Funny how big surf arrives on Wednesdays. Yeah, everybody knows we had big surf this week. Even my mom, who lives inland about 40 miles saw it on the news.

I called my mom on Thursday the 6^th to wish her a happy birthday. She says, “oh I saw the big waves and I just knew you were out there, I was thinking, now he shouldn’t be doing this but… I just knew you would be out there, you wouldn’t stay away”. Too cute, she celebrated her 86^th birthday and she still worries about her son, who’s 59, getting hurt or whatever… surfing.

Now let’s see…. I started surfing when I was 13 so; this has been going on for 46 years? Well not really. Because inlanders that know nothing about the beach and surfing never knew what was going on along the coast, the news media had better things to do. So my mom and everybody else never knew what the surf conditions where like. These days the swells get so advertised, or is it sensationalized, that when the swells do show up it’s almost anticlimactic.

I stopped by the point on my way to the shop Wednesday, as I do almost everyday, to check the surf and conditions. It was really big. And so was the crowd watching. There were no parking spaces. There was a sign at the end of “C” Street warning of high surf and to stay away.

What happened to the days when the surf was big and it was no big deal? When there were places to park your car if you wanted to check the surf. When there weren’t news crews waiting on the sand at the pier to film a rescue and then go interview the person rescued.

I still know when we have big surf. I can hear it at night from my house. I can smell and feel the mist it creates in the air. I can look at a tide chart and determine when the best times to surf are. Yeah all that, then brace yourself for all the commotion at the beach.

I liked it better when you could go about your business and no one noticed. Oh well…it's OK mom, I'm doing fine, no need worry.

D.R.