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Passing the Torch
B.K.William
I have taught countless people to surf.
I’m lucky to have so many relatives and friends that had seen Gidget, Endless Summer, or more recently, Blue Crush at sometime in their lives.
My talkative personality would invite the masses to punish me for always offering too much. When at the In-laws, never eat the fruit cake and think twice on bragging about surfing!
This isn’t the normal old-guy-live-life-to-the-fullest story. I’ve enjoyed my stellar career as the family/friend surf guru. There’s been many a reunion or get together where I’ve held a nerdy Midwest audience in a almost sublime like aura...
Eye’s locked upon me as my hands perform the ballet. The dance is a visual aid in describing how one can survive a wedging beast that was hell bent on stuffing me in a pookah hole to a bunch of Idaho Hodads...
...one arm elbowed over the head the other pointing like a gladiator ready to slay the proverbial lion...
Knees bent, and body swaying back and forth as if standing on a roller coaster. Always mid-act of describing coming off the wall of a wave there comes an enamored look on some one's face and they typically say, "I’ve always wanted to try surfing."
It’s a hook. If you were a fish you’d know to avoid that worm. Never wanting to disappoint, you and I reluctantly answer the same.
"Sure, I’ll take you. I have an extra board."
It’s a love for the ocean that makes us want to spread that feeling, the stoke. Though it’s quite beyond description, there will always be an instant connection for those that are captured by this magic.
It wasn’t easy dragging out-of-shape uncles and pushing my friends, brothers, and/or 3rd cousin from Idaho out on a clean 2-3 foot mid-reef reform.
The realization doesn’t hit you until after the clueless cousin let’s the board slip out of his hands right in the impact zone. Also, seeing the untied leash flail aimlessly behind the board and it makes you want to raise the White Flag dans la défaite.
Ironically, the only day the East Coast looks like Waimea Bay's shore pound and he has my big wave (and expensive) board in the exact, worse spot to get it pummeled and possibly broken. Accepting the invitation wasn’t the craziest idea that day. Any of us who thought that; the time from the house to the beach we could prepare this new warrior for the beatings that lie ahead didn't have my board's best interest at heart!
Forget bodily harm, this is one of my favorite boards we are talking about! Lesson's learned are to always have a beater board for instances like these impromptu surf offs.
A few of my favorite students were of the female persuasion. I met my wife while telling tales of monster waves and bravery. That’s a better article for someday in the future but even now I’m not sure after 15 years of who bested who in that tradeoff!
As a family comes full circle, I get the opportunity to teach a favorite young lady, my daughter. She’s had the 4 years of swimming lessons and now belongs to the dolphin club. At ten it may seem to some that she has gotten a bit of a slow start, but her surfing parents have waited until it was her idea to grow gills.
She got hooked just before the water got cold. On a small day at Picnic Tables after Mom and Dad had a go, she wanted to graduate from the boogie board in the shore pound. That first push into a little mushy roller was all that was needed. From the back I saw her stand. She popped up in a stink bug stance. The 2 seconds of glide captured another heart. The smile after a first ride says it all; the fire has been passed to another torch.
~B.K.William
