Monday Morning Mindset

Trestles Update 3-30-09 @ Yahoo! Video

4 guys made it out... that's this morning, Monday, March 30, at Trestles... "our" surf spot... or at least very near by... good to see that a few guys are in the water- regardless the very small swell conditions. Looks like fun... the spring break crowds will gather.

A recent report disclosed that the average American spends 8.5 hours a day of "screen" time. Eight and a half hours in front of a computer monitor, a television, some sort of screen... every single day... a third of our lives... it was enough to motivate me to get on my bike and ride Saturday morning- but I found myself "surfing" the Internet today instead of joining my 4 intrepid friends there in the line up... more screen time.

It's spring! Easter's just day's away. Never a better time for a new beginning in Christ. No better opportunity to embrace the glorious words of the Psalmist who cried out: "This is the day that The Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!" I'm going to turn off my computer and enjoy the day. Hope you do the same.

blessings,

Eric

early morning sessions

a kid rips up the inside of HB Pier on a Longboard

I've been up since 3am when I stood in our upstairs bedroom and watched the fire in OC come over the top of Saddleback... pretty impressive sight from so many miles away. I was awake, so I went for a run and felt a little silly being alone on the roads in the dark. Not that I haven't done it plenty of times before... just not for awhile... and I heard coyotes around me barking at the full moon... oh my!

Early in our marriage, Debi and I lived up the street from HB Pier. She worked at Long Beach State and I taught at HB High School. Life was busy... life was just beginning a new page. Every morning began with me loading my little Bruce Jones board into my bug and drving the few blocks down to the pier, already in my wetsuit, then jumping in the water in the dark. The few of us who hit the water that early in those days called ourselves the "Gone Before Dawn Patrol." We were new in our careers and still refusing to release our grip on the ocean... or maybe the ocean just wouldn't release her grip on us.

Most mornings there'd be one or two other guys in the line up where lights on the south side allowed us to track the oncoming sets when there was no moon. Often I paddled out alone and surfed alone: 3:30am to 6 or 7am when the water began to fill up. I don't remember being scared during those early morning sessions, however, if it was big, I remember praying that someone else would begin to surf... good waves, in the dark, are better shared with someone, even if it's a stranger.

I'd run back to my bug before the sun broke the horizon- kiss Debi as she headed out to work -jump into the shower, rinsing off my wetsuit and making ready for the day, then head out to teach. The kid's would always ask the same question each morning, "How was the surf today Mr. Denton?" I'd smile and usually say something like, "You really missed it... life's so much better once you graduate... get back to work!" They must've hated me. I was loving every minute of it.

I haven't been in the ocean for ages and can't begin to imagine having the confidence to surf the pier in the dark... I'd struggle in the light of day... but this shot brought back so many good memories of watching groms rip up the inside. Looks' like they're still doing it. Made me think of this old song by Grateful Dead. Check out the song of the day on the sidebar, enjoy.

We live through so many adventures that it's easy to forget they ever happened... that we were ever really there. Cue up the song and think back on a time when you enjoyed early mornings... seeing this picture, hearing this song, lit a fire in me- and I saw a fire from my window this morning... maybe I'll hit the pier first thing in the morning... or not.

Eric
Click to hear music file

Surfing Online

http://www.aspworldtour.com/2007

The link above will take you to the site that's kept me awake early for the last couple of weeks: live coverage of a WCT Surf Contest at Mundaka, Spain. Mundaka's an almost mythical left in the Basque region of Spain that I've never surfed. Spent a month or so surfing just north of there back in the '70's on the waves around Biarritz, France... never made it down to Mundaka... I regret it.

What can I say, I live with more than a few. That's not even in the top ten.

The best surfers in the world have worked their way into the quarter finals at a neighboring beach break in pretty junky surf in hopes that the final days will be held on the main wave with a swell. This weekend- October 13 & 14 - will have Mick Fanning surfing against Bobby Martinez, while Taj Burrow and 8 time world champion Kelly Slater fight into the final. With the time difference from California, for me, it could be as early as very late tonight.

Most people on the planet could care less... but high speed internet has become a surfing fans dream. Live coverage of the best surf spots with the best surfers in the world right on your lap top- get fancy and plug it into your big screen and bore the entire household- mainstream surfing -available to millions, recruiting even more people into the lineup... I would've been stuck to the screen if they'd had this when I was a kid... even still, it's the nightmare we never even imagined- international recruiting of MORE surfers!

My buddy Brad, who's surfed Mundaka to his heart's content, use to talk about surfing becoming unpopular. He'd say: "Don't worry, it's just a fad, when it passes we'll start to have the waves to ourselves again." That didn't work out. I've been in the water just a couple of times in the last year. Brad lives on his favorite surf break and doesn't surf anymore. There's two old guys out of the lineup. But when the boys are surfing the hot spots and Kelly's pushing for another title, you'll find me staying up late- or waking up early -with a heat always on in the background, checking in on the boys who still chase the endless summer... and dreaming.

One of these days I'm going to get back in the water.