Day 32 - 6 x 3 = 18 (Rincon Math)

Ah, I finally have a real keyboard back. Writing on a phone is not easy!

Today, I surfed Rincon for the first time ever. It was pretty amazing. On the way home from El Capitan driving by Rincon, I looked over my shoulder, detached from expectations and what did I see? I saw a good wave on the inside with a shortboarder flying down the line! I took me two exits to turn around as I hesitated, thinking through all of the effort it typically takes to surf a new wave, but I figured it was as good of time as any to have my first go at the famous wave. To cap an amazing weekend, it was nearly 80 degrees; Rincon did indeed have waves and hardly anyone surfing! What was going on here? I don't know, but I think it was just another case of getting lucky. I mean on a Sunday? Are you kidding me? Is it possible to plan a trip to Rincon with the same results? No, probably not. I don't know where the waves came from and I don't really care, but they were good that's for sure.

While it was not big, I saw one wave where Rincon truly did its thing and connected through to the inside from way out on the point. It was a pretty amazing spectacle to be sure. I saw a girl on a piebald board that had a really good wave in the middle section that connected to the inside, which started me shuffling up the point to a deeper takeoff spot. The hustle and bustle of the crowded peaks at home had me pumped and ready to take advantage of the dodo-like mentality of the laid-back point surfers. While there were some good surfers, the mentality is just much slower and made it really easy to get waves that I should not have been able to catch. You can still see Curren’s influence in the older surfers, there was one guy whose style matched everything about Curren, to the point where I had to double take to be sure that it was not in fact him. What an amazing wave! I caught 6 legitimate waves in a little more than an hour, but then the word was out. It started to get crowded and getting the set waves became much harder. I got out; my back was stiff from driving so I figured I'd get back on the road headed to Manhattan Beach. The waves I caught were far longer than anything that I have ridden for some time so the six waves that I caught were plenty. I had one that was a serious thigh-burner, from which I had to take a break in the middle of the wave, just standing for a few seconds to rest through a slow section – that is a good feeling. It was a lot of fun hooking up a good point after logging so much time on the one-and-done waves of my local beach break. On a point like this, you get to slow down and relax a little, it is all together a different kind of surfing. I’m glad that I no longer have to say, “I’ve never surfed Rincon”, as I’ve had to say countless times over the last 20 years.