By Morgan Sliff
Five in the morning should have been a little more restful. But excitement popped my eyes wide open, and shortly after grabbing a stockpile of Clif Bars I hopped into master beach marshall Wright Adaza’s truck and headed south with surf legend Mike Purpus and Pat Reardon to judge my ocean hero Marion Clark’s Ohana Nalu surf contest.
Huntington Beach was the destination, and big blue tagged along in the back of the truck to help me get a few waves before the kids heats started. I have mixed feelings about Huntington (having some nearly back and board breaking experiences there) and haven’t stopped to surf there in about seven years, always sailing past for Newport or another good spot farther south. Â But the real reason I have beef with Huntington? Â It ate my favorite Pennywise hat.
I let old resentments melt into the water, and was pleasantly surf-prised when I paddled out at dawn for a few fun little peelers that didn’t try to devour me. And then, of course, I saw a huge, menacing looking fin sticking up out of the water about 20 feet from me.
Immediately I though “you’ve got to be kidding me.” Â A set wave came that was too late to take off on, it rolled me around, and I Â clung to my board for dear life, not wanting my only flotation device to jet off to the beach and leave me vulnerable to the sea. As I sat up as quickly as I could and pulled my dangling feet up from the deep blue, I saw the mammoth sized dolphin flip by, and started laughing hysterically.
A few waves and sighs of relief later and it was on to the Ohana Nalu surf series, where I sat next to Jay and Charles Rollins and for the next few hours watched some multicolored rash guards have the time of their lives. Â I was lucky enough to learn a great deal from Reardon, who had judged many professional contests over the years and knew the ropes when it came to fair scoring. Â Purpus and Veith Moore were in the North tent, and Marion was zipping back and forth between us, making sure everyone was having as much fun as humanly possible. Â In between writing down points, Jay, Charles and I spoke of our love of surfing, how it feels to be touched by the ocean, and how lucky we feel to live by the sea and share in the experience that we have, including today’s.
The day of stoke that seemed it had just begun came to a close. The car ride home, filled with pee-your-pants inducing 70s surf stories courtesy of Mike Purpus, eventually pulled me deep into surf slumber, tales of Mike’s adventures popping frequently into my dreams.
