I surfed with one of my heroes this weekend. Gerry Lopez, aka Mr. Pipeline, aka The Goofyfoot Guru, was out at PC on Saturday and Sunday on his stand-up board. Can I actually say "surfed with" if he was 300 yards outside of the line-up, paddling into bombs and making stand-up surfing look appealing? That's right. Gerry is the first stand-up surfer I've ever seen use etiquette on one of those things, grabbing big outside waves that only he could catch, then plowing down the faces of the overhead bombs and connecting them to the inside, kicking out just before the big close-out at Gas Chambers.
After the session Saturday, as the sun went down, I was taking a hot shower behind the Pelican and Gerry walked by. He gave me a nod and I said casually, "Hey." After he passed, I looked down at my hand which--completely on its own--was shaking a cheeky little shaka at the legendary surfer. It was like some weird subconscious reflex. I felt like a total kook.
Anyway, that evening over a glass of wine I lamented about not having a camera. I usually take pictures on all my overnight trips to the beach. The next morning when we woke up at the beach house and checked the cams, the shot of Pacific City captured a figure who appeared to be walking on water. It had to be Gerry again. When we got to the beach, he was still out there, stroking into the mysto peaks that crumbled on the outside bar.
It also was really cool to surf with Gaz today, who was riding his Mandala as well. He informed me that his son's health is improving, which made a sunny day even brighter. And shout out to Morgan, who lent me sunblock and told me he reads Sissyfish!
Roni Size - Heroes
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