It’s 4:40 on a sleepy Sunday afternoon on the North Shore and I’m sitting in the hallway again. It’s a small nook at the top of the stairs between beach chairs and an ironing board at the Matix/DVS house that I’ve –– for some reason or another –– turned into my workstation. Here is where I sit and write on the hardwood floor with a folded towel under me so my ass doesn’t fall asleep, sipping coffee and writing because it’s one of the only places –– probably on the entire North Shore –– where I can get away and get a few things down devoid of distractions like Pipeline and midday Coors Lights. That and there’s a plug for my laptop in this spot so it’s win-win.
After the full day of Armageddon rain yesterday, the sun managed to poke out today and there were several high profile bikinis on the beach garnering quite a bit of attention. But after so many days of rain it didn’t’ even feel creepy to check them out and say hello or to surf without sunscreen in hopes of grabbing a souvenir sunburn before returning home to a freezing mainland. The crowds have drastically thinned out the past few days since the Billabong Pipeline Masters finished and despite the strange chocolate water and rain, there are still some fun, glassy waves to be had and the only thing keeping me from shining this update for a quick surf out front is the fact that I buckled my only remaining shred stick this morning at some rather rippable Rocky Point.
So, instead I’m lodged in the corner of this three story surf complex, sweating a bit more than normal thanks to a microwave heated cup of Kona Blend coffee (which I loathed before this trip, but have developed a strange and dangerous addiction to, even drinking it in the afternoon and at night) so I don’t fall into the narcoleptic spell that seemed to take over most everyone today. I mean, I saw Seabass take a nap on the trampoline at the Oakley house today. And downstairs Ricky Whitlock is toe up on the couch, dead asleep.
All this lethargy might have something to do with this being one of the only days of below 6-foot surf we’ve seen in a while. A rare chance to let the body repair. “I’ve had a really good season,” said a very stoked Mason Ho, the star of …lost’s all new vid 5’5” x 191/4 Redux this morning at Rocky Rights of the year. That or it could be that it’s Sunday and Pipe Masters finished Friday, meaning that coupled with mass amounts of rain and a declining swell, the party buses over here have been very full. Oakley had a big one. Red Bull did, too. Oh, and don’t forget Volcom’s Valient Thorr show in their living room. And the Aussie invasion of Turtle Bay.
I myself even lost a few hours of sleep last night when I elected to stay in and call it an early Saturday night while a few other house dwellers went out to a party. A few hours later, I was startled from my spot on the couch by a drunk girl who used a street cone as a megaphone and screamed, “WAKEUP! WAKEUP!” into my ear. I didn’t know her and I still don’t but I had no other choice but to, well, wake up. I mean, this isn’t my house. I had a beer as a courtesy with the crew until everyone finally tired out enough to let “the guy on the couch”–– who, oh by the way, must always be the last to bed and the first to rise –– was allowed to return to his slumber on the sofa.
Despite a few hours of sleep missed. A serious case of “dish hands” and my sweaty writing corner, I must say that sleeping on the couch has allowed me to see some things I never would have gotten to had I taken the comforts of my own bed at a house or a hotel room. Take these two instances for example:
-Late night beers with Taj, Andy and Cory: Thanks to the phenomenon that is the Couch Tour, I got to hang on the balcony at the Matix house at an absurd hour of the early morning with these three modern legends, on the same day they surfed the Pipe Masters, and sip beers. Now you may think for someone who gets to interview pro surfers all the time this may not seem like a big deal. But let me tell you, it is. Andy even said he thinks Core Score is “classic” and that it was “nice to meet me.”
-Viewing 5’5” x 19 Redux with Cory Lopez- The other night Cory Lopez said, “Let’s dawn patrol Waimea shorebreak” and I instantly thought back to the classic session with Andy Irons and Cory in the original 5’5” 19 and just how rad it was. Instant gromhood flashback. And now, thanks to the Waimea river blowing out from all the rain, I got to see Cory surf it again. And then, to keep the nostalgia rolling, that night Cory brought over the new version of the vid to watch at the house for the first time. Needless to say, the new video has the same “I don’t give a f—k” charm and nostalgia that only …lost can pull off. You’ll no doubt watch the hour and a half long flick over and over.
And now as I finish writing this, the wind has turned onshore and it’s begun to rain…again. It looks like the shower is open and let’s just say it’s been a while since “the guy on the couch” got to snag one of those. Stay tuned for more from the North Shore as the locals start licking their chops for the “late season” and the mass exodus begins.