Donald Allison

When I was finishing up my sophomore year of high school, my Dad came home from work one night and said, Were moving to San Diego! It was quite a shock, and visions of beaches and palm trees ran through my head. At the time, we lived in Hacienda Heights, Calif., and it was a long way to Huntington Beach where we would escape to on hot, summer days.

After a long search for a new home, we moved right across the I-5 freeway from Del Mar and minutes away from a myriad of great surfing spots. As luck would have it, we moved in across the street from my new best friend who was already an experienced surfer. My pal, Mark, took me under his wing and showed me the ropes, and saved my life in huge surf years later; although, thats a story for another time.

At my new high school, Torrey Pines, there was a big crew of surfers who would always hang out on the beach at 15th Street during the summer, and those were some of the best memories of my life; surfing all day and cutting fish at night. I learned how to surf quickly, and by the time I was attending Mira Costa Community College, I was good enough to be a member of the colleges surf club and go on surf trips with the colleges surf team. Ill never forget our jaunts to Rosorito to surf the wild waves at Baja Malibu and the best fish tacos Ive ever eaten in my life. I couldnt remember if I tried all the incredible experiences Ive had surfing during my life and for various reasons Ive drifted away from it during the past 10 years. Words cant describe the intense desire Ive had to paddle out and go surfing since last Saturday through Tuesday as I watched the sunny skies and offshore winds make a perfect template for the perfect Seaside peelers.

The thing that is so amazing about surfing to me is when the waves are really big and all you have to do is scramble your way onto the face of one of them and you are on for the ride of your life. All you really have to do is stand there, gyrate your hips once or twice, shuffle your feet, and you can go faster than you could ever believe. Being inside of a big, glassy, breaking wave is like free cable to someone who has never been inside the Green Room I love big waves!

After living on the Big Island of Hawaii for three years, I became quite the body surfer as I preferred the solitude of secluded waves on soft sand over paddling out on a board to either get sliced by the lava reefs or disrespecting the locals on waves their ancestors surfed for centuries before the coming of the haoles.

Living steps away from the waves on 12th Avenue and watching those perfect waves roll through every day, Ive really been getting the itch to paddle out and get some use out of the surfboard I brought to Seaside with me. At 6 1 and 175 pounds, I think Im going to need a pretty thick wetsuit to get out in that cold North Coast water. Even though the waves look inviting, just thinking about getting in that freezing ocean makes me reconsider wanting to get in the water. Lets hope for a hot summer with big waves!