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Waxing the Dolphin
Almost every longtime El
Porto local has "met" the friendly Manhattan Beach
dolphin pod at one time or another. Perhaps they
chose to surface within arms reach or if you were
really lucky, shared a wave with you. This is
my true story of an event that I will never forget
for the rest of my life.
On a warm summer morning about five years ago,
I decided it was too nice a day not to paddle,
even though it was only waist-high at best. The
sun was out and the water was so clear I could
even see the bottom. I lazily paddled my longboard
over and joined a pack of 5 other guys I didnt
recognize in front of 40th street. It was very
inconsistent and mushy except for the very occasional
set wave. After 20 minutes of nothing, I had the
great fortune of being the only one in the group
to spot the best set of the day in time. After
paddling out 30 yards beyond the pack, I picked
off a 3 foot glassy roller that barely broke.
As I approached the pack riding straight towards
the beach I was stunned to notice a dolphin was
directly underneath me with another 2 flanked
on each side of my rail within 1 inch. Initially
I was sure that I would hit them but they remained
in perfect formation with me in the center. After
sharing the wave for about 20 yards with them,
I decided to do soft "S" turns only to realize
that these dolphins seemed to know exactly what
I was going to do before I did. It seemed like
they were playing a game to see how close they
could come to my board without actually touching
it. I rode this wave with them all the way to
the shore with them never getting more than 1
inch beyond the rails and bottom of my board.
Once I reached the shore, I stepped off my board
and quickly turned around just in time to see
them turn seaward about 5 yards off the beach.
Like a golfer hitting a hole in one, I looked
to see if someone else had the good fortune of
seeing this but no one was hanging around on the
beach or in the parking lot. Even though I had
decided this was my last wave, I paddled out again
just to ask the group if they had seen what I
had just experienced. The first guy I encountered
responded "that looked bitchin". Not knowing whether
he saw the dolphins or was just commenting on
the wave, I said "Did you see those three dolphins".
He looked at me and said, "three dolphins? I saw
three dolphins on each side of your board with
one underneath all the way to the beach for a
total of seven". At this point two of the other
surfers acknowledged that I wasnt hallucinating
and this actually happened.
Later that morning I told my friends, family,
employees and anyone else who would listen about
this strange ride. Most of them looked at me like
I had been held under water too long. At about
5:00pm the same day, I stopped by Beckers Hermosa
Beach Surfshop to purchase wax for my next day
session. As I approached the counter I saw the
"that looked bitchin" guy in an animated discussion
with a Becker sales person behind the counter.
He spotted me, his jaw dropped like he saw a ghost
and he pointed in my direction shouting "hey,
hey, thats the dolphin dude! We spoke for several
minutes about it regretting that no one had gotten
this on film or tape. Anyway, after this experience,
I came away feeling that the dolphins were the
real El Porto locals. Fortunately they seem less
territorial than we are and obviously enjoy sharing
their waves.
Story by Joel Saltzman
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