Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Surf's Up!

          Giant Surf Alert!  Thanks to Hurricane Simon, surfers from around the world gathered at The Wedge in Newport Beach, California, recently, where I happened to be visiting with three girlfriends I’ve had for 30 years—we raised our kids together and are more like sisters than girlfriends.
          Waves at The Wedge can be 30 feet high, and are not for beginners.  This is what I’m talking about:
          When I was there the waves were only (only!) 12 to 15 feet high.  Here’s what you see at first.  You think it looks like a pretty seascape.
     The waves look as if they’d come up to your waist.
          And then you look closer and realize the little dark spots in the waves, that you thought were bits of seaweed, are PEOPLE. 
          Suddenly it’s apparent that these are monster waves, and that everyone in them is at a level of athleticism I will never visit.  And, also, I can’t swim.
          But that hasn’t kept me from boogie boarding in California and in Hawaii.  I just hang onto that baby for flotation and ride in until I skid to a stop on the sand.  My technique is nothing to blog about  (uh… wait a second here), and it also has the disadvantage of scraping against the sand and filling one’s swimsuit with said sand.  But I still love the ride and can do it for hours.
          So I can only imagine the thrill of actually catching one of these behemoth waves.  No wonder the guys were whooping and hollering.  But what they didn’t realize is that, standing on the beach watching them, was Karen Rogers, one of my long-time friends.  And it’s her husband Bob’s family who built The Wedge, back in the 1930s.  You may have seen a recent video about it on PBS
          I’m just saying it might have been nice if one of them had waved, or flappety-flapped in their fins, out onto the sand to thank her.  Or at least give us some body surfing tips.

And here’s a tip for you: Subscribe to my Youtube Mom videos and you’ll receive fun, short life skill videos twice a week.  They may or may not include surfing instruction.

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