I just finished watching that DVD I bought at Costco a couple of months
ago. (See Archive August 18--Week-end Strategies) It is a documentary
about Surfing Champion Sunny Garcia. I really love watching Surf movies.
It holds some kind of nostalgic,vicarious, and athletic adventure for
me. I was surrounded by surfers in High School. I lived near the Beach.
I went to the Beach on Fall and Spring look alike summer afternoons and
most of my summer vacation. I dated Surfers. I had Surfer friends. Much
of California's sandy shores is a Surf kingdom......uniquely its own
culture not shared with any other State except for Hawaii. Sunny Garcia
is 30 years old now. He started surfing in his native Hawaii when he was
about 12. After a while school became an obstacle to his daily ride on
the waves. So sometimes he just didn't show up. Today he says he does
not regret his lack of interest in school. He has won 5 Triple Crowns
and may not retire as he alluded to in the documentary.I don't see it.
The Rap and rock music background, played second fiddle to the
acrobatics on the water. I just watched stunned and awed(haven't seen a
Surf movie in a long time) by the reality defying stunts that Sunny and
the other surfers pulled off. You could have told me he walked on water
and I would have believed it. The swift movement of his surf board ,
maneuvered by Sunny in the water, whipped in and out, and up and over and
back again in one unbroken, awesome action. His arms, out to the
sides,or stretched out in front, his knees 1/2 bent and his weight
leaning forward, guided his board up a 30 foot wave and with one swift
easy turn whipped that sucker back down again in a blink of an eye with
the foam wake spitting out in the air from the back of his board. I
watched, I watched, I sat, I ate my Hit Cookie, motionless, my eyes not
daring to move from the screen lest I miss something. No one was around
to talk to me or make comments. (the T.V. Remote King is out of town). I
just sort of marinated on the couch and wondered why I had never tried
to surf myself. A year after I had started flying I was sitting in First
Class after a Breakfast Service to Honolulu. The other two Fight
Attendants were talking . One Redhead named Catherine, told me she had
gone to Pali High. I wanted to know if she knew an old boyfriend from my
second year in college. His name was Pete and he graduated from Pali.
/Really sad about him, isn't it?/ /What's sad?/ I wanted to know. She
asked me if I hadn't heard about the accident in Hawaii. I told her I
did not. Apparently he had drowned in a surfing accident . I was stunned
and a little shaken. I thought that I might see him again some day. It
is a long story, but I was not that nice to him the last time we spoke.
After I started flying and had left home, he had called my Dad and got
my new phone number. He came out to see me. I can still remember the way
he looked. He was tall and looked like Liam Neeson. (Maybe that's why I
like Neeson). We walked along the beach and discussed old
times.........the'dimple' story that made me laugh; the day his car
rolled back down a hill ,driverless, and him running after it until it
crashed into another car at the bottom of the hill, with such impact
that the windshield got destroyed. We laughed remembering driving home
that night with no windshield and the cold air blowing in our faces . I
see him standing there with his jacket and hair whipping around in the
late afternoon wind and the spray from the darkened waves behind him. He
was so nice. That was the last time I saw him. I sometimes think that
the story was not true, or because they did not find his body that he
really was still alive. Many times I think that I will run into him and
we'll sit and chat and talk about what it would be like to be 19 again.
I really do believe that I will. After that I never thought about trying
to surf again. I'm a bit old now to try, even if I wanted too. Most of
those guys start at 12 and are ready to retire at 30. I'm glad I grew up
out here. Only California natives really know what the culture is .
That's true of wherever you are from. We become 'enculturated' by the
traditions and the geography and the people we grow up with that is
indigenous to that region. It's as though we all live in a different
country even thought we are only separated by State Lines. I grew up
with no snow for Christmas and no seasons. But I had the Beach and the
Mountains.....and thank God I learned to Ski. I sat there watching that
surf movie, with a little regret and a little sadness. But I do know
there were other athletic adventures that I pursued. And even though I
haven't been skiing in a coon's age, I can still feel that cold wind in
my face, racing down a mountain with my speed loving soul taking in all
that white snow beauty and the California Sierra Nevadas . That is one
sport I think everyone should try . When you are 'whooshing' down the
mountain at that pace in the clear ,frosty, air with only two skinny
'boards' under your feet, its' an exhilaration that is hard to describe.
As far as my 'culture' on this end of the country is concerned, I know
the Surf Culture has affected the rest of the country as well. That's
where the word 'dude' got so popularized as well as (something or
someone) Rules! And also some phrases like"hang ten" and "Shoot the
curl". Some commercial surfing gear has spread out into our everyday
wear gear as well. Companies like "No Fear", "Billlabong", and "G-Shock"
who make clothes and paraphernalia for surfers and who also sponsor the
Surf Championships are well known all over the world now for their brand
names. I could have kept watching that film, and I might have, given the
fact that all DVD's now come with extra options to watch that could keep
you up all night. But I wanted to get something off on my Blog and go to
sleep at a decent hour. Surfers Rule! Peach