I've told this tory here some time ago but, it never gets old, , , ,

I Didn't Know, Nobody Told Me!

On our first thrip to Hawaii in April 2005 my wife and I flew into Kahului and stayed in Kihei for a week. We then hopped over to the Big Island and stayed in Kona for 5 nights. Then, we went to Honolulu and stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki for five nights. I surfed Kaisers every morning on a rented 10'0" South Point. It was waist to shoulder high and I had a blast!! While I surfed, the wife would just "laze about" on the grounds of the Hilton. When I got out of the water I'd go to the room, get cleaned up, and then go round her up and go somewhere and have lunch.

Anyway, , , , , ,

The one day, after about 3 hours of "ripping" up Kaisers, LOL, it was time to go in for lunch. As with just about everywhere else at Waikiki, the waves at Kaiser finish breaking and peter out a distance from the sand. So, on my last wave I road it as far as I could then went prone and paddled along with the 6 inches of soup for as far as it would push me. Just as I stopped and sat up on the board, I heard some "whooping" behind me. I turned around to see a "surf school" tourist finishing a ride, and he was STOKED!!! He had on a boonie hat, a "surf school" tee, swimming trunks and reef walkers. He was maintaining a very noticeable "stink bug" stance; I swear his chin was lower than his ass!

Again, he was STOKED. I told him "Good ride". His immediate reply was "I didn't know, nobody told me!". What??? "I didn't know, nobody told me about surfing!!" He had been at the Hilton for five days with his family and he took the surf class every morning and eventually was able to paddle, stand up, and ride on his own. He was STOKED!! There were a few words back-and-forth and then he blurted "What do I do?" What??? "I fly back to Chicago tonight, what do I do?" I replied, in so many words, "Well, you are F'ed!! You are a SURFER now, your life will NEVER be the same as it was. Without waves you will go nuts!" He took very great pleasure in being called a SURFER. He was STOKED!! "But, what do I do?" "Well, when you get back to Chicago, it will NEVER be the same for you. Within 3 to 4 months you are going to have to figure out a way to move and get to a beach with surf. You are a surfer now and you will be for the rest of your life!" He was STOKED to again be identified as a SURFER!!!!!

I told him to get back out and ride some more waves for me and wished him good luck, I had to get in and round up the wife, , , , ,. He turned around and began paddling out and I started the paddle to the beach. I did not see him again but, I am very sure that by the end of the year there was one less family living in Chicago!

-------------------------
Dora Hates You

I have seen many guys fall in lust only to leave it behind because in Florida, we don't get clean waist to chest rollers very often. The paddle on a real day, or an average day overwhelms them and they leave it behind.

-------------------------

"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

Two kinds of surfers. One will surf for fun take it or leave it. The other with so many words will chase it forever. Can't really tell from one to the other when out in the water. Its all stoke padding out. "In line and on time"

You could have told him to buy a really, really good wetsuit (and a really floaty board) and surf Lake Mich. Not the same, but, people do it. Not for me, though. I am a wimp! He probably did move to Florida, though, and only paddles out on his softtop on good days at the most crowded beach.

Reminds me of a time in the early 80's when I life guarded at Playlinda and a German tourist asked me if I could teach him to surf. It was a clean day, about 3-4' with some much bigger sets and no swimmers around. I had my short twin fin and a 12' or so rescue board with handles, so I said sure. He was doing pretty good with paddling and it looked like he might catch a wave in no time. That is until I scrambled outside a bit further to catch a set wave. As I rode by him, he turned to watch me ride the inside. I kicked out just in time to see him sitting on that big log with his back to the next incoming set wave. The wave hit him in the worst possible way and pile drived him into sand bar real hard. I rushed back to him to be sure he was alright and he was as stoked as anyone could possibly be and reverted to speaking nothing but German and waving his arms like a mad man. I told him he learned a good lesson with that and said "Go get the board before it drifts away." He thanked me said he learned all he need to about surfing and swam in leaving me to get the board. I sat on the stand the rest of the day wondering about Germans.