Surfing

Surfing was, is and will be one of the great activities that just about anyone can participate.  I was eight or nine when I rode my first wave.  It was on a big telephone pole that was floating in the ocean waves.  I would sit on that log and a wave would bump the thing on a short run.  Mostly we just body surfed the waves tumbling, eating dirt and salt water while laughing all the time.  It was impossible to keep my lips tightly sealed so water would not go down the pie hole because riding the waves was so much fun I would have a wide grin.  The waves would roll me over and smash into the bottom of the ocean shooting water up my nose.  I would come up for air shorting and gasping while waiting for the next near death experience. 

An actual surf board introduced me to an entirely new game.  I now had to use my arms and most all of my muscles to find, catch and ride these waves.  I guess that is why they call it a sport.  It is not like synchronized swimming except for the water up the nose.  Those  swimmers use nose clips to keep the water out our the brain cavity.  I do not think it worked.  A nose clip is for the foolish and weak.

In most places on the ocean, you cannot just find a wave by calling out, "Hey you, come over here, I want to ride you."  That approach does not work in a bar and it does not work at the beach.  A "surfer" must search, paddle and wait for a wave.  I remember the first time I saw the older surf dogs  all of a sudden start paddling out to sea through the waves.  I was pretty sure they were going the wrong way.  Suddenly, what I thought was a big wave came up and they disappeared under it.  They were gone, eaten by the sea. I was thinking surfing was a little bit to risky if a wave could swallow a big dude and a hunk of fiberglass in the blink of an eye.  Wait, I could see them out past all the waves bobbing up and down between the swells of water.  The dudes started paddling like scalded ducks as a huge swell grew overhead.  "Death would be swift" I thought but the guys jumped up on the boards and started shooting down the face of the swell.  The wave started crashing to the left of them as they cut to the right.  At about that time, the wave hit me and knocked my board all the way into shore.

 I grabbed the board and headed back out through the waves.  I was paddling for what seemed like an hour because every time a wave hit me, it knocked me halfway back into the shore.  I would paddle like crazy between the wave hits.  Eventually I got out to where the real surfers were.  I was so embarrassed when some guy yelled, " hey punk, stay out of the way."  Stay out of the way, I do not even know where I am or which direction  I am going.  I am just trying not to die at sea.  Between the swells I watched the surfers catch wave after wave.  I was enjoying the view when I figured I should try to actually catch a wave. My friend Bobby was going to ask me about this day and I wanted to at least have a half ass story to tell him.   I saw a swell building up that the other surfers were ignoring so I spun the board around and started flailing like like a water spaniel.  I could feel the swell climbing up behind me.  I jumped to my feet hopefully looking like I knew what I was doing.  The wave was cresting while me and this board shot down the face of the wave with truly remarkable speed.  I was surfing, I was a surfer.  What I was not doing was breathing  and started looking for the brake.   All things must come to an end.  As I headed with break neck speed into the bottom of the swell, the wave crashed down on my head.  I had Atlantic ocean gravel ground into my face and my board was once again on the beach.

Completely out of breath, I swam in and grabbed my board in the shallow surf.   I heard a girl my age in a bikini say., "Hey you, come over here, will you teach me how to ride."  I thought to myself, it really is not the destination that is important, it is all about the ride.