By Morgan Sliff
Jeff Phillips of Cardon Resort: big wave charger and professional peer-pressurer.
With a very sore shoulder from three days of being in a sling and some serious work done by the amazing Dr Scale last night, I somehow found myself at El Porto, one of the most exposed spots in the South Bay: it is a literal wave magnet, if anywhere else isn’t breaking, you’ll find surfers here on head high sets.
Standing next to Jeff watching the 8-foot plus sets roll in, all I wanted to do was wait for the tide to drop and search for something smaller and more manageable for my recovering injured shoulder.
Just like he did at Haggerty’s a few weeks ago, he persisted and wouldn’t let me leave, trying to convince me that I had enough skills to paddle through the mess on the inside without further injuring myself. Before I knew it I had a wetsuit on — if I would have sat and thought about it any longer me, my Subaru, and my magic blue board would have been sailing south.
We waited on the beach, timed the sets, and plunged in. All the sudden a few sets crept up and I got knocked by a wave, my board flying up in the air. I sat on my board, holding my shoulder, coach Jeff screaming at me not to hesitate… I one-arm paddled over to him and he had me hang for dear life onto his leash and towed me and my nearly ten foot longboard out into the lineup.
Once out, he left me to my task. I nearly caught one, pushing up hard with my right arm and standing up too early, just missing it. Then it came. A set, out of nowhere… I decided it was now or never, looked to my left where a few hopeful surfers were paddling for the wave, and I kept charging forward, using only my right arm. They fell behind, and I dropped down far and fast, did a few turns, and kicked out of the monster that was just about to close out. Catching a wave to the inside, I ended my session with a huge smile on my face – ultimately stoked that I charged into solid El Porto, and happy that I saved my shoulder from further damage. Thank you Jeff for nearly dragging me out there (please no one tell him that I actually had fun, I’ll never hear the end of it).
Now on to warmer waters and pumping surf, with a more than ridiculous amount of boards… Common arm, heal up fast please.
