My Story post 9

Before my friends and I were able to drive I was lucky to have a couple friends that could get their mom’s to drive them and their buddies to the beach on the weekends, sometimes I got to tag along.

One of the guys mom’s would take us to Will Rogers State Beach above Santa Monica along the jetties. Close to where the filming of Bay Watch was done, but like 30 years earlier of course. Anyway, she’d drop us off in the morning and then come back and get us in the afternoon.

So we’d hang at the beach all day, usually three or four of us. Thing was we could only take 2 surfboards. So a couple guys would surf while the others stayed on the beach. Then one of the guys surfing would come in and the guy on the beach got his turn to surf.

Having no wet suit and just getting out of the water, you’d get cold. We had a great remedy though. Not only did we bring surfboards but we brought skim boards too. Believe me, running around chasing a skim board can warm you up pretty good. It was a perfect combination. Go surf, get cold, go skim board, get warm. By the end of the day we were beat.

One of my other friends mom would take us just about anywhere we wanted to go. She was so cool. I remember one late winter day on the way to surf along Malibu. We were probably thinking of going to County Line. But when we got to the top of Malibu Canyon and looked down you could see lines coming in around the point at Malibu.

An odd south swell had showed up in late winter. The point was about head high, and long before there were surf reports or web cams. So guess what? there were very few people that knew. We got Malibu without a crowd! Miracles do happen.

I had another friend whose dad was a salesman and would have to do a fair amount of traveling up and down the coast in Southern California. Because his dad would be driving around during the week summer days he’d get the ole man to drop him and a buddy or two at the closest beach where his dad had to do some sales calls.

The first time I surfed ‘C’ Street was on a summer day when we were dropped off there. Little did I know, at 15 years old, on that nice sunny summer day that I’d grow up and settle down 5 blocks from ‘C’ Street. Once we got to stay at Doheny Beach for a couple days. That was before the break water. Man that place was fun.

The nice thing about good memories. Think back, close your eyes, and live it all again for a moment or two.

D.R.