Early Days
by Eric Passino
It seems like only yesterday, that I was speeding
down the lines. It seems like a dream but if it was I wouldn't know. I remember it so
clearly. The fun waves in front of my beach house. They were the waves in Atlantic Beach,
North Carolina. When surf and East Coast come up people tend to think, not much. But they
are wrong. Almost every day there, is ride-able surf.
Many times I would go down to the pier to surf with others. The best surf of the summer
came at the end when all the locals all had school, so it was just me and the waves. I
would catch wave after wave. For about 5-6 hours, I would paddle into it, drop in and just
ride, I would just ride it. No cutbacks no turns, just straight down the line. I would
take my time, I would look at the wave, at the back of my board as it cut into the water.
It is not often that one would get to do this. But I did all day. Sometimes I would go to
the break outside and ride the waves all the way in on my long board. Other times I would
take my friends short board out and drop down as sharp as could be. I would go left and
occasionally the wave would start going over me and because of the pure thrill I would
goof up and wipeout. Those days were so fun. I could do that every day for the rest of my
life.
I had no one wave that was great. Every wave that I caught was great for different
reasons. One might have been the biggest or the smallest, one might be the longest of the
shortest. No matter what wave I caught it was great. Every wave, every day. Life with out
surfing just might as well not go on. As the famous Beach Boys sang "Surfing is the
only way, the only way for me now, come on pretty baby and surf with me yeah!"
Eric P.
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