent Friday at the Beach House hotel that is located across the street of the north end of Linda Mar. At 7:45 am in the morning he was in the water catching a few waves to tune up for the contest. That's what I'm going to do. By riding some waves before my heat I will get a feel for conditions and more importantly run off some nervous energy and be more relaxed for my heat.

Just wait until next year.

Lorenzo's photos

Debbie's photos