High Speed...Yes!

I watched the Mavericks surfing contest yesterday; on my computer and only because I could. You have to have a fanatical interest in the sport to do that and I don’t qualify. Surfers have their own language and so watching and listening to the commentator requires some translation. And it’s not exactly a fast paced sport; not every wave can be ridden, so you look at the little picture of little people on little boards, bobbing up and down as the waves pass under them.

I know it’s the size of the picture that makes it all so boring. No camera can show you how terrifying the size of those waves can be when you’re in the water. The only time the shots showed anything close to reality was when they were being taken from the ‘wave runners’. They were surfing with 30’ waves and I’ve only seen that size from a distance. The ones I do remember, from my youth, were huge when they reached half that size. And being caught and punished by one that size was a scary time. I remember being held under and scraped along the bottom by the force of the water; wondering if I would make it back to the top. Helpless.

Of course that brought back some other memories; the sand that was forced into every crevice, seam and fold of your trunks by the force of that swirling water. The bottom of mom’s washing machine always had sparkling coating of very fine sand; as did the shower and bath tub. Also to be feared in the waves were the jellyfish. Even the dismembered jellies were a problem as they could still sting. Last memory; the smell of turpentine, as that was used to take off the tar that you would find on your feet after a day in the water. Most people used to blame the presence of tar on the oil tankers that were always seen, just south of Manhattan, at El Segundo. Truth was, the tar was being ejected from natural sources, far underwater and offshore.