This Dude, El Porto, And What Took Me So Long?!

I first heard about El Porto from This Dude who was trying to teach me to surf. And I do mean trying. This Dude went to great pains to get me to overcome all my fears and phobias. He really did. But I'm not sure if he knew what he was up against because these fears and phobias were deeply ingrained. Eventually, he got so frustrated with my painfully slow -- and often just plain demented -- progress that ultimately we parted ways as teacher and student. I think we're still friends, though. I've made some progress since then -- not a whole lot, but baby steps! I think I neglected to factor in my control-freak factor. When I wasn't in control of the process I could not get it together, but when I can control it, I seem to do a bit better. Also, I have this eager-to-please mentality -- I so wanted to do good for the teacher, I'd choke. But most important of all, This Dude did one essential thing for me -- he recognized that I needed to ditch the board and go back to just basic ocean swimming skills. For several sessions we just went out in the water, and he showed me I could negotiate waves without panic; he made me see there was not so much to fear. This helped me enormously. In fact I think it was the single most important lesson I learned. In retrospect it's how I should have started this surf odyssey. He wasn't in charge then, though. But by helping me with wave management he's given me the courage to just get out there and do what I can on my own. This was a real gift. I will forever be grateful because I love getting out there, even if I'm still nowhere near the surfer I am in my head, and it may take years to get even close. By the way, if some day way off in the future I can be just a tiny infinitesimal fraction of the surfer that This Dude is, I will be happy. This Dude is amazing to watch. He makes it all look easy and elegant.

Oh side note: This Dude also had a great appetite, although who wouldn't after a few hours of giving surf lessons, huh? It was fun bringing snacks for the teacher, for someone who appreciated them. Anyway, I knew This Dude surfed El Porto from time to time, and when I first signed on to Surfline, the El Porto cam is what came up on my screen. (another side note: what's the deal with the surf spot called Shit Pipe?! Anybody?). Then, as I've mentioned, somewhere along the line I stumbled on Osoporto, this cool site run by Jon Berry that features Berry's El Porto-themed artwork, clothing and stickers. If you're into surfy stuff check out the site at www.osoporto.com. Anyway, I got some El Porto gear (stickers and t-shirts), learned a little of the history of this place (once it was on its own as a town, but at some point it was annexed by adjacent Manhattan Beach) and decided it was time for a little trek down to see what it's all about because up until now my surf life has been limited to Malibu (Little Dume where I tried to surf for the first time and Zuma), Santa Monica and Carpinteria, which is a favorite because it's generally so nice and mellow. Oh, another side note: if you see the trippy new Paul Thomas Anderson movie INHERENT VICE, this is pretty much where they shot a lot of it.

So then all I needed was the right conditions. For me, what I've discovered is I do best when waves are 2-3 feet, and it's mid-tide. Or 1-2 feet!  Or sometimes 1-3 is good. So I waited. And waited. And waited a bit more. Here's something else I learned about El Porto -- it's a popular surf spot for a reason: often the waves are bigger and better here than other spots. And we've been having some storm-related swells lately, so every time I've figured on going down to El Porto, the surf has been just too big and I would have been unhappy. But this week some mellower waves were on tap, even at El Porto, so I figured let's do this. Also, of course, I'd need a good place for some post-surf grub. Ososporto guru John Berry mentioned a couple with potential; El Tarasco, and North End Cafe and Simmzy's were included. I did my research on yelp and they all had their pluses, but after the surf I felt like a sandwich so I picked The North End Caffe and decided to go with what you see here, their Cubano:

But first I wanted to get in the water. Let me just say I loved El Porto from the get-go because when I pulled into the lot, I parked next to one of my favorite rides, an old Mercedes Diesel wagon from the 1980's. It was clattering away while I scoped things out and that sound just comforts me because I grew up with diesels. Anyway, here's a couple of pics:

Those smoke stacks in the picture just above you can see from Santa Monica and sometimes even from Malibu, but I've never seen them from this side so that was interesting, the change in perspective. In that third pic too is that old red Merc wagon chugging away with a dude inside just looking out at the sea. What's cool about Porto as well are the big ships you can see waiting, I guess, to get into the port at Long Beach. So how was the session? Okay, well, the reports said 1-2 feet, with occasional larger sets coming in. Now keep in mind, I've never been here, so I needed to sort of orient myself and get my bearings. That's a nice of saying I kind of sucked. The good news: I noticed a spot that wasn't too crowded and I paddled right out into the line-up with out a problem. I paddled into a couple of smaller waves but kind of missed them. Then a couple of definitely bigger sets rolled through, and quite frankly these waves had some power to them and I got kind of spooked. I ended up boogie-boarding back to shore on a smaller wave and decided that was okay for a first effort in a new place. Definitely want to come back on another mellow day.

So then it was on to lunch. I headed up to Highland Avenue, which is a bustling little strip with a lot of shops and restaurants. It's different from, say, Malibu, because it feels like a real town with a real main drag. Yep, I could live here. Like I said, I hit up North End Caffe  (www.northendcaffe.net) and I got the Cubano. By the way, for a longer post on the Cuban Sandwich see this blog's post from 8/9/2014!  The Cubano was pretty good. I'd have left it a bit longer in the press so the cheese got a bit more melty but the pork and ham were tasty, and the baguette was nice and crisp the way it should be. Lunch came to about 15 bucks. Not bad if you consider I was sitting outside, on a nice warm day in January, a block or so from the beach. But I have my eyes on the crispy tacos from El Tarasco too. So a return to El Porto is a must.