The Other Side of the Fence

This weekend, as the newest member of San Diego Surfrider's Executive Committee, I attended the chapter's leadership retreat. Our Chair is ex-Navy so he was able to rent cabins at Del Mar Beach on the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton.

I missed out on the first night's surf session at Trestles, and the next morning's pre-dawn surf at SanO. By the time the lunch break rolled around on Saturday, I needed to get wet. There were no other takers when I dashed across the driveway and a wide strip of sand to the big and messy surf.

It had been a while since I'd taken out my 5'4" shortboard, but I remembered my duck-diving lessons from Surf Simply and made it to the outside with little difficulty. Then it was a matter of finding a corner in the mixed-up waves. I only had half an hour, and I wanted to be able to say I'd surfed Camp Pendleton. "Feet on the the board, baby. Feet on the board," I told myself; that's what I needed to claim it.

Finally I got lucky on a right with enough face to let me land the 6-foot drop and ride a split second before the wave closed out. Yes! One and done.