I am floating in the chop of the sea. A few small waves flow in towards me on top of a bigger wave. They flow beneath me as I rise, gliding back down as they inconsistently pass; a jumble of white wash and surge spraying forth an incoherent mess of sea water.  

Sitting on my board, I wait for the perfect wave to push me in towards shore. Just getting back into surfing, it has been over a year and then some since last living on the coast. The swell is up today and intimidating. The waves are not clean but the ocean has something to say. Clouds pass overhead dropping rain and I see puddles everywhere. Little drops fall into the water and then bounce out again.

Rays of sun splinter the clouds only to be blotted out again by ominous shades of gray and black. It seems as if the sea is not the only one with something to say. I float over the swell, sitting on my board in a full wet suit, gloves, boots, and hood. The water is cold and continues to draw my body heat continually, the wet only slowing the process.

There are shadows approaching. It looks like a big set coming in. I can see the first wave inconsistently breaking, spewing forth foam as it comes towards me. I paddle towards it trying to get to it before it fully breaks on top of me. I am on the way up spearing the top foot of the wave just as it slaps forward breaking behind me.

Then I see it. Oh Sh**… there in front of me is not the jumbled mess I’ve been seeing up till now but a perfect eight foot wave quickly moving towards me. “This is what you’re here for right?” I find myself thinking. I turn to paddle. Before I know it, the wave is right behind me and picking me up as if I were a tooth pick. As I push-up to stand, the wave is already breaking. It happens too fast.  I feel the back of my board lift as I am flung forward head first into the sea.  No good…. 

I feel myself suspended underwater for a fraction of a second before being wrenched forward into the turning wave.  I feel my body crash and then find myself spinning as cold water enters my suit from all directions. I emerge gasping, half from being out of breath, mostly from the newly exchanged cold water that has made it into my suit.

Welcome back to the great Pacific Ocean! I have forgotten how much power the ocean can manifest before one’s very eyes. The mass of energy that is quickly carried in each wave through this thick median we call water.  I am once again humbled.