The water at first light

BML photo

I love having a home break. Friends that I know, only because we show up in the same place at the same time. It’s unplanned, who I get to see. Sometimes I don’t make it to surf when I want to, because of poor sleep or bad weather. But when I do, and I’m floating, legs and feet hanging off my board, running my hands through the water, I am oh so grateful I woke up and got myself there.

It’s a beautiful gift to get to know someone in the water, connected by the love of surf and a somewhat irrational habit of waking up before dawn - to be in the water at first light. And when you haven’t seen someone in a while and then see you them again one morning - what an unexpected gift. It’s like bumping into a familiar face at the grocery store. Except instead of shopping or running errands, you are both making time to refresh your souls through surf.

It’s the most magical time of the day. I love looking at my surf friends in the ocean, underneath a beautiful tapestry of colors and cloud patterns. The clouds keep moving, the colors keep changing... you look away for a few minutes to catch a wave or start a conversation and by the time you look back, the tapestry is already different... so different. When the air is still and the water clean and clear like glass, the ocean’s surface reflects the sky’s colors - a fire in heaven is mirrored below. Both are ever changing, I can’t tell which is more beautiful - the sky or the sea?

Surfing in a new place or at a less familiar break has its own distinct flavor of delight. The surroundings feel fresh, and the heart beats louder because you are faced with more unknowns. Like being on a first date, except, you’re rarely disappointed. On the north shore or west side head-high days, I’m happy if I catch just one good wave in a session without getting too worked. In Waikiki, my husband and I take his long boards out and share waves so long that it feels like we’ve traveled half a mile before we end up at shore.

This is the gift of surfing: that there are innumerable gifts… joy, friendship, wonder, fun, surprise, being humbled, nature, sea life, bountiful beauty, calm, connection, and so on.

At the end of a morning session, I take my leash off my right ankle, and the surfboard out of the water and onto land, until it, or rather I, am ready to meet the sea again. And then my day “begins.”