Try and ignore this. Photo: Shutterstock
Surfers are a curious breed. There is no other species that will intentionally put itself back into the food chain. Think about it. As a species, humans have done everything we can to remove ourselves from the ecosystem that spawned us; going so far as to destroy the very earth we live in to protect ourselves.
When was the last time you ever heard a wolf say, “ Hey guys, let’s go put on some sheep clothing and go hang out down at the watering hole around sunset”?
But surfers do.
Surfers put on seal clothing and go out during peak feeding hours. We dangle our bodies over known spots of encounters in the pursuit of a “few tasty waves and a cool buzz.”
As a surfer, your experiences with sharks will start early. Because there are only two places to surf, town or the sharky places, like most kids you will get rides up from the older guys. Brothers or friends who will stuff you in the back with the piss-stained suits and melted bars of wax. Bound by surfing leashes, you will triumphantly wait for arrival at the mysterious breaks on the edges of the county. Straight to the heart of the Elephant seal’s breeding ground. Of course, being the youngest means there will be no hand holding – only taunting and the added pressure of a dead seal bitten in half lying on the beach before paddle out.
Forget about the threat that might lie below, and just keep moving.
Surf past the fear, past that place where your heart is a lump in your throat you can’t swallow. As the sun starts to set, ignore the older knee boarder telling shark stories. Especially the one about a friend chased out of the water by Mr. Whitey. Forget his laugh. Big and throaty how only thick men can. Don’t look where he pointed, the giant boil just outside of you. The one with those ever widening ripples that do not calm you in the way a pebble thrown into a still lake can.
Don’t listen when he says, “damn thing torpedoed straight up at us.” Just turn around and catch the last wave before dark in.
Never stop moving. Do not sit too far outside the pack. Do not be the straggler, the sick antelope on the savannah.
Perpetual motion, your only defense.
