Just-past-dawn-patrol
This morning, I awoke at 6 AM thanks to my Freestyle digital watch. Last night, Brian suggested that we meet in the water for a just-past-dawn-patrol. I drive into the resort and see Bri walking down the road with his nine foot surfboard. I honk my horn, we wave at eachother, I park the Explorer, grab the board and jog easily to the waiting Bri. We walk along the road that leads to Turtle Bay's giant hotel as the sky is mostly occulted by clouds and the wind polishes our skin.
Bri hands me the Sticky Bumps wax after he's done with it. I put another thin layer on my wet board and Bri walks on the lava rock, eases into the water and begins to paddle out to the point that the hotel was built on. I paddle behind him feeling fresh, eyes stinging just a bit. I can smell Bri's suntan lotion on the water.
The second Bri reaches one of the magic launch spots along the craggy reef, a wave arrives as if it had been waiting for him. Bri obliges, turns the board around while sitting on it, lays on his stomach, paddles easily, catches the wave, stands up. I watch him as he smoothly takes the ride away from me 100 yards.
Another wave arrives, I catch it, stand up and take it 60 or 70 yards. This is how the morning goes. Bri catching a wave and then I. I managed to nose 2 waves. 'Watch your position on the board,' I tell myself. We have the whole point to ourselves. Another beautiful day on the North Shore. There was one surfer here when we arrived but he paddled in just as soon as we paddled out. An hour later, we see a father and daughter making there way out. Our shift is over. Bri and I catch a wave together. I nose this one and the wave spins me around and tosses the board into the air. Bri begins to paddle across the bay and I follow. He slowlly gets further and further away from me. I watch as he pauses, sits on his board, a wave comes, he catches it and there he goes. It's a right and takes him further away. I just keep on paddling, pleasantly surprised that I am not more tired. My lack of surfing these past few months doesn't seem to matter much. I paddle, paddle, paddle. At 2 different moments along this watery journey, I lose my view of Bri entirely as the small bumps of wavy water obscure his whereabouts. Each time this happened, I stopped, sat on the board and then spotted him around a hundred yards or so in the distance. Finally, the shore seems to be closer. I start counting my strokes.
On my 88th paddle, I pull up next to Bri. He gives me the beta for catching one final wave to shore. "It is low tide, so watch out, don't jump off your board and there's a rock over there."
I watch him catch one, he's on his feet, reaches the reefy shore, lays back on his stomach and then he's walking thru ankle deep water and standing on the sand. I wait for the right wave which does not come. As a consequence I paddle the last 40 yards to solid ground.
We walk 30 yards to a lawn of short grass that runs along side the golf course. We run 3 or 4 splits that seem to be about a hundred yards. Then we run one backwards. That's a nice morning workout. We walk back to his condo, hose off the boards and the say good-bye.
Bri hands me the Sticky Bumps wax after he's done with it. I put another thin layer on my wet board and Bri walks on the lava rock, eases into the water and begins to paddle out to the point that the hotel was built on. I paddle behind him feeling fresh, eyes stinging just a bit. I can smell Bri's suntan lotion on the water.
The second Bri reaches one of the magic launch spots along the craggy reef, a wave arrives as if it had been waiting for him. Bri obliges, turns the board around while sitting on it, lays on his stomach, paddles easily, catches the wave, stands up. I watch him as he smoothly takes the ride away from me 100 yards.
Another wave arrives, I catch it, stand up and take it 60 or 70 yards. This is how the morning goes. Bri catching a wave and then I. I managed to nose 2 waves. 'Watch your position on the board,' I tell myself. We have the whole point to ourselves. Another beautiful day on the North Shore. There was one surfer here when we arrived but he paddled in just as soon as we paddled out. An hour later, we see a father and daughter making there way out. Our shift is over. Bri and I catch a wave together. I nose this one and the wave spins me around and tosses the board into the air. Bri begins to paddle across the bay and I follow. He slowlly gets further and further away from me. I watch as he pauses, sits on his board, a wave comes, he catches it and there he goes. It's a right and takes him further away. I just keep on paddling, pleasantly surprised that I am not more tired. My lack of surfing these past few months doesn't seem to matter much. I paddle, paddle, paddle. At 2 different moments along this watery journey, I lose my view of Bri entirely as the small bumps of wavy water obscure his whereabouts. Each time this happened, I stopped, sat on the board and then spotted him around a hundred yards or so in the distance. Finally, the shore seems to be closer. I start counting my strokes.
On my 88th paddle, I pull up next to Bri. He gives me the beta for catching one final wave to shore. "It is low tide, so watch out, don't jump off your board and there's a rock over there."
I watch him catch one, he's on his feet, reaches the reefy shore, lays back on his stomach and then he's walking thru ankle deep water and standing on the sand. I wait for the right wave which does not come. As a consequence I paddle the last 40 yards to solid ground.
We walk 30 yards to a lawn of short grass that runs along side the golf course. We run 3 or 4 splits that seem to be about a hundred yards. Then we run one backwards. That's a nice morning workout. We walk back to his condo, hose off the boards and the say good-bye.
posted by Dij at 1:55 PM
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