Morning finds the surf small for the MexPipe, but very user-friendly for people like me who are simply trying to continue to possess the board that we came down here with, preferably all in one piece. Dr. Craig of the all-wheel drive BMW with personal seat warmers, perfect for a trip to Tahoe for some snowboarding, also had enough extra to purchase himself a board for the trip. The thing is a signature Pancho Sullivan epoxy board, fire engine red, and an absolute gem of a surfboard. It is the kind of board that, if ridden by a surfer with the kind of expertise necessary to rip the thing, he/she would transform it into something amounting to a magic carpet. Well, it does not quite have the same effect for the doctor. He manages to surf on it only for a few more hours before it snaps like the twig that it becomes next to the power of the MexPipe. I think he is very glad that I have my camera, otherwise he would never remember a surfboard with tenure as short as the Pancho Sullivan signature model. Ahhh, but maybe I laugh to quickly! I snap my board on a closeout as well.




Although my board is snapped, I am lucky because I can get fifty bucks for it from Miguel, the local board repairman. He is a master who everybody knows by name. As soon as you ask anyone in the surf shops about a broken board to be fixed you hear his name. Nobody gives you a phone number, it's just an automatic event, like the sun going up and down, that Miguel drives his custom convertible yellow Volkswagen Bug slowly down the Oceanside road waiting for people to come either pick up or drop off orders twice a day. You can count on him like the tides to roll through once in the morning and once in the afternoon, it is his way of life. Since he broke his back on a particularly bad wipeout at the MexPipe he only surfs the point, and there only on occasion. But he loves the shape and condition of my board, despite its hard-to-overlook feature of being broke in two pieces, so he buys it from me. With the swell due to drop off even more because the southern hemisphere storm bands lessening their annual grip over the South Pacific, it is time to go explore Oaxaca and see the ancient ruins of Monte Alban. All good surf trips contain their bright spots of cultural exploration, so it is time to head up the windy roads into the tropical jungles that lie east of the beach hamlets.

ER Harris