What would you do?
I am currently very much under the weather, moreso, maybe, than I have ever been. What began as a little rattle in the lungs five-ish days ago has transmuted into a vicious fever hell. My eyeballs ache, my skin burns, I sweat so much at night that the bed turns into a drowning hazard. I cough, I sneeze, I try not to turn my head.
Now, usually I’ll fight through diseases, it being a figment of imagination and such, but this one has me. Thus, I found myself sitting on a bluff, this morning, watching perfect surf roll in, sad. The water was a perfect admiral, sun shining brightly, not one puff of wind. The wife was out getting it while I slumped, taking in the scene.
It was peaky enough across a few hundred yards, spreading the crowd just enough. A steady stream of wide-eye’d hopefuls bouncing past by rut clutching all manner of craft.
I watched a middle-aged longboarder trot down the path. Watched him start on his knees then transition to belly after first whitewash impact. I quickly forgot about him but ten, or such, minutes later, I saw his board bobbing and riding the crumble all alone. Leashless rider clearly misjudging.
It shot out of the back, halfway between lineup and shore, and I figured the man would make it in time but he did not as an inside wave picked it up and raced it toward large sharp boulders. I wobbled to my feet, momentarily, wondering if I should go help. To do so would have meant A) moving B) getting shoes wet C) maybe getting pants wet. And so I slouched back down and watched the worst surfboard beating I have ever seen.
The board was slammed into the boulders initially then slammed again, again, again, again. The surge would push it up on the rocks, suck it back off, then slam it into their sides. Again, again, again, again. It took the rider a solid five minutes to get in, grab his casualty and paddle back out.
He, smartly, did not assess damage.
Now, the question. Should I have risked pneumonia to save the log or did I do the right thing in watching its death?
Help!
Chris Dixon and Frank: please email [email protected] from the address you'd like your BeachGrit login on.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
In the immortal words of Dr. Gay, depends on the context
Aren’t you clever?
a true High Fever Pitch, Chas. get back in bed with some mentholatum, honey & lemon, and a lil vodka. sleep it off and rewrite this blog ending with: I still wouldn’t retrieve it…
check-out line at the liquor store (owned by Syrian with a sibling behind the counter), I put on these shades and ask the dude: Why would anyone wear these? Answering: “They protect eyes when people throw rocks.” My thought, we don’t throw rocks here in the states?
https://images-na.ssl-image…
I learned to surf before leashes, so hanging onto your board was a good idea, letting it go for no good reason? Trouble from the “older guys” especially if it hit them or they had to let go of their board to avoid yours hitting them. big no no…teaches not to fall and hang on if you can!!
…….. if you let a locals board get pounded on the rocks, without saving it? ha..not good either, so board rescue got you a thanx, and a move up in the lineup a bit.
My first leash was just a stiff rope, bad idea. Leashes should be “mandatory” for hardtop longboards, in crowded lineups, they can be lethal anywhere.
surgical tubing with some string weaved thru and tied off to a quarter inch hole drilled into the back edge of my Greenough fin. can’t remember how it attached to me ankle.
I just tied some knot…first fall, wham…..that hurt. Then had to figure how to untie the thing. Local old guys hated leashes…”going to ruin the sport” etc etc….surfers today probably wont like the future”find my board” app. Featherweight hydrogen packs, board zips right back to you!!! Winner!!!!
As a leashless rider, I concur. I will make an exception for a friend’s board though I would not get pants or shoes wet for the cause. If you’re leashless, you swim and you accept that fate, as it should be.
Maybe the board was made from some super-tough stuff that laughs in the face of the rocks.
The guy didn’t check because he knew there wouldn’t be any damage.
You did the morally correct thing Chas, especially since you hate surfing. The only thing you could’ve done extra is grab the longboard and give it a couple more whacks on the rock yourself. Just to make sure it was properly waterlogged. You paddle out without a legrope you pay the price b!tch. Rest up and get we’ll son
FFS if it’s in the USof A….run down the rocks and fall on the board, get a lawyer,and sue for being hit by a board…..whiplash or PTSD or both and the retire to BG for life!
Do unto others, you know the rest!
Definately watch and enjoy.
Absolutely not. Seeing such is like watching some random couple arguing fiercely. It sucks to see, but cant not watch. The viewing also provides a perverse satisfaction that warms the cockles.
G U
The correct thing to do would have been video the board getting destroyed and then fetch it up onto shore and video the owner retrieving then create a gif of their face when surveying the damage and post widely, call your self a tabloid clickbait journalist?!!
If it were Kelia Moniz I probably would risk it, cause she lost her job recently..
She’d be surfing in a bra and panties.
Nah, watch it hit the rox, Daddy owns a surf shop I think?
She should write a book titled “How to lose a job when you never really worked”
a surfer’s resume…an oxymoron.
Burn baby burn
Put another log on the fire!
As someone who rides a longboard without a leash I can assure you we don’t want the unwashed masses soiling are boards. Sometimes being a superior being has consequences dogs on a leash are spared from, a small price to pay for untethered cross stepping.
I ride a soft top so that when I lose it to the rocks people can watch me give no F@&K$ as I bodysurf a nug in and mosey my way over to grab it.
!!
Same.
No Fucks Given, 2018 at the Bu \vvv/ https://nobodysurf.com/soft…
Ive got the hooded rashy too!!
G U
Malibu spending millions to improve safety and avoid head-on car collisions on the Hwy 1. But in the ocean, old guys rule and collisons ARE the Rule.
If you’re in the vicinity of the board, I think it’s common courtesy to flip it right way up. Much better projection towards shore that way. Maybe pretend to try and save it a bit as they swim a little closer and then whoooopsy! It slipped! Soz lol. Not soz.
intentionally push it out of reach and lengthen the recovery…
I would watch it and probably even film it to replay later and enjoy the moment again and again.
On a different note the Backdoor Shootout kicks off tomorrow and the swell looks great. Let there be maximum carnage.