on my last day in hawaii, i jumped in at bowls to get just one wave
before i got on my flight to japan. i knew that it would be a while
that i couldn’t go into the ocean. in fact, i knew it was going to be
the first time in my life being out of the ocean for that long.
anyway, i caught one wave and paddled in. when i got to the beach, i
seen a local surfer friend and asked him, “how was your surf?” he
told me, “oh, the waves were small, the conditions were junk, and i
shouldn’t have even come out.” i looked at him and kind of got sick
to my stomach. that was just the worst thing you can say at a time
like this. i turned and walked away without saying anything. it’s
been bothering me since. what i should have said was “hey, you should
appreciate the ocean more. you shouldn’t be complaining about the
waves. surfing supposed to be fun. you just took all the fun out of
it. there are people in japan that would do anything to surf a small
junk wave right now, including me.” i’ve only been out of the water
for 5 days and i can’t wait till the next time i can surf….
the photo above is a wave in ishinomaki 2 days ago. is it safe? we
don’t know and nobody knows when they will be able to return to the
ocean. that’s pretty sad…. but just walking to the oceans edge
that day revived me. it made me realize that there will be a day were
we can all surf up here again. and when that day comes, i want to be
a part of it.
