Walking up to the sand after coffee and conversation at Brothers Burritos, I spotted Kris Hall, who already had his fill of the ocean, sinking into the grains and headed eastward back to the parking lot. He bounced over to me and a few members of the surf familia (Frank Paine and Boris Vishnevsky), who were all standing on the Strand deciding what the best option for surf was.
“Morgan — are you about to go out?” “Yeah it looks fun!” “I would wait or go to Sapphire. Today is one of the few days I’ve I’ve ever been scared.”
Hearing this from Kris, one of the best longboarders in the South Bay and one of my favorite people to watch surf, I quickly unarmed my big blue board from my hip and set down alongside the Strand wall. I was a bit surprised, having watched him from the pier for a few minutes just prior and not seeing anything that looked too menacing.
Apparently the long-period swell was sneaky, and a few extra-heavy sets crept up on the small lineup of surfers and broke almost out to the end of the pier, tossing an unsuspecting everyone around like ragdolls.
I had the chance to have coffee with Kris before he sped off to work (at ET surfboards) and while I was waiting for the tide to drop for a surfable Sapphire St. in Redondo Beach. Kris is the ultimate poster boy of the South Bay – with his tall and lean surfer physique, he looks, acts, and dresses like he jumped out of the TV from a scene of the iconic surf movie Endless Summer – and him and his stellar girlfriend Taylor are by far the coolest beachy couple around. Kris and I talked about our love of surfing, his latest work with his own surfboard company Flower Surfboards (all hand-shaped by him in Hermosa Beach) and a possible upcoming Nicaragua trip with me, him, and Taylor. Crossing my fingers for another warm water trip and some awesome logging company.
I cruised down to Sapphire and had a more than satisfying session. I may have dodged the wild beasts of Hermosa, but the fun little peelers of Sapphire put a huge smile on my face, and now at 5:30 in the afternoon, I still can’t seem to make it go away.
