Well...as of right now, my parents never let me ditch my first couple periods of school so I am forced to surf in the windy afternoon until I have to return to school for swim practice. :(
Unless I'm sick or the conditions are absolutely horrendous, I do the following Monday thru Friday, Saturday's I play by ear, and Sunday is my day of rest.
I keep a towel, a board, and suit in the car at all times.(Never know when the opportunity will arise)
When I get home from work I pack my next days work clothes in my backpack and put the hot water jug by the kitchen sink.
Up at 5:00, stretch, pull on my jeans and a tee, brush my teeth while I'm filling the hot water jug. Out the door by 5:15. Stop at 7-11 for a 20Oz of Brazilian, at the beach by 5:45, in the line up by 6:00. Start thinking about a going-in-wave around 7:ish (Depends on how good the session is going).
Out and showered (3 gallon hot water jug is perfect) by 7:45. Drive to work in my flops to let my feet dry. In the work lot by 8:15. Pull on socks and shoes. At my desk by 8:30.
Summer time, omit hot water, and adjust rise time accordingly.
Summers also mean after work sessions.
Because life got in the way, I don’t get to do dawn patrol much. But this thread brings me back to my youth. I use to work for my uncle who was a builder. In the summer time I’d be up by 6:00am and in the water by 6:15. Surf till about 8:30 get home and rinse off. Grab a cup of coffee and a hard roll and be in the job site by 9:00. We would work until 5:00 pm, I’d go home for dinner and be back in the water by 6:00 pm. I had an Aunt whose famous line was “Youth, why is it wasted on the young?” Not wasted at all.
Some people say surfing is a waste of time. If that is true I have wasted my life.
Yeah, the old hot water bottle shower on the beach let's ya get more waves before work
K
I’ve wasted my life too. Between 1976 and 1989 I worked a lot of night shift and early morning shifts. All those years, I surfed every day. When others were getting more education, I was getting more surf. Then the day job and kids came, and morning sessions were important. It helped that I lived across the street from the best surf spots on Oahu’s south shore. Once the kids started school, it was hard to get a good session in and get them to school on time. I don’t like to go surfing knowing that I only have a small window of time, I find that I get stressed out.
Up until a little over a year ago, I could take a midday surf break and then work a little late to make up for the time. That made the dawn patrol less important. My new boss is not as cool, so the long breaks during the midday are over.
I’m looking forward to retirement, then it’s surfing, making boards, and “Honey do!”.
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Once the kids started school, it was hard to get a good session in and get them to school on time. I don't like to go surfing knowing that I only have a small window of time, I find that I get stressed out.
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I've found that too. My job is flexible enough, but shuttling the kids around means I must get spousal cooperation to surf in the am. My spouse is cooperative, but she needs help and I don't want to push it too far.
Plus, I am never on time getting out of the water. Never. :-)
Funny, when I go surfing, no matter what else happens that day, I feel like I’ve accomplished something.
I love this one…
Amen!
Having a small child really makes the free time hard to find. Especially when work doesn’t usually stop at 5pm. Dawn patrol is how it has to be if i want to make it happen. Luckily my work is flexible about my starting time, and often i’ll be in the water with one of my managers anyway. Plus my office is essentially on the coast. Having little free time definitely makes getting in the water more important/special for me. It’s the times when i could have gone and didn’t that i regret the most. I try to keep that in mind when i’m opting not to go in the morning and the clock is hitting 11pm. Full moon surfing is also a special fun time to surf when it’s good and the day is just too short…just don’t do it stoned or you’ll swear the dolphins are sharks. When in doubt, paddle out.
"Funny, when I go surfing, no matter what else happens that day, I feel like I've accomplished something."
that's Gold Llilibel !
night before: pack the board and wetsuit in the car with a towel. sleep in boxers and a t shirt.
Morning of: get up, put on jeans or sweats and slippers (winter) or rainbows (summer), get in the truck. dont even bother with the heat because by the time im at the beach it still isnt warm. surf until 7:30. if the waves are really good i can push for a little more because my first period teacher is a surfer too. then get out, change at the beach. drive to school. park the car. by this time my skin is really itchy if the water was cold and i get the cold wetsuit itches. finish by running to class and letting my hair dry during first period. i would love to have the time for a warm water shower or just freshwater for that matter, but i always run late. i always smell like salt, neoprene, sunscreen, and green tea, but i dont mind it at all.
