Thanks to the half gallon of water I drank this morning I can throw the heater on and warm up a bit.

The mornings suddenly have a crispy chill and it takes a little more adrenaline to hop out of bed than it did a month or two ago. I grab a hoody, fill up a mug and bitterly pick up the wetty that I left in a saucy pile on the doorstep last night.
I step outside and the offshore is whipping, putting the AC on an already brisk morning. Yesterday’s tattered wind swell groomed overnight. I find a few scattered peaks alongside  PCH. Although wet, the suit goes on quickly, and I’m out there.
My head freezes up on the third duck dive and my motor functions temporarily cease to function. Within a minute, I pick off a clean peak and pull into a tapered offshore wall. I get clipped on exit and there are chilly aquatic injections down my neck and up my leg. It’s uncomfortable but invigorating. Thanks to the half gallon of water I drank this morning I can throw the heater on and warm up a bit.  I jet back out before copping a cold one on the head. The crowd thickens, no more than a few heads for an hour and a half. After a dozen crispy ones I decide to snag one more. The wind quickly swings north, and then northwest, and it’s off to work.
Three hours later, after not very much work at all, I peek outside. It’s breezy but bone dry. Leaves from a tree on the east side of my house are pouring into the back yard. I close the door behind me and run to my car, board under arm.
We are in the first half of California’s most magical time; when the air is dry and the wind is stiff, when corduroy lines start to bend in from the 270 and greater quadrant, when the sun can shine in all its Golden State glory for week on end (I hope I didn’t just jinx things), when weekend warriors only show up on weekends and when surfing becomes as vitalizing as birth. I’m happy to see early fall go and even happier to have last summer in my distant memory. It’s time to whip out the beanie, set the alarm and embrace the briskness.
And don’t forget to hang up your suit.