Saturday, September 24, 2011

I Dub Thee...



Last Sunday it was sunny, the water was warm, the waves were perfect and all was right with the world (actually, all is always right with the world, it's just that we're often unable to see it that way).

Because I surf much better when I've done yoga earlier in the day, or have gone for a run before getting in the water, I brought my sneakers to the beach. I ran for about fifteen minutes and then grabbed my board. The 310 Surf Chics were there and though the water was crowded, the vibe was friendly.

The great thing about being a beginner surfer is the opportunity for so many "firsts" and "bests." Well, Sunday was the first time I caught a wave, dropped in, stood up and rode it all the way to shore. So it was also the best wave I ever caught. By far. It was a sweet little thing, but I was enjoying it so much that I was almost on the sand when I realized I was gonna have to jump off at some point.

So I fell forward. Or backward. I can't remember. Either way, I knew I was falling the way you're not supposed to fall when you jump off your board in shallow water. I knew, because I'd recently eavesdropped on a surf lesson for beginners (see above photo) and I heard the instructor say something about it.

When I fell, I ended up under less than a foot of water. But before I could get up, I felt a hard rap on the head. It was my board. It's foam, so it wasn't that bad, but still...it made an impact. The board rung me like a bell and to get those vibrations out of my body, I found myself "shaking it off."  It was the only way to recover from being so "stunned" and I experienced first-hand that the body needs to discharge energy in order to recover from a trauma.

Afterwards, I considered why this had happened.

From a Mechanical point of view, I knew that, obviously, I had fallen in the wrong direction. But then I looked at it Mythologically. And laughed.

Neptune, King of the Ocean, had seen my victorious wave. And when it was done, he gently tapped me on the head with my board and dubbed me...a Surfer.

4 comments:

  1. Love the viewpoint, and congrats! Just passed a big statue of Neptune in the plaza yesterday as I was walking home with my boys from the park, will think of him differently from now on :).

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  2. Thanks for the comment, Bethany. Where is that statue? I'd love to get a pic of it for the blog.

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  3. Most welcome! It's in the middle of Grand Army Plaza in brooklyn ... i found some pics of it here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/2596208945/

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  4. Hi Jesica,
    I thought I left and answer days ago, sorry! It's in Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, and there's a wee writeup on it here : http://newyorkcitystatues.com/grand-army-plaza/ and if you search Flickr there are loads of pics of it, I've never taken any myself. Cheers!

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