Manhattan 26th Street 5-21-13

5-21-13 Manhattan 26^th Street

5-21-13 Manhattan 26^th Street Photo By Eric Cedeno

I heard there was building south swell coming in and I figured I’d better load up a few boards (9’0 longboard, 6’10” mini log, 6’4” new Lost fish) and had to check it out. I stopped of at Topaz first, but it just wasn’t hitting there. It was small maybe a foot high and the tide was still rising. I called my friend Cliff and told him to head north. We met up at Manhattan 26^th street parking lot and checked it out there. I could tell the surf was way bigger and didn’t really see anyone out. Cliff had his new 8’0” quad and I grabbed my 6’10” mini log. We dumped in a handful of quarters into the parking meters and headed across the sand. Halfway across the sand I noticed a few bees and quickly noticed it was an actual swarm. I ran to the waters edge and the bees stayed behind. We paddled out and it felt a lot like the Huntington Cliffs because there was a heavy drag north. I caught a few head high rights and one left off 30^thstreet and ended up walking all the way back to 26^th street to catch a few more before going home. It was a lot of paddling but all in all I had a pretty good time.

Building Manhattan With A Rising Swell.... By Eric Cedeno

I did a quick surf check in Manhattan for lunch. It was surprised that the wind was still a strong offshore. There was only two guys out at Manhattan 26th Street and the 2nd shift lunch crew was talking their time watching the surf from the safety of the Lifeguard parking lot.

Manhattan Beach 26th Street 11-29-12 Photo By Eric Cedeno

I kept driving and figured that El Porto would be even bigger, it was. There was two or three news crews recording the double over head waves out front. The parking lot was full of on lookers (like me) and a few brave surfers waxing up boards or putting the broken pieces back in their car. The word on the street is that the surf will be even bigger this weekend and now I'm really trying hard not to go out a buy a canon 7D so I can capture some of the action (but I might anyway).

Manhattan Beach, El Porto11-29-12 Photo By Eric Cedeno

Manhattan Beach, El Porto11-29-12 Photo By Eric Cedeno

Manhattan Beach, El Porto11-29-12 Photo By Eric Cedeno

Manhattan Beach, El Porto11-29-12 Photo By Eric Cedeno

Manhattan Beach, El Porto11-29-12 Photo By Eric Cedeno

Manhattan Beach, El Porto11-29-12 Photo By Eric Cedeno

Manhattan Beach, El Porto11-29-12 Photo By Eric Cedeno

Manhattan Beach, El Porto11-29-12 Photo By Eric Cedeno

Another Pepsi Challenge: Go Fish... by Eric Cedeno

My buddy Cliff and I headed out to 26th Street Manhattan beach to surf after work on tuesday 8-14-12. It was a really nice sunny day and even though the surf looked super small maybe 1-2' and no so great we happily decided to go out anyway. I had brought a few boards with me as usual (6'10" mini log, 7'4" hybrid and 7'6" bear board). I picked the bear board this time for a couple of reasons:  (1) its about three inches thick and made of epoxy which makes it light and very buoyant and that means its easy to catch waves earlier an that is a major plus in small beach breaks. (2) I also wanted my friend Cliff to give that board a try. He's in the market for a new medium size board and I figured it would be good for him to give the bear board a test drive.

Most of the beach was black balled (no surfing allowed) but we snuck out there and surf in the least populated area north of the 26th street tower. I quickly picked off a few fun ones and was surprised at how warm the water was. I guess I really didn't need my spring suit after all. It was nice to just get wet and have fun. After a few more waves I asked if Cliff wanted to try out my board and of course he agreed. Cliff is a good surfer, he's a little rusty right now but I know he'll turning heads again before you know it. I took off my lease and passed my 7'6" bear board over to him and he slid off his 5'10" twin fin Zippy Fish (no lease) and passed that over to me.

I've never ridden a board that small before. It looked like it was a four foot board and I knew it was going to be challenging. I figured it would be a lot like riding an alaia, which I haven't done yet either but heard its fun but tricky. My goal was just to stand up on the thing. I managed to catch a wave right away and before I knew I was on fire - catching everything that roll up. The surf was improving with the high tide push and I was taking full advantage of it. I tucked into a few sloppy barrels and laughed a lot as I pumped down the lines that I found. After a while I even got a few quick turns in and understood why Cliff likes these boards so much. Cliff got some fun ones on my bear board and I'm glad that we both got to try something new.