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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