This is how it all begins.
You get curious about what your neighbor's yard looks like, so you take a peak. You meet your neighbor and get to know them. You hang out in your front yard. You talk surf but not much more then that. Then you start running into each other in the water. One thing leads to another and you are on the same surf schedule. Before you know it, you are surfing hundreds of hours together and take surf trips.
The years pass and you start families. Your families are bound together by beach days and the love for the ocean. You look back at the years that have gone by and you see those amazing waves and the fun you had with your friends and neighbors. You smile. Life is good in Leucadia.
Photo by Ed Lewis
When my husband and I started surfing here, it was a very different scene. There used to be this one guy we called Puma Man because he had a long scruffy beard and when he caught a wave he'd go "HHAAAAAAAHHHHAAARRRRGH!!". He was also a stellar wave hog and would go out of his way to try and intimidate me, a sponger. I would complain to my husband again and again, and all Paul would say is: "You should've grown up in Hermosa Beach, so quit whinin'!"
ReplyDeleteThen one summer, The Puma was gone, but in his place were a group of groms, about 6 of them, all under 12 years of age. I called them The Lord of the Flies gang. They thought this break was a Male Proving Ground, so to prove their manley worth, they also went out of their way to cut me off and get in my way whenever they'd see us in the water. It became almost comical. After about the 50th time, I went up to one of them and said, "Hey, you know what? One day, when you're bigger, you're gonna pull this shit on someone not as nice as me, and you're gonna get killed, son". His response was, "Huh? I didn't do nuthin'..." After they cut their teeth on me, a woman old enough to be their mother, they went after my friend John, who almost got in a fight with their Dad who lived on the bluff. "Habitual little shits, aren't they?", he observed.
Then the Flies gang were gone, but a couple of years later, I saw this long lanky kid, with his family, and he kept looking sheepishly my way. It was one of the kids from the gang, and I think he was ashamed of his earlier exploits, or at least I hope he was.
That was over ten years ago, and all I know is, I'm still in the water and they aren't. It's such a relief to go out and see people you know who appreciate this break and I like to think the good vibes and stoke keep away the Pumas and gangs of devil groms. So far so good!!