Disclaimer: The following will not be of much interest to anyone.
So...Saturday was my birthday. Every surfer wants to surf on their birthday. And having a birthday on December 5, in Oregon always has given me pretty good odds. But this Fall has been for the most part not so good, lots of big and junky days. But the morning of the 5th. I awoke to sunny sky’s, Southeast winds and 6ft.@12secs. Got there around 9:00. Parking lot already full with side streets starting to fill up. Bypassed the crowd and walked out to the place I’ve called home since 1977. Daybreak crew starting to exit leaving 6-8. I knew them all. Some were young guys whose fathers I had surfed with 40+ years ago. Waves were perfect, really as good as it gets at that size. Friends being friends, I was gifted a number of “Birthday Waves”.
Not many people on this site. I don’t post much. Can’t say I know any of you. But we’ve probably ran into each other (figuratively speaking, of course). You might know me if you saw me. Different kind of board. Different fashion of wave riding (Thanks George Greenough). I started surfing in 1964 and have ridden every kind of board imaginable. But I like what I ride now because it allows me to surf the way I like to surf even at my advanced age.
I’m not the least bit resentful of the younger crew. Nor do I long for the “old days”. I feel blessed to have lived and surfed in the era that I did (and do). So many memories. Saturday was another, l can’t remember a better day.
Surfing, “The innermost limits of pure fun” Greenough called it. And it’s still happening at 68 years of age. Is that cool or what?