In Carson's Hands
jb
I have just returned from a surf trip to Baja California with the
legendary Carson.
The timing of the trip coincided perfectly with a moderately large NW
swell ravaging the entire west coast of the northern Americas--Baja
was an excellent call.
Meeting Carson for a surf trip was a risk. Think about it. How would
you feel standing in the San Diego airport waiting on your surfboards
in the baggage area while knowing at any minute some guy named Carson
from alt.surfing is going to tap you on the back and say, "I'm
Carson." God only knows what I'd turn around and see?
I spotted Carson before he spotted me. It wasn't hard to pick him out
of the yuppie jet set travelers in the airport. Carson didn't show up
to pick someone up from the airport, rather, he showed up to yank
someone out of the airport. It was obvious that Carson had no
intention of spending more than a nano-second finding me. His head is
going left and going right as he marched toward the baggage area.
The first thing he asked me was, "how many bags do have?" I told him
one plus my boards. Just let me say right here, if I had brought two
bags, I would have told him one and left the second bag on the
carrousel. The look in his eye when he asked me that question told me
that I had better say I had only one bag. The mere intensity of the
question made me feel like a tourist if I had said two bags.
Whalla, I met Carson--Mr Intensity.
Carson lives in Ocean Beach in a house that over looks the ocean right
down from Sunset Cliffs. To say the least, Carson has it made. Once
we arrived at his house Carson made me feel right at home. He brought
friends over to meet me and all of them were very gracious toward me.
A casual booze fest followed.
But enough of this stuff, we are on to Baja for some surfing with a NW
swell going off.
Baja is one of the last surfing bastions of the northern Americas that
jb has not surfed. I have always surfed Mainland Mexico and Centro.
Anytime I have met surfers arriving to Mainland Mexico who have
traveled via Baja, the story has always been the same; Baja was
totally flat. After hearing this repeatedly over the years, Baja was
written off my list of surf destinations. I was so wrong.
Carson and I cross the border.
The drive south along the coast highway reveals point after point and
beach break after beach break maxing out. The swell is in full swing.
We head for a cove reef setup and a riffling right point break.
I won't tell you where this right point is but it is a jewel. It's a
machine wave. Supposedly it doesn't break that often but we caught it
going off for two days. The other days we surfed the reef--at size.
The problem with this machine like point wave is getting to it. Sheer
cliffs with crumbly loose dirt at a 45 degree angle for 90 yards down.
Carson, of course, blazed the cliff like a mountain goat, but jb on
the other hand, did not feel the same euphoria. Although, jb did
gather some satisfaction from loosening a softball size rock from his
footing and sending it Carson's way as he scampered past jb on the
climb down.
Make no mistake, Carson rips. Pure and simple. We paddled out into a
right point dredging over cobblestone boulders ruler lined against a
huge headland and the boy was shredding. This was not a Mickey Mouse
wave. Carson was dismantling the place. And that's saying a lot. In
order to charge this place means asking yourself, "are 50/50 odds of
spending the rest of my life in a wheelchair worth the barrel." For
Carson the answer was a resounding YES!
I'll just leave it at this: Go deep my friend and read the good book,
'cause if you surf this point, "leave if you can."
Switching gears:
Carson had arranged for me (jb), Carson, and Tom Tweed to meet while I
was in the San Diego area. We never pulled this meeting off and I
regret this. Tom, if you are reading this, best of Christmas wishes
to you and I know you had a successful week at Wind-n-Sea. While in
Baja Carson and I discussed what a cool person you are and swore that
we'd hook up as soon as we got back. The only excuse that we have is
that we were surfing! A good excuse at that.
Carson was a great host to jb and I thank him for that. You my friend
are a brother.
- jb (200lbs of Baja appreciating surf muscle)
SURFGEO
summary. i am sure (and optimistic) that we havent heard the last of this
trip. there must be many subplots remaining to be told, both by you and by
carson. will carson return the adoration and claim that jb simply rips also?
did carson get revenge for the softball-sized mini-avalanche? are there
pictures? batburgers? whoresling of senoritas? were "The Rules" followed
*exactly*?
last but not least, why, OH GOD WHY, has jb returned only to begin speaking in
the third-person tongue of carson?????
stay tuned---same batburger time, same batburger channel
did anyone who was not able to get in the water last friday see texas totally
dominate and toy with a&m till the final 5 seconds, and ricky williams run to
glory? it was awesome, i would haveeven passed up some mighty fine waves for
that experience....but only once.
surfgeo
pics at http://members.aol.com/surfgeo/page
remove ndatube to reply
Carson
bat-burger remains and some empty beer bottles. But the memories of a
surf-filled adventure will remain for a long time to come. Carson has had
to promise his cadre of senoritas that jb won't be wearing his wedding ring
next time he comes to Carson country for a visit. Sharing a senorita with a
friend is the same as letting your buddy ride one of your surfboards, in
Carson's HO. After all, Carson figures he's always gotten great pleasure
out of being on top of both.
SURFGEO wrote in message <19981202091017...@ng-cf1.aol.com>...
>jb, i am glad you two got some good waves down there, and thanks for the
>summary. i am sure (and optimistic) that we havent heard the last of this
>trip. there must be many subplots remaining to be told, both by you and by
>carson. will carson return the adoration and claim that jb simply rips
also?
Suffice it to say that jb rips circles around most any surfer Carson has
ever had the pleasure of surfing around. His specialty being a severely
hard turn off of the bottom followed by a snap under the lip leading to a
hellish barrelling. Carson tried his hardest to shake jb's steel nerves by
taking him out at breaks that can make just about any surfer's pants messy.
Not only did jb rip, but he even extended courtesey to others that were in
the line up... he's not a wave hog. That counts for a lot in Carson's book.
Until next time...
Do yourselves a favor... Read the last verse of the last chapter in "The
Good Book."
- Carson (reformed surfaholic)
johnw
> Not only did jb rip, but he even extended courtesey to others that were in
> the line up... he's not a wave hog. That counts for a lot in Carson's book.
Sharing nice waves = the fountain of youth. Every wave you give adds a
year to your life. Every wave you ride adds a year to your life.
Nice reports from Baja. Hm, I think I'll save my Xanadu for tha Baja
trip...cheers.
-johnw
Carson
golly it would be for honoring something epic. And what was mostly epic was
the whole surfing experience during this adventure. It was so complete.
Comprised of friends (new & old), camp-side acquaintances, booziness &
whoreslinging, bat-burgers and more booze... you name it. This evening
Carson fondly reflects on one particular backside beast of a wave that he
caught and had slain at the leave-if-you-can cove on one of the days, as
well as the epic surf adventure (it's more than a trip) that he was able to
share with fellow alt.surfing_nger and now BCM mate jb.
"A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of
life, by him who interests his heart in everything."
Laurence Sterne
- Carson (surf safari hunter and gatherer)
johnw wrote in message <3665C3...@tiac.net>...
johnw
>
> If ever there was a good reason to slam down a warm margarita shot, then bye
> golly it would be for honoring something epic. And what was mostly epic was
I had a margarita the other day. I rarely drink anything but dark bitter
beer. I got buzzed.
-johnw
"surfing is my self-medication"