FIRST, as a Public Service Announcement- The Makah Tribal Council has closed the Neah Bay Reservation to non-tribal members until April 27. You know why. Yeah, keeping the waves to themselves. NO, but it does impact surf traffic out to the various spots on the Olympic Peninsula. BUT, the good news is there isn’t a particularly great looking swell in the immediate forecast. I originally heard about the shut down from Stephen Davis, thought I could verify it and pass it on. “WAIT, what about La Push?” I don’t know. Maybe it’s open for surfing. “How is La Push on a two foot swell?” Hmmm. Accounts vary.
I haven’t been stuck at home, actually, but I did actually spend about ten minutes yesterday watching a live feed from a beach in Oregon, with some guy trying to get in waves that were not that daunting. After five minutes I was saying, “PADDLE HARDER you Kook/Hodad/Gremmie/Punk, it’s not like pushing through crowds at Costco, cutting through the line waiting for the next batch of toilet paper, a line of Costcoites and carts that stretched halfway back along the outside wall (‘excuse me, Comrade, I’m cutting through, not in’), getting the next to the last should-be-lifetime supply of paper towels, some old (older than me) guy elbowing me before I could go back for the last one (this was the Kirkland brand, they still had the Bounty, though not in bounty- ha, ha; and besides, I was too busy giving the stinkeye to piggy/hoarder shoppers filling their big ass carts with bottled water and baby wipes to actually pig out myself). It’s a lull, Hipster Surf Enthusiast, PADDLE! It’s not like you’re squeezing in next to the woman who would otherwise be handing out free samples (and there are NO FREE SAMPLES), but is, instead, opening a stack of large cardboard boxes and placing Organic chicken into the cooler, me on the phone with Trish (there was no chicken, organic or manmade, a week ago), asking if she want the breasts AND the legs (she does), and there are other people squeezing against and leaning over me. Ride some soup, Weekender, go in where you can stand up and WAIT FOR ANOTHER LULL. It’s not like getting to Costco at ten am and the parking lot was full, the first person I saw coming out is an old guy (already set as someone older than me), and he has on a MAGA hat, with a bottle of Jim Beam and a package of sausages in his basket (perfect for drunk- watching FOX News reality shows); and I want to say something rude AND clever, but I notice he’s looking at me, a list in my hand, wearing my hand-knitted hippy cap and my layered shirts, the one on the outside featuring Christopher Walken (from a Saturday Night Live skit) dressed as Han Solo, with two balloons above him, one saying ‘fast’ the other ‘ships?’ and I just nod and say, ‘Another great day in America.’ OKAY, Buddy, maybe YOU CAN CATCH A FEW REFORMS.”
I gave up watching before the surfer gave up trying. “GOOD ON YOU, MATE! (this with my attempt at an Australian accent). I checked out MSN for some signs of hope, tried to catch up on the World Surf League. No hope there. Turned on the TV. I checked out the various sports channels. Reruns. Oh. Sure. Incidentally, while similarly clicking through various channels on Friday night, I happened to stick for a moment on big time wrestling. You know, when there’s no audience, it looks kind of, um, fake. Add a few thousand screaming fans and it seems real. Or real-er. Not making a comparison here between that and a, say, Trump rally, but, evidently, with the virus-proof president unable to hold such events, he has decided to break into programming on a random-but-often basis, just to reassure the citizens of these Unites States of America that he’s still OKAY. I think he said ‘perfect,’ I’ll stick with ‘okay.’
OH, WAIT, I’m not really political, and certainly, If I was political, I’d be so very middle of the road, but, when the president, trying bigly, allegedly, to unite our country against a world wide pandemic, refers to Washington State’s governor, former presidential candidate, climate activist (and, according to my son Sean, who worked on his original election campaign, ‘kind of bland’) Jay Inslee, as ‘a snake,’ I can’t help but think, that if I was hit with that invective, I’d add it to my title. The Honorable Governor Jay the Snake Inslee.
BEFORE I GO BACK to working on “Swamis,” I do want to say I hope you’re all stocked-up and surviving this weirdness; self-isolating, hunkering-down, avoiding crowds (and nothing says all that like going to Costco and Walmart on a Saturday). I suddenly almost regret that Trish and I have already binge-watched “Vera” and “Bosch,” and that we’ve just cancelled Showtime and HBO. Maybe I could see if SURFLINE is offering a free trial.
I DO KIND OF WONDER what the novice surfer from yesterday said about his session. “It was double overhead on the sets. Caught a few bombs. Yes.” YES, I have been accused, though not at a national level, of some mild form of occasional ‘snaking.’ It’s debatable and over-blown, but, if you want to add it to any nickname for or description of me; FEEL FREE. It’s still America, even if you’re waiting in a line for toilet paper. Comrade.
Okay, so I’ve tried to keep the price down. If I’m lucky enough to be working close to where some waves are breaking… write off; stick my board in my work van. If I can get someone else to ride along… sure, you know the options. Cruise around in the Northwest with five or six sticks on top of your rig, even four, and… yeah, someone’s going to flip you off. It might be me, though I do enjoy the ride sharing- always some good stories exchanged, and, the destination probably is some remote and uncrowded setup. But…
Real Surfers 