And another thing PHIL BROWN
My surfing career seems to have come to an end but I am still surfing vicariously thanks to Facebook. It seems to have recognised I like watching surfing videos and is serving them up to me regularly.
I was watching some on my phone the other day with banging rock music accompanying the visuals.
“Can you turn that down!” my wife shouted. “What are your watching?”
“Just checking out some surf videos,” I said. “Well can you watch them a bit more quietly?” So I turned the sound down although I do like the musical accompaniment and sometimes you get the voices of the people shooting the videos too which is funny. “Holy sh-t! Look at the size of that wave!” Lots of f-bombs too as surfers go over the falls backwards or fall off halfway down the face of some 10m wave.
Watching surfing isn’t quite the same as doing it but now that I’m not doing it any more it’s all I have left. Not that I may not ever surf again. It’s just I don’t have the time and I don’t live near the beach so it really isn’t feasible. It hasn’t been for about three years. My last surf was at The Pass at Byron Bay, a lovely break if a bit crowded at times. But it wasn’t too bad that time, a midwinter day that required me to wear my steamer wetsuit. The best part of that surfing session was arriving and finding a parking spot and if you know The Pass you’ll know that’s a plus. And despite falling off a bit and floundering at times I had an OK surf and felt that glow afterwards you always do after an hour or two in the ocean. I remember peeling off my wettie and feeling satisfied, little guessing that would be my last surf in living memory. I may surf again if I take a holiday by the beach and if the conditions allow. I still have a board even though it is gathering dust in the garage right now.
In the meantime I have my surf videos of 100 foot waves at Nazare in Portugal and monster swells hitting Cortes Bank off California or Pe’ahi (aka Jaws), Maui’s biggest surfing break. I can hoot and holler and relive my youth as long as I don’t do it within earshot of my wife.