Clark McTaggart has come out of retirement.
Normally a warm water surfer, I met Clark last year in the summer with Frank and Boris, and he was out almost every day. Then one fall morning, I realized that I hadn’t seen Clark surfing in a while. “I don’t surf in cold water.”
Clark had planned on making his re-entry to the ocean sometime in June. So while he and I were perched at the top of the pier, coffees in hand watching all of our buddies stream along the fun windswell that had made an appearance, we looked at each other and decided it was time.
He carried our boards down to the sand just as Boris and Mike were walking out of the ocean. We plunged in, and he gave me a few helpful pushes, being still unable to paddle into waves without help. After I got my 3 waves, I asked if he was going to surf. “Next week. Today was intro to aquatics.”
We left smiling. Whether on a board or getting tossed around by waves with no surf mechanism, the ocean is a stoke inducer. Next week he said. I’ll hold him to that.
