All it takes is one wave. One perfect, flawless, epic wave to ruin the rest of your day. Productivity goes out the window, and all you end up doing is replaying that beautiful, responsibility-crushing scene in your mind over and over and over.
Brendan Simmons and I each got a message from Mike Purpus this morning that there was a surf session to be had at 9am at knob hill. Brendan and I met up on the Esplanade and watched the big closeouts coming in, stalling and talking for a while before we made any decisions about where to jump in. We eventually decided to go for broke – we suited up, grabbed our logs, and paddled out to an already soaked Purpus.
There was energy swirling around us. A strong current and raging rip had us in a constant paddle battle with the ocean — if we sat for 2 minutes we ended up a block down from where we started. Some sizable sets rolled through, and I caught a nice corner and completely chickened out on pulling into the barrel, kicking myself for not growing a pair and taking the risk. Upon paddling back out, I watched the talented Brendan Simmons take a steep drop and get shacked, coming out with arm raised in the air, triumphant and godly in every way.
I wanted it so bad. After seeing Brendan’s perfect wave, the normally calm and mellow surfer that is me became sharp, focused, and serious, intent on getting one of those heaving barrels for myself. A few more waves were caught, but nothing that held up or pitched perfectly enough to slot myself in. I was sitting chatting with a friend in the water, and then it came. It came sneakily and with a quickness. The talking stopped and like a machine I turned around, and after hearing “GO, GO!!” dropped down a monstrosity, crouched, dragged my hand softly against the side of the wave, and me and my blue longboard disappeared into the magnificence of the green room.
Coming out, I thanked the sea gods with all of my soul, and I tried to paddle back out for another, but there was no wave that could match that. Back up the stairs and goodbyes. After everyone left I sat and stared out at the water for a while, the only thing reflecting back into my eyes being that perfect, perfect wave.
