First time's a charm.

Saturday. 7 AM. BEEP BEEP BEEP! What in God's name is that horrible noise??? Oh, right, I just got a text message. Who could possibly be texting me at this hour? It must be Cory, I told him I would take him surfing and give him some pointers today... but I told him 9 AM not 7. Let's see what he wants...

Bill Kiely: There's good waves at Porto right now, slight off-shore winds for now.

Hmmm, sounds good, but Porto isn't ever that good, I can sleep for another hour and check it out with Cory when he shows up.

Saturday. 9 AM. BEEP BEEP BEEP! Another text. This time it is Cory. 

Cory O'Daniel: I'm outside, let's do this.

I scramble together both of my wetsuits and drag the funboard outside so Cory can use it. We pack up the car and head off down the road. Bill says there's waves, so I guess I should take Cory to Dockweiler so he can try to surf in some smaller waves than what would be at Porto. We pull up the hill onto Vista Del Mar and we get our first view of the Ocean. The Gillis jetty is firing, head high rights with 6 guys out.

"Holy shit, Bill wasn't kidding!" I say to Cory. "I don't know if there's going to anywhere small to surf today man."

We drive up the road a little further to Dockweiler, it's always smaller than El Porto so it's our best bet of Cory actually doing some surfing. The Jetty is breaking perfectly, a right point with head high walls and super ripable. 

"Wow, I've never seen Dockweiler look like this, Porto must be firing." I say to Cory.

"Let's go check it out!" He says to me.

We drive down the street a little further. Porto looks sick. We park for a minute and watch. Perfect peaks, right and left, off shore winds sculpting the waves, making them as perfect as Porto can be. A guy pulls into a barrel... and comes flying out the end. This never happens here, it's never good enough to actually make a barrel. We watch two more guys do same, and I'm sitting here torn between paddling out here and leaving Cory on the beach and the fact that I told my friend I would teach him how to surf.

We decide to head back to Dockweiler. We suit up and walk down to the beach. It looks really good. There's a guy getting out of the water,

"It's so sick out there! There's a perfect A-Frame right over there."

He's right, it is sick, and it is perfect. Not quite as big as Porto but still head high or bigger on the sets and better than I've ever seen it here. I tell Cory we are going to paddle out to one of the corners and try and surf the reform. It's tough trying to coach someone who doesn't surf and actually get them out to a lineup when the waves are this big. The shore break is relentless, and we get dragged down the beach quickly by the current. I try and get him in the right position to catch a couple little reform inside waves, but every time a bigger wave comes and we get pounded.

We get out and walk down the beach towards the jetty, looking for a better spot for Cory to get some waves. Meanwhile guys over at the jetty are getting some of the best rights I've ever seen around here. I tell Cory I have to paddle out there and try and get a couple waves. He says no problem, and keeps trying to catch the white water while I head out to the lineup. 

Once I'm out there I realize how good it really is. 5 guys out there with me, and seriously perfect waves for the taking. I paddle at my first wave, a solid 4 to 5 foot wall, but the drop is effortless, I'm flying down the line, it almost feels like some of the waves I got in Hawaii. A section starts to peel and I pull into a barrel. I closes out on me but damn did it feel good. I race to paddle back out and get another one. I paddle outside and wait for a good one, and it's worth the wait. It comes right for me, I am in the perfect position. I take 3 or 4 strokes and I'm in the wave. I drop into the biggest wave I've ever caught in California, it's well over head high, and I am flying. I make my bottom turn and tuck into the pocket just right. Sections are linking up in front of me, I do a big carving turn across the face, then a little cutback, and I'm back in the pocket. There's another section heading at me, so I do one last big carve across the face and cut out into the flats as the wave closes out behind me. It was the best wave I've ever caught in Cali, hands down. 

I paddle back out hoping for more. But the wind suddenly changes direction and screws everything up. I end my session with a couple fun waves, but nothing like the one I caught earlier. I head back the sand to meet Cory, all I can say is

"Thanks for waiting for me."

-Devino