Everyone floats through life differently, and learning about different people, the paths they’ve walked along, and which ways they’ve wandered can open your eyes to new perspectives and dreams. The most beautiful thing about surfing every day is not just the ocean, but the immediate connections that I’ve made to what were soon before strangers.
This morning I picked up Shirin in Venice Beach – a bouncy blonde friend of an acquaintance, previously only having one face to face conversation and a few texts. Getting out of my sandy car, we hit things off with pastries and coffee, loaded up surfboards, and made our way up windy Pacific Coast Highway, spilling crumbs all over ourselves as we ate and talked, the only pause in our conversation happening when one of us was talking too fast and had to take a breath of air.
Along with Shirin, there have been countless others that I haven’t even spoken with face to face before meeting for a long car ride and surf trip. It’s hard to think that a fellow ocean lover wouldn’t have something interesting to bring to the table, and so far my theory has been right – I haven’t found a person yet that I didn’t blab about life all day with – in the water or out.
We made it to Malibu, waves small and conditions slightly windy, with dismal looking surf but an excitingly small crowd. We already committed with the journey there, so into the water we went, blondes with big boards, laughing and talking way too loud in the lineup. The wind chopped through the sea, making the surf bumpy, but once we pulled into a few waves and got in our girly grooves, we took off on wave after wave, occasionally sharing, but always smiling.
