Morning darkness. At 5 am the world is barely stirring, and many started their slumber short hours before. Sometimes when it’s so quiet and still, I pretend the whole world disappeared and left only me and my surfboard to wander the asphalt and sandy beaches.
Today turned into an exciting surf adventure — Jason Newling, CEO and founder of Aloha HR, a human resources servicing company and one of my surf sponsors, decided to join me in an early morning Malibu mission for day 227 of consecutive days surfing. Â Jason grew up in the South Bay, and both his love for the ocean and knack for human resources led him to, after many years in the industry, branch out and create his own company — comprised of a killer HR sales team with endless Aloha spirit. Â With locations in Las Vegas, the South Bay, and Hawaii, he bounces around quite a bit, but always has his mind on the beach. Â Aloha HR was a big sponsor of the Hermosa Beach Hotdogger Championships, the traditional longboard contest held at the pier in October that drew lots of big name talent from across the California coast, and what many (including me) said was one of the best days they ever had.
After punching in the beachside digs door code, I ran inside and woke up a sleepy Jason, who perked up immediately with overly-sugared coffee and thoughts of tasty waves. Â While he dozed in the back, I sped us to Topanga state beach where my surf coach and fellow Aloha HR team rider Mike Siordia just about simultaneously pulled up next to us in the parking lot.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a better surf at Topanga. Â Actually, I know that I haven’t. Â The crowd was densely speckled with skins sheathed in stretchy neoprene, but we watched from the lot as many waves were going by unridden, and when me, Jason, and Mikey (much later due to lolligagging in the lot) hit the water, we could barely hold a conversation from the constant circles of zipping back and forth. Â Jason was pumping down the line on his custom Jose Barahona shortboard, and I got more than my share of long, soft lines to dance across. Â When Mikey finally made it out, I almost didn’t recognize him on his shortboard, but the interesting hairdo, bright purple JoneSea wetsuit, and him standing out with every turn and slash that he made finally gave him away.
After a few hours of shred, Aloha bonding time, and ending the session with a ridiculously hard, slightly bloody board-smack to the hip (what’s an end without another injury), the team of surfers and CEO’s narrowly avoided the rocky land mines and headed home. Â It wasn’t even 9 am.
