When have you Seized the day?
Heres one of my stories from my surf trip to Bali:
So it all started out with a huge swell coming our way from australia. And when i say huge you have to understand that i had, at this time, only ever been out surfing in two to three foot waves and even those no more than ten times. So we (there for four of us travelling together, and two american guys who were taking lessons with us) were all just beginners. Our insructors had been keeping an eye on the movement of this swell (over the net) and had been telling us it was coming. Today was the day it was supposed to hit the little island of Bali, Indonesia. It did not dissapoint. The beach was lined with begginers and even the somewhat experienced surfers who valued thier lives. Out in the pounding surf there were the truly experienced ones...that is, the truly experienced ones and us six, whome (to all those sissy's just watching from the beach) must have seemed either incredibly good, or incredibly stupid. That was only, however, until they saw how much skill we had at paddling out through the whitewater, and it was then they realized that we were indeed just incredibly stupid.
When we first stepped into the water the waves were about five feet. But first you need to understand something about the way they measure the hieght of a wave. They (for reasons i can not understand) measure the wave from the back of the wave (yes thats right, the part you cant even see...figure that one out). This is somewhat (and when i say "somewhat" i really mean "incredibly") misleading, because at the front of the wave water is being sucked up by the rolling motion, and so when a five foot wave is setting up to come crashing down and your in its path, your looking up at a 8 foot face...and a very menacing face at that. One more point about the waves at Kuta beach: they are very thick and very heavy, and crash down very hard. The power (which they like to abuse regularly) is overwhelming. Anyways, now that you know those details i can get back to the story.
When we first stepped into the water the waves were about five feet. But this was at low tide, and high tide was coming in right about....now. By the time we managed to get through the white water and out past danger (which i'll admit was quite a feat in itself) the waves had increased in size, and were now 8 or 9 feet tall....with about a 10 or 12 foot face.
So there we were, out in the ocean, while huge hills of water rolled under us, on a crash course for the shore. It was time to try and catch one of these monsters so we paddled towards shore, and towards the zone where the waves were breaking. It just so happens that just as we got to where the normal ones were setting up, the big sets came in (a big set is a series of waves usually about 2 feet taller than the rest. The problem here is that the spot where you want to be to catch a normal wave, is exactly the worst spot to be when a big set comes in, because it will land right on your head and proceed to drown you). So our instructer yells at us "big set coming boys, hurry up and paddle out!" Well the first wave got the better part of my brother Karl, and he almost drowned. It also put him in harms way of the second wave, which also got my brother, who almost drowned again. And the third. And then he finally made it to shore with his lungs full of water and his shorts full of breakfast...just kidding.
I was the only one of us six who managed to actually catch and ride a wave that day. And at the end of the day we saw one of the Americans we were with, who had come rather close to drowning himself. He summed up his experience by saying: "I'v been in the army for years. I'v been to Iraq. I'v had bullets wizzing by my head, i'v seen my best friend get killed in action. Never...NEVER have i been so afraid that i was going to die."
To an experienced surfer a heavy, 10 foot face might sound like a walk in the park, a relaxing ride on a sunday evening. But for me, this was a personal victory. I had faced my own personal goliath...and i won.
So it all started out with a huge swell coming our way from australia. And when i say huge you have to understand that i had, at this time, only ever been out surfing in two to three foot waves and even those no more than ten times. So we (there for four of us travelling together, and two american guys who were taking lessons with us) were all just beginners. Our insructors had been keeping an eye on the movement of this swell (over the net) and had been telling us it was coming. Today was the day it was supposed to hit the little island of Bali, Indonesia. It did not dissapoint. The beach was lined with begginers and even the somewhat experienced surfers who valued thier lives. Out in the pounding surf there were the truly experienced ones...that is, the truly experienced ones and us six, whome (to all those sissy's just watching from the beach) must have seemed either incredibly good, or incredibly stupid. That was only, however, until they saw how much skill we had at paddling out through the whitewater, and it was then they realized that we were indeed just incredibly stupid.
When we first stepped into the water the waves were about five feet. But first you need to understand something about the way they measure the hieght of a wave. They (for reasons i can not understand) measure the wave from the back of the wave (yes thats right, the part you cant even see...figure that one out). This is somewhat (and when i say "somewhat" i really mean "incredibly") misleading, because at the front of the wave water is being sucked up by the rolling motion, and so when a five foot wave is setting up to come crashing down and your in its path, your looking up at a 8 foot face...and a very menacing face at that. One more point about the waves at Kuta beach: they are very thick and very heavy, and crash down very hard. The power (which they like to abuse regularly) is overwhelming. Anyways, now that you know those details i can get back to the story.
When we first stepped into the water the waves were about five feet. But this was at low tide, and high tide was coming in right about....now. By the time we managed to get through the white water and out past danger (which i'll admit was quite a feat in itself) the waves had increased in size, and were now 8 or 9 feet tall....with about a 10 or 12 foot face.
So there we were, out in the ocean, while huge hills of water rolled under us, on a crash course for the shore. It was time to try and catch one of these monsters so we paddled towards shore, and towards the zone where the waves were breaking. It just so happens that just as we got to where the normal ones were setting up, the big sets came in (a big set is a series of waves usually about 2 feet taller than the rest. The problem here is that the spot where you want to be to catch a normal wave, is exactly the worst spot to be when a big set comes in, because it will land right on your head and proceed to drown you). So our instructer yells at us "big set coming boys, hurry up and paddle out!" Well the first wave got the better part of my brother Karl, and he almost drowned. It also put him in harms way of the second wave, which also got my brother, who almost drowned again. And the third. And then he finally made it to shore with his lungs full of water and his shorts full of breakfast...just kidding.
I was the only one of us six who managed to actually catch and ride a wave that day. And at the end of the day we saw one of the Americans we were with, who had come rather close to drowning himself. He summed up his experience by saying: "I'v been in the army for years. I'v been to Iraq. I'v had bullets wizzing by my head, i'v seen my best friend get killed in action. Never...NEVER have i been so afraid that i was going to die."
To an experienced surfer a heavy, 10 foot face might sound like a walk in the park, a relaxing ride on a sunday evening. But for me, this was a personal victory. I had faced my own personal goliath...and i won.
posted by Mark at 10:59 a.m.
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