SURFING SOAPBOX: Swell takes a turn for the worse

There’s nothing like the rumor of a big winter swell. Taking a walk along the beach Tuesday I ran into more old schoolmates checking the surf than I had since the last high school reunion.

Everyone “” or I should say, every surfer “” was coming out of the woodwork to catch a glimpse of the ocean the day before the epic west swell was due to hit.

In all fairness, any day walking along the beaches of Laguna is a good day when it’s sunny, waves or no waves, and yesterday was a pretty small day. At least the sun was shining, and no matter where I went the topic of conversation was “How big is the surf going to get?”

The news had it at 10-12; surf-related websites had it anywhere from 6-8, 10-12, and some were claiming sets up to 15 feet. Early reports were that the swell north of us wasn’t as big as first expected and that was up until around 2 p.m.

Then things took a turn for the worse when reports began coming in that a surfer had drowned in 25+ surf at the infamous big wave spot Ghost Trees.

By 4 p.m. that surfer had a name: Peter Davi, 45 years old and a local legend from the Monterey area.

From that point on, just about every surfing friend I had was calling, until I finally turned my phone off at 11 p.m. While lying in bed my emotions had turned from a little-boy type of stoke waiting for the big swell to that of sorrow that another one of the surfing brotherhood had been lost. The older I get and the more I hear about another friend being lost, it takes more and more wind from my sails.

Sometimes I think it’s just time to move on. But how, when it’s all you know?

I awoke early Wednesday to a barrage of phone calls. The swell wasn’t as big as expected, and really there’s nothing unexpected about that. They often get swell predictions wrong.

What was unexpected was all of the old friends that I enjoyed talking to over the last two days about the epic swell that never really was and remembering why I began surfing in the first place. Honestly, there’s nothing I would rather be doing.

Peace.

JAMES PRIBRAM is a Laguna Beach native, professional surfer and founder of the Aloha School of Surfing. He can be reached at Jamo@Alohaschoolofsurfing.com.