West Coast Bias

On September 11, 2001, I was sitting at my desk, shell shocked like everyone else when a co-worker named Jayson came up to my desk around 11 a.m.

“Dude, you should have seen the surf out there today,” he said. “It was awesome.”

I sat there sort of disbelieving.

“Are you serious?” I said. ” You’re talking about surfing? Today?”

He sort of looked at me like he didn’t know what I was talking about.

“You should have seen it, man – hardly any guys out.”

Well, no shit, right? Considering what had happened — I had seen the second World Trade Center tower crumble live on TV just a few hours earlier — I didn’t really feel like chatting about surfing at that point. What I was thinking about was the end of the world.

It all seemed so surreal. If it’d been a plot to a movie script, I would have dismissed it as woefully unrealistic. But it had happened. In our country.

That awful day.

So, of course, we can’t forget it, on this 9-year anniversary. At the same time, for the rest of us, life goes on. And now, well – it is an appropriate time to think about surfing. Which is what we did again today in Morro Bay.

It was good to have Slim back for a second week – in a row! Rumor has it, he rented the kids a bounce house, then took off, hoping they’d keep hopping until his wife came home.

I sure hope they did. That way they’ll be tired and Slim can finally get some sleep.

That’s him at the top, by the way. Here I got these pretty good photos of him. But his camera — that one on his arm there — wound up with a dead battery. So you won’t see photos of me on here.

I give and I give and I give.

The second photo is of Boss, the camera magnet. Seriously, the guy ought to be in Volcom ads.  If he’s on a wave and there’s a camera near, there’s some sort of gravitational pull that occurs between man and lens.

And, finally, another Slim shot. Check out that angle there. Slim, I think you’re a longboarder, bud.

The water was glassy, waves had some shape, and we even had a few bat rays floating around the bottom. All and all, a good reminder that on this anniversary of tragedy, life is good for those of us lucky enough to still be here.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Speaking of 9/11 and batrays. All of this reminds me of what Slim did on Sept. 11, 2001.

Slim, unlike PP, had the day off from their brutal day job and had to get out of the house after watching those horrible images from NY all morning and afternoon. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, I went fishing with the Bias’ own BG and GSlim! Am I right on this BG?

Check it out. Even Mrs. Slim got a fish on this day. And your favorite editor hooked up with a few batrays, as did BG’s little bro. It was a silver lining on what was a heart-wrenching day.

Also, here’s a shot of Ground Zero (in the foreground) when Mrs. Slim and I visited it in 2004. I almost couldn’t take this photo because of what that hole in the earth signified. Sad, sad part of an otherwise awesome city. (Yeah, we give props to the East Coast from time to time on the Bias.)

Well, we finally pried Slim away from Girls Scout camp long enough to get him a surf sesh. Unfortunately, the waves on this day were just slightly bigger than, say, six boxes of Thin Mint cookies . Fortunately, Slim ditched the shortboard and went long, which helped him get some waves.

That’s him above in what will undoubtedly become a framed photo, which his wife won’t let him hang in the living room, so it will likely wind up either in A.) the garage or B.) the extra bathroom. But, hey, whatever, right? As long as the guy can remind himself what the Stoke was like.

Slim wasn’t the only one catching waves, of course. Boss here is just a natural for the camera. In fact, the guy’s like a magnetic force. When the camera is running, the dude just happens to gravitate toward it. And here’s a nice-looking example of that.

Boss had another nice shot in there as well. But since Slim doesn’t get in the water as much — you know, what with his CPR classes and all — let’s look at one more shot of him trimming.

You know, it’s amazing how one little frame can make a ride look so much better than it actually was.

This looks like a perfect San-O wave, doesn’t it? Speaking of San-O, Slim was originally going to head down South with Boss and I, but he had to go and get his fourth new job in a year, and he wasn’t able to tell the new bosses, “Hey, but I’ve got this surf trip planned with my bra’hs. Is it okay if I have the third week of September off?”

Priorities, man! Sure, sure, you want to impress the bosses. And, yeah, they’re paying you and yadda, yadda. We’re talking surf trip, man! Tell The Man you got plans. Because when it comes down to it, ah, you know. Ummm.

What was I saying? Something about cartoons, I think.

Cartoons are funny.