My story post 32
As a teenager I read stories in the surf magazines about guys in Hawaii surfing big waves and being out when the horizon would disappear. I always wondered what the heck that meant…. It sounded ominous.
In winter 1967 I went up to Santa Maria with my sister and brother in-law Jerry to visit my Dad. My bother in-law surfed and we both thought that we would take our boards on the trip. Santa Maria is not that far away from Pismo Beach and some other spots. With our boards we could go look for surf on our weekend visit.
So Saturday morning we set out from my Dad’s house to surf and ended up at Morro Bay. I’d never been there but we found our way out to a spot at the giant rock that sits at the head of the bay. And what we saw when we drove up was some pretty good looking surf… a nice peak that broke into what looked like deep water along the rock where there was a deep water paddle out zone.
Though from our vantage point which was some distance from the surf zone and above the beach the surf looked good, and there was nobody out. So we got on our wetsuits, grabbed our boards and worked our way down the rocks to the waters edge.
When we jumped into the water we where surprised to find that we didn’t have to paddle because the water along the rock had a big rip current that took you right out to the line up. We really didn’t know where the line up was but when we got out to where it looked like the surf was consistently breaking we paddled out of the rip and over to the surf.
One thing for sure was the surf was much larger in the water than it looked like from the car. As well the current along the rock very strong and the size of the rock was spooky…. Then a set came.
So there we were, in the water all by ourselves and no one on the beach at a place we’d never been and looking at an on coming set that was much larger than we’d thought we’d seen from the beach… As the first waves came at us Jerry took off. I watched to see how Jerry had done with the wave but couldn’t tell because the surf was to big to see a rider from the back, he was gone and I was by myself.
I turned around only to see another set coming at me, but further out than where we were lined up for the previous one. I started paddling out as fast as I could and as I rose up the wave face of the first wave reached its top and looked over it to see what was next all I could see was feathering waves all the way to the horizon. I couldn’t see the end of that set and I couldn’t see the horizon. The wave right in front of me was feathering and so were the waves behind it.
I paddled as hard as I could to make it over the next wave. I thought if I’d get picked off by one these giant waves there was no way I’d be able to stay with my board and without my board I’d be done for sure. As I stroked up the wave face it capped just to my left and I thought I’d made it over. But the blast off the breaking wave caught me and bounced me completely around and somehow I was sliding down the wave face. Now prone and sliding down the wave I thought the best thing was to stay that way because if I stood up and then fell I’d be with out my board and in more trouble. As I slid down the wave scooting back a bit so I wouldn’t pearl at the bottom. I held on for dear life as I reached the bottom and prepared for the white water blast.
When it was over and I was on the beach I knew what it meant to see the horizon disappear.
D.R.
As a teenager I read stories in the surf magazines about guys in Hawaii surfing big waves and being out when the horizon would disappear. I always wondered what the heck that meant…. It sounded ominous.
In winter 1967 I went up to Santa Maria with my sister and brother in-law Jerry to visit my Dad. My bother in-law surfed and we both thought that we would take our boards on the trip. Santa Maria is not that far away from Pismo Beach and some other spots. With our boards we could go look for surf on our weekend visit.
So Saturday morning we set out from my Dad’s house to surf and ended up at Morro Bay. I’d never been there but we found our way out to a spot at the giant rock that sits at the head of the bay. And what we saw when we drove up was some pretty good looking surf… a nice peak that broke into what looked like deep water along the rock where there was a deep water paddle out zone.
Though from our vantage point which was some distance from the surf zone and above the beach the surf looked good, and there was nobody out. So we got on our wetsuits, grabbed our boards and worked our way down the rocks to the waters edge.
When we jumped into the water we where surprised to find that we didn’t have to paddle because the water along the rock had a big rip current that took you right out to the line up. We really didn’t know where the line up was but when we got out to where it looked like the surf was consistently breaking we paddled out of the rip and over to the surf.
One thing for sure was the surf was much larger in the water than it looked like from the car. As well the current along the rock very strong and the size of the rock was spooky…. Then a set came.
So there we were, in the water all by ourselves and no one on the beach at a place we’d never been and looking at an on coming set that was much larger than we’d thought we’d seen from the beach… As the first waves came at us Jerry took off. I watched to see how Jerry had done with the wave but couldn’t tell because the surf was to big to see a rider from the back, he was gone and I was by myself.
I turned around only to see another set coming at me, but further out than where we were lined up for the previous one. I started paddling out as fast as I could and as I rose up the wave face of the first wave reached its top and looked over it to see what was next all I could see was feathering waves all the way to the horizon. I couldn’t see the end of that set and I couldn’t see the horizon. The wave right in front of me was feathering and so were the waves behind it.
I paddled as hard as I could to make it over the next wave. I thought if I’d get picked off by one these giant waves there was no way I’d be able to stay with my board and without my board I’d be done for sure. As I stroked up the wave face it capped just to my left and I thought I’d made it over. But the blast off the breaking wave caught me and bounced me completely around and somehow I was sliding down the wave face. Now prone and sliding down the wave I thought the best thing was to stay that way because if I stood up and then fell I’d be with out my board and in more trouble. As I slid down the wave scooting back a bit so I wouldn’t pearl at the bottom. I held on for dear life as I reached the bottom and prepared for the white water blast.
When it was over and I was on the beach I knew what it meant to see the horizon disappear.
D.R.
Surf breaking outside the Ventura pier
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