Safe Passage

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Craigslist Post: surf board - $25
one full size surfboard with safety rope, it belonged to my son but he is in heaven now


that is all it said. Reading this posting I felt lucky and hoped I replied in time. When I opened the ad and read this simple statement I really had to pause. Lots of emotions and thoughts about life, surfing and surfers who have passed fell onto me like a good rainstorm. I felt a deep sadness as I thought about my perfect children and how very much I love them and couldn’t fathom losing them ever. I can clearly see the smile on my son’s face as he turned back from the shore to look at me standing in the ocean searching for a “thumbs up” of approval as he surfed in for the first times. Anyone who has ever surfed has the privilege of feeling a little closer to his or her maker and perhaps that is why I felt compelled to see if the board was still available not because I need another board (whoa…did I actually write that !? ) but rather I really wanted that kindred spirit to be nourished and given new life and I had something in mind.

I troll around craigslist looking for boards, some to fix and resell, some to ride, and even broken ones for art projects. So yes, I don’t really “need” a surfboard I suppose. Giving life to old or broken things is very satisfying. Fixing up an old longboard that was nearly part of the landfill into homage to a favorite writer (the Weisbecker Board) became an obsession, and I just finished one art piece from thruster with a broken tail for the Art to Heart auction to benefit Duke Children’s Hospital that used the surface of the board as a canvas. This board however had already found a new home. Maybe to be resold, or hung up somewhere, but ultimately I hope that board finds the ocean again since my plans to paint it and give it a new, multifaceted life as a surfboard, art and donation for charity events won’t work out with this one- but I will find another.

Still, this unnamed surfer will be given a little more life here among us; at least this is my hope. If we remember people, then a part of them keeps living and if we can pass these memories or things along, then maybe they are never fully gone, and they live forever. One thing I dwelled on much after a friend passed on some years back, is that I would have much rather been driving to go see him living and not driving to a memorial in his honor. So, go see your friends and family, don’t take them for granted.

Life and Surfing becomes synonymous to many. I don’t know much about some of the people I surf with; often I don’t know their names even if I have seen them a dozen times and even chatted with them. I do know that they are a surfer. Someone who shares the thrills of the ride, or utter awe at the ocean’s beauty and power, or maybe they too find a lot of calm and peace in the ocean. As I go left, sliding down the line on a glassy wave, I thrust my hand into the wave face, and I’m connected and time no longer exists. It doesn’t stop or slow down, it’s just not there. As I paddle out for a dawn patrol session, I breathe in the ocean air, and float facing the sunrise and experience one of surfing’s great pleasures. I know nothing about this surfer, and not much about others that have passed on really, but I don’t need do. I didn’t need to know anything else about this man and his son.

Now and again we lose a fellow surfer and remember them by paddling out and joining together in the ocean that drew them in and gave them new life as surfer. Isek Dinesen wrote…”The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea…”, and so wishing fellow wave riders a safe passage beyond in this way is really more for us, for those left behind. I am guessing the waves are always warm, glassy and chest high where they are now and the paddle out is always easy. I hope I have given a little more life to this surfer, and others you might think of now. See you in the water. Contact me at Writteninwax@gmail.com with ideas, suggestions or for no reason at all…