A NEW YEAR'S DAY METAPHOR AT COUNTY LINE...AND PUTTING DESIREE'S MEMORIAL PAST THE HIGH WATER MARK

It’s New Year’s day...the surf report from here to the north pole looks rather sham.....”sham” is two degrees worse than ”sketch”.....it’s all but ”flat”. But I want to get wet, anyways...or at least I think I do....

Two people in the water....at the far end of the point...catching an occasional one footer for a 2 second ride before it closes in the shallows. No one else to be found...no one even scouting. Still, I am called...I have driven away (dry) from spots many times because it looked wrong....windy, small, choppy, broken, closed off...or because I just didn’t feel like getting wet as much as I thought I did...

Today I was going in...it looked peaceful...whatever..

I got in the water and paddled out to where the twosome was floating....another guy joined me...a couple of one footers later, the original two had had enough for the day....the tide was going high, the water was getting choppier and things were only going to go from bad to worse...a few small waves later and the guy who had entered the water with me had thrown in his beach towel. I saw him out of the corner of my eye on dry land wrapping his leash around his fin. It was just me now....

I figured I‘d enjoy the solitude and the pride of having the “pink slip” on this surf spot for the time immediately in front of me. At least the sun was out....it was pretty and peaceful. Within about 15 minutes, approaching a choking “high“ high tide....I started to see some waves on the horizon. At first, consistent 2 footers....consistent. Then, a set of five 3 footers...ones that pointed to the beach and carried me to the sand. What? This was almost like defying gravity. The guys who had gone out of the water were following (very) conventional (and reliable) wisdom...as they should have. But, they’d be shaking their heads right now if they saw what I was seeing.

But, things didn’t stop there....more 3 foot sets...with very little time to scan the scenery. By the time I paddled out there was another set...no time to even catch a breath....more pointers to the sand....

After about an hour..another guy showed up and we looked at each other with incredulity as if we had found the lost gold doubloons of the sunken Nuestra Senora de Atocha. It never stopped...mind you, not giant waves...but consistent 2 and 3 foot sets that mostly provided some distance...

I felt the way I do when I am going a little too much over the speed limit for too long. I felt like I was going to be written up for having too much of a surf experience on an ”un-surfable” day.

I was tired...I took one last one to the curb and left what were two other guys behind in the surf....out there. By day’s end I had caught more waves in a single day than I ever had before....it made no sense. What happened to conventional wisdom...to surf reports...to the masses, to Poseidon’s laws of wavology? Thankfully, Newton’s 1st laws of physics were acting like they always do.

Maybe it is o.k. to take a chance turning your back on conventional wisdom...on where the compass is pointing...maybe taking a chance on something that looks like it is in the dark...is just what we need to do now and then. This wasn’t the greatest surf day of my life...not even close...but it was special in that it should never have happened. It was pulled out of thin air...and that makes it a very significant experience...it transcends surfing.

As I walked back along the beach to my car....I took the chance, as I often do, to walk by Desiree Zondag’s memorial. Desiree is the 36 year old surfer who was tragically killed while surfing at County Line in September. As I approached I saw some new offerings. I could see red ribbon, and some new flowers. The mums I had placed back in September were long on their way to being fertilizer...as I came upon it...I saw something kind of thrilling. I saw a champagne glass full of champagne, and a champagne bottle...and an empty champagne glass; a gesture of love and longing that was almost certainly placed in the last 24 hours. It was moving to imagine someone(s) driving the distance to County Line on a New Year’s eve with the heartfelt mission of placing a champagne glass in memory of one of the fallen, but certainly not forgotten. There were many new chotskies, some pretty clever ones, in only the week or so since my last visit.

Desiree’s memorial was strategically built at the highest point on the beach possible. The high tides and storms since September hadn’t been able to disturb her ever growing and gleaming monument. She endures. As I have said before, Desiree was only an acquaintance....but her passing has hit me between the eyes....and that is a good thing. It has expanded my humanity...I know it has...Desiree’s memorial on the beach represents Desiree, but it also represents all of the people whose lives are taken from them far too early...and it represents the sadness I feel for the parents and family, and friends, of this ”taken” soul and spirit.

A Toast to Desiree...and to all the “Desiree’s” that I’ll never know of....