Fifty Grommet Street
Day 102
"Grommet" - (n) A young surfer. Short: "Grom"
I woke up and looked at the dismal surf report on the internet. Unsatisfied, I clicked around to several more web pages with various surf, ocean, and weather reports, looking for some glimmer of hope. There was none. All the reports were in consensus, and they all said that at best, I would find a few two foot waves.
Brett and I had seen this particular waveless spell coming, and had agreed to shift our meeting location to the Newport beach jetties to try to increase our chances of finding a breaking wave or two. Brett had missed Monday's session, having sustained a serious injury by dropping a tape measure on his knee. While I would normally have scoffed at this injury and assaulted Brett with an infinite variety of creatively derogatory names, I had to admit that any excuse was worth staying home when conditions were this small. Had I not been on day 101 or 102, I would have stayed home myself.
On Tuesday, we met in the dark and dressed in our wetsuits. Brett told me the fantastic story of his tape measure accident.
Walking out into the water, the first chill of autumn bit us. "Did I mention" I asked Brett "That the water got cold, too?"
"No. You left that part out."
Once we were in the water, the wetsuits did their work, and within minutes we were comfortable. The sky was gray and the water was dark. Perhaps stagnant from the lack of swell, or an augury of the change in season, the water was unusually populated with various floating kelp plants. The small surf was only breaking immediately next to the rock jetties, so Brett and I stayed precariously close to it. Normally, I like to keep a little distance between myself and the jetties. A third surfer, a thin, middle aged man with white hair and a longboard, joined us after a quarter of an hour.
Newport Harbor High School Surfing Team is one of many high school surfing teams in the Southern California area who participate in the National Scholastic Surfing Association's (NSSA) Southwest Conference. The NSSA is a non profit organization which holds surfing competitions around the country leading up to a national championship every year.
As seven o'clock approached, so did the Newport Harbor High School Surfing Team. Team practice began at eight in the morning, but a good number of surfers had shown up early to try to get a few waves in before practice. They gathered on the sand, chining from their clothes into their wetsuits in a circle by the lifeguard tower. Bunches of kids ran into the water south of the jetties, and began catching the small waves. Even on the waves that Brett and I considered to be un-surfable junk, the high school surfers were finding their way around to, snapping top turns and doing quick cutbacks. Some of the kids, riding longboards, were performing nose rides on the small waves. When I got out of the water, I stood by the rocks of the jetties next to the mother of one of the young surfers. Waiting for Brett, I watched them surf for a few moments.
"Groms..." Brett said.
As we walked back to our cars, we passed the team's coach, telling a young surfer that there was eight minutes until workout began. The surfer was running towards the ocean. I had every confidence that the kid could surf up a storm in eight minutes.
High School surfing clubs, or teams, began in Huntington Beach in 1971, when Bruce Gabrielson, working at Edison High in Huntington Beach, organized the first informal Orange County surfing championship. The team from San Clemente High School won the event that year. By 1973, Huntington Beach High School had formed a varsity team, and issued the first varsity "letters" in surfing in 1974.
As Brett and I dressed for work, donning dress slacks and shoes, I found it hard to hide my envy for the kids of the Newport Harbor High School Surf Team.
"Can you imagine.." I dreamed aloud, "having you mom yelling at you to wake up and go to surfing practice? 'But mom, I'm sleeping'.... 'Damnit, you get you butt out of that bed and go surf young man. Don't make me come in there.'...."
"Tough life" Brett said.
Yea. Tough life.
More Later
-Travis
copyright 2004 Travis R. English
some sources:
www.nssa.org - NSSA website
www.blackmagic.com/ses/book/toc.html Bruce Gabrielson, "The Complete Surfing Guide For Coaches" (Web Version)
"Grommet" - (n) A young surfer. Short: "Grom"
I woke up and looked at the dismal surf report on the internet. Unsatisfied, I clicked around to several more web pages with various surf, ocean, and weather reports, looking for some glimmer of hope. There was none. All the reports were in consensus, and they all said that at best, I would find a few two foot waves.
Brett and I had seen this particular waveless spell coming, and had agreed to shift our meeting location to the Newport beach jetties to try to increase our chances of finding a breaking wave or two. Brett had missed Monday's session, having sustained a serious injury by dropping a tape measure on his knee. While I would normally have scoffed at this injury and assaulted Brett with an infinite variety of creatively derogatory names, I had to admit that any excuse was worth staying home when conditions were this small. Had I not been on day 101 or 102, I would have stayed home myself.
On Tuesday, we met in the dark and dressed in our wetsuits. Brett told me the fantastic story of his tape measure accident.
Walking out into the water, the first chill of autumn bit us. "Did I mention" I asked Brett "That the water got cold, too?"
"No. You left that part out."
Once we were in the water, the wetsuits did their work, and within minutes we were comfortable. The sky was gray and the water was dark. Perhaps stagnant from the lack of swell, or an augury of the change in season, the water was unusually populated with various floating kelp plants. The small surf was only breaking immediately next to the rock jetties, so Brett and I stayed precariously close to it. Normally, I like to keep a little distance between myself and the jetties. A third surfer, a thin, middle aged man with white hair and a longboard, joined us after a quarter of an hour.
Newport Harbor High School Surfing Team is one of many high school surfing teams in the Southern California area who participate in the National Scholastic Surfing Association's (NSSA) Southwest Conference. The NSSA is a non profit organization which holds surfing competitions around the country leading up to a national championship every year.
As seven o'clock approached, so did the Newport Harbor High School Surfing Team. Team practice began at eight in the morning, but a good number of surfers had shown up early to try to get a few waves in before practice. They gathered on the sand, chining from their clothes into their wetsuits in a circle by the lifeguard tower. Bunches of kids ran into the water south of the jetties, and began catching the small waves. Even on the waves that Brett and I considered to be un-surfable junk, the high school surfers were finding their way around to, snapping top turns and doing quick cutbacks. Some of the kids, riding longboards, were performing nose rides on the small waves. When I got out of the water, I stood by the rocks of the jetties next to the mother of one of the young surfers. Waiting for Brett, I watched them surf for a few moments.
"Groms..." Brett said.
As we walked back to our cars, we passed the team's coach, telling a young surfer that there was eight minutes until workout began. The surfer was running towards the ocean. I had every confidence that the kid could surf up a storm in eight minutes.
High School surfing clubs, or teams, began in Huntington Beach in 1971, when Bruce Gabrielson, working at Edison High in Huntington Beach, organized the first informal Orange County surfing championship. The team from San Clemente High School won the event that year. By 1973, Huntington Beach High School had formed a varsity team, and issued the first varsity "letters" in surfing in 1974.
As Brett and I dressed for work, donning dress slacks and shoes, I found it hard to hide my envy for the kids of the Newport Harbor High School Surf Team.
"Can you imagine.." I dreamed aloud, "having you mom yelling at you to wake up and go to surfing practice? 'But mom, I'm sleeping'.... 'Damnit, you get you butt out of that bed and go surf young man. Don't make me come in there.'...."
"Tough life" Brett said.
Yea. Tough life.
More Later
-Travis
copyright 2004 Travis R. English
some sources:
www.nssa.org - NSSA website
www.blackmagic.com/ses/book/toc.html Bruce Gabrielson, "The Complete Surfing Guide For Coaches" (Web Version)
posted by travinator @ 1:04 PM
1 Comments:
At 11:40 AM,
Anonymous said…
Nice to hear your perspective of school surfing. Not much has changed over the years.
Bruce "Snake" Gabrielson
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