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April 12, 2005
surf report (part2)
drove around the island last saturday in search of surf. something great about cruzing in a VW vanagon that just seeps out the feeling of a good road trip. ended up checking out chun's for a mid-day session. weather was HOT, sunny with gusty trades. i say "gusty" again as a point of reference for the next sections in the upcoming story.
so anyhow, chuns as a surf spot is a great north shore longboard wave. we ended up paddling out about 1130am. i knew it was going to be a good session when i noticed a big fat turtle swimming beneath me on the way out. the waves were sweet stuff, a bit of sideshore wind but all in all pushing the right way to have the sun on your face & the wind at your back. only bummer was when i was dropping in on this nice wave & a gust came up off the face & blew me back. sent me off the tail of the board & launched my board straight in the air. by the way, #1 rule is never let go of your board. yet in this case i was caught off guard & the board sailed through the air. the bummer was that it landed on this chick right in the back. man....i felt bad. said i was sorry a bunch of times. couple local guys were giving me the stink eye look like i did it intentional or something. _uck them. i felt bad enough that i couldn't control mother natures wind gusts. not to mention the board blew back off the 6 foot face drop & threw a 195 lbs guy off the board. so i really wasn't into dealing w/ retard attitudes of a local: "me man, you hurt girl, me must act tough to show sympathy to cute girl, good cop bad cop routine". so to defuse any possible miscommunication, i quickly explained the situation & everybody was quiet about the issue. from there we focused the attention on the gal to make sure she was ok. she was alright as far as we could read & i think the shock was more of a factor. if it would have been my fault entirely, trust me...there was enough local boys in the water that day to come on over & let me know.
motto i learned: if you (or anybody) makes a mistake in the north shore waves you better be ready to handle/deal w/ the good & the bad. this includes the chunky reef that lays less then 3-5 feet below you as you surf waves, the crowds, currents & hold downs. people get really hurt & die every season up there.
the gal said she was ok & never lost her temper. which indicated to me she knew i was not at fault. i still feel bad about it though...
this in fact brought up many many thoughts the rest of the afternoon about the chances one takes when surfing.
good waves & good lessons that day.
Posted by Single Fin at April 12, 2005 01:38 PM