My routine starts the night before,,,work clothes in the truck, wetsuit warming in the laundry room and 5gal shower bucket in the sink, lunch packed and in the fridge. Up at 5:15a, and into sweats, hoodie and hat. Fill bucket with hot water, select board, load truck, put the dog out and head for the beach. I usually stop at the coffee joint before getting on the freeway for the 30min drive. At the beach by 6:30a, start looking for that elusive "last wave" at 7:50a or so, hit the shower or the bucket (depending upon the break I chose), apply personal hygiene products, put on my "blue collar" work clothes and drive 7min to work. I try to be at work by 9a, unless that "last wave" is particularly elusive. (tip: never say outloud "I'm taking the next one in" Surest way to guarantee a complete shutdown)
In my book, there's nothing like being on the ocean in the very early morning, especially if you chance to find yourself with only a few others out. Those few moments of solitude and quiet in the rosy light of dawn, punctuated by the exhilliration of riding waves, is the perfect antidote for 21st century life. The work schedule flexibility that my present job offers is what allows me to indulge in this pleasure, and makes any of the negatives of that job acceptable. Its the price I willingly pay for dawn patrol.
during the summer i don’t get waves period. i have to skim, we size waves by toe… toe high, over toe, ankle, and over ankle. if its bigger its winter and that means school. i cant go in the morning i swim, cant go at night i swim. i skip 4th block and lunch to hit the beach for an hour and a half if its waist or bigger. its a hard life 
in a week ill total at about 4 hours and maybe 6 rides over 10 seconds.
Nothing like getting up before work to surf. I usually get up early enough to get in by dawn or a little before. The time I leave depends on how good the waves are. It kind of helps that I work for my father, and since he is the one who taught me to surf, he understands. So unless there is something really pressing at work I can push it. It’s funny, when I was young and would go surfing with my Dad at dawn, I always thought that was the norm for surfers: in the water as early as possible. But now, I notice a lot of kids don’t show up until an hour or more past sunrise. Oftentimes during the winter a friend and I have had the waves to ourselves for an hour and a half before we see people checking it. Had some perfect times this past winter after snow storms when I dug out the night before, sometimes around 1 or 2 in the morning, had all my stuff for work ready, and we’d get there while everyone was still snowed in. I love winter pre-work dawn sessions so much.
I used to get up a half hour before first light so I could get a cup of coffee and a banana in me, drive 10 minutes to my usual spot in Santa Cruz, check it out and get in the water at first light. I would surf as short or as long as I wanted; my old job had very flexible hours.
Now I have a new job and work a 3pm to 11pm shift and live in North County San Diego. I wake up when I wake up and go start checking spots after the pre-work crew gets out, usually around 8:30am. Depending on what the wife wants to do, I can sometimes even fit in two sessions before my shift starts
^^^ That’s foam dust from the shape room in the foreground right??? ^^^ I won’t complain 'bout “chilly” SoCal predawn sessions any more!
know what a wasted life really is ?
it’s not knowing for the first 30 years of my life that there are actually surfable waves where i am, and then upon finding out that there was, spending the next 5 years thinking whether i could actually afford to make surfing a part of my life.
i mean can you imagine yourself at age 9 telling yourself you’d never have the chance to go surfing anyway so there’s no point in aspiring for it ? that’s what a wasted life is IMO. Thank God there are now waves where i am ! hehe
cheers,
Howzit surfiber,By 9 I already had saltwater in my blood. I was on a surfboard at the age of 5 and my brother (9 years older) had a friend,Phil Sauers of Phil Surfboards who would take me surfing and loan me a board because my brother wasn't into surfing and Phil thought it was great that I loved it. He also gave me my first job as a pro repair guy at the age of 14 when he had the Inland Surf Shop in Downey Ca. Aloha,Kokua
I basically don't surf unless its the dawn patrol. Im an early riser my whole life, so getting up in the dark isn't a problem. Im not gunna hassle for waves so it helps surfing early.
On a weird related note, i almost NEVER see groms out early. Not sure why, but i just never see em. You'd think they'd be out early before school. Could be a blessing though, if they'd rather be playing xbox, or on facebook, there'll be less of them who end up as older surfers, which means more early morning waves for the ( few ) dawn patrolers!!.