WeAreH2O.Com Fresh Friday August 18 2006

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Pier Talk

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By Matt Michael

The year 1984 was life changing for me.

Following rumors of perfect surf and cheap beer, Kelphead and I left Central Florida, on a 4000 mile quest, to mainland Mexico. We drove around the clock for days on end finally arriving somewhere West of Guadalajara to find perfect, almond shaped tubes.

The sight of perfect, uncrowded, warm water surf, was indelibly etched upon my mind. All these years later, I can still recall the feeling we had when we drove up to Pascuales for the first time. I recall meeting the only local Gringo that lived in the town. His name was Marty Pearlman, and of all the people I have met on this earth, I think he influenced me more than just about anyone else.

You see, Marty had found what we all seem to be searching for.

A Life.

He lived in a palapa with cane walls, a crudely hand poured cement floor, a thatch roof, and possessed the only American Standard toilet for miles around.

While most Americans dedicate their life climbing the corporate ladder, only to find a meaningless existence, Marty had, it seemed to me, found the Fountain of Youth.

He was a minimalist.

He ran his life in search of the heaviest barrels he could find. He was in his mid-forties, and worked back in Cali for 3 months out of the year. He would buy large prawns off the shrimp boats, and deliver the fresh catch to restaurants up the coast. He worked the season, so that he could supply his surfing habit for the rest of the year.

He was very proud of his humble hut and with good reason. The local mestizos had homes built out of the same thatch and wild cane, but none had a cement floor like Marty.

Two doors down, Tia cooked dog meat tacos, rice, and beans for any of the transient surfers who occasionally passed through, but Marty lived there and was considered a local.

He had seen a lot. DEA agents gone bad, federales robbing gringos at gun point, huge pot scores, and all the untold events of a lawless land.

Life is cheap in Mexico, but Marty seemed to fit right in. His toilet was his luxury and that wave was his life.

Marty liked sharing his philosophy on life with those who would listen. He saw the world and its resources as finite. He felt that by living a simplistic lifestyle, he was actually enabling others to enjoy a better life. Like someone who shares the meal off his plate with four others, he only consumed enough to support his meager existence on this planet.

He had two Brewers though, and he knew how to use them.

He also had a minimalist surf style. Like many of the old school surfers, he would drop in, fade a bit, and then just stand composed as the wave did all the work. Pascuales, that awesome wave, consistently provided exactly what he craved.

After that first trip, I returned at least twice a year, and surfed from Manzanillo down to Rio Nexpa. I fell in love with that country, and had more adventures and close calls than most of us in a lifetime.

There were the relationships with Tia and El General.

I called Tia's brother the General, because when he wrote his address, he put "General Delivery" and in my non-Spanish speaking ignorance, I thought he was ex-Army. He loved it when I would call him El General though.

There was the hard learned lesson when I traveled two days by bus to get there, only to snap my board on my very first barrel!

Lesson being: bring more than one board when heading to Pascuales.

Other peripheral events make the experience blend in with the life changing year of 1984. For instance, betting on crab races at Nexpa with the Aussies. Standing up to the crooked custom officials that ripped off my van, and all 5 of my surfboards. Being around Hilario on his last days before the federales killed him for beating his wife. Trading a pair of baggies for a pound of Michoacan primo-buds. Finding some poor gringo buried up to his neck and the crabs stealing his identity. A three point turn that put me over a cliff, and being saved from death by a single strand of barbed wire. I spent my honeymoon there as well, my new bride and I hitching a ride in the back of a friend's pickup truck all the way to Marty's hut.

Marty Pearlman, did I ever say "Thank You"?

I don't think I did.

He must be near 60 now, and if you are part of the ever increasing Pascuale’s fan club, and you see an old guy fade and get totally shacked, then let him have his wave.

He earned it!

Surfing into Spirituality

I hope you have your reading glasses on!

In an E-mail correspondence I was sent this excellent read from University of Florida Professor Bron Taylor.

The article is currently unpublished and Dr. Taylor wouldn't mind some feedback on it. The title is Surfing Into Spirituality and it touches on the sport of surfing as a religious pursuit. It is 32 pages long (thus the reading glass requirement) but delves deep into the psychee of the Soul of Surfing.

In a funny e-mail exchange when I told him it was long and took me a couple days to finish it he replied, "blame the academic not the surfer."

So, read it at your leisure. It is an excellent and indepth essay. Hopefully we see it published in the future.

Check it out at this link in Adobe Acrobat format: Surfing into Spirituality ~ and a New, Aquatic Nature Religion

Dr. Bron Taylor's main home page can be found here: http://www.religionandnature.com/bron/

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We Are Water Happenings

I’m sorry I missed last week’s Fresh Friday article but I concentrated on getting a business license instead. We Are Water is now incorporated in the State of Florida and I’m also working on getting a Brevard County occupational license along with IRS tax ID, etc. I’m not much of a businessman so it's been a struggle to do. But with the help of my wife who just earned her MBA at Florida Tech last week, We Are Water is now We Are Water, Inc.

I put out two new links last week as well. BK William had a neat Surf Survey article. It is a semi-humorous read. Check it out at the Guest Writer section of We Are Water: A Surf Survey by BK William

Also, I finally found time to edit the Walt Barnes interview. Walt has been a friend of mine for awhile and I first met him on-line back in 1995 when he started one of the first on-line surf reports and forecast. There were growing pains and learning curves to overcome and Walt helped lay the first bricks for on-line surf reporting. Check out the interview over at the Waterview link here: Walt Barnes Interview

Also, we finally had some sizeable surf this past week. The summer has been filled with small SE swells but we got our first NE swell of the Fall season. An unseasonable cold front moved off the waters of Cape Hatteras and provided a lengthy NE wind fetch that provided fun 3-5 foot surf for a couple of days. It was refreshing to go left again instead of the typical SE swell rights! As we slide deeper into Hurricane season we can look back at this NE swell as one of the first of the Fall 2006 season.

Thanks for Checking out We Are Water ...Incorporated...

Fresh Friday out...

August 18th, 2006

David Reid

Sales@WeAreH2O.Com

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