Lloyd, passing on this one

Yet another alt.surfer hit town, this time Lloyd (aka lp). Buddy had surfed with him and his bro a few days earlier, and we wanted to hook up before he left.

At Buddy's workplace, I made the decision to bodyboard rather than longboard. The concern was that my tank has a couple of major buckles and could give out anytime. In hindsight, it was a pretty good decision.

Driving through the Beach Park area, we nearly got famous! The North Shore has been engulfed by this huge movie production, tentatively titled "Surf Girls." Apparently, they were about to shoot a drive-by scene, and we were car #1 in the queue. Unfortunately, the lighting wasn't quite right (or maybe the extras (us) looked too much like yuppie kooks). In any case, we missed out on our fifteen minutes of fame.

Met up with Lloyd at Sunset. He was videotaping his friend who was surfing Monster Mush. Lloyd is a really cool guy from Pacifica (NorCal), who surfs cold, serious waves at Santa Cruz and Ocean Beach. We coaxed him into joining up out at Rocky Point, where we saw some decent, small-wave action going on.

The surf was small, but clean, with a little nnw swell running. Buddy and I joined the crowd first, with Lloyd stopping by a half-hour later. Quick lefts and rights were coming through, with a moderate crowd filling the lineup.

As always, it was great meeting a newsgroup regular. Lloyd was chatty and enthusiastic, catching some decent lefts. I think he was more attuned to surfing bigger waves because the fast, sectiony waves were challenging for him. However, Lloyd was all stoke in the lineup, as we talked story and caught waves. I was out of position for most of his rides, but managed to take a couple of photos of him (gotta record the action, y'know).

Think Buddy and Lloyd were talking about getting injured, and Buddy mentioned that it would be a bummer if he got injured on his second-to-last day in Hawaii. Kiss of death! Lloyd caught one and somehow the wave kicked his board into him, slicing his hand cleanly.

End of session. A surfer who was close by offered the services of his friend who was an ER medic. Buddy and I could do little for him, so we quickly said goodbye as he paddled in. Ouch!

We stayed out for just a little longer, catching some fun stuff. On one of my last rides, I scored a really throaty tube, backdooring a section and making it through, before getting engulfed by the ensuing closeout. Sweet barrel and was stoked that both Buddy and Paulo Barcellos (former world bodyboarding champ) saw it.

Followed Buddy in soon afterwards, and we headed home.

Once again, it was a true pleasure meeting a fellow alt.surfer. Wish the waves were better for him during his stay, but I think he was stoked nonetheless. Lloyd's hand was fine, and he even managed to surf the next day, just before his plane departed back to NorCal. Had to enjoy the warm water one last time!

Aloha from Paradise,