A few months ago, I was surfing my regular spot. It wasn’t particularly good, and there were only a handful of people out. No real swell, a little too much wind, tide just a little too high–still fun, but not as fun as it could be. On the outside, there was a longboarder who was incredibly good. I was also on a longboard, because it was small, and I’m not so stubborn that I’m going to ruin my whole session for vanity’s sake over the misguided perceptions of the shortboard-exclusive crowd.
We traded waves for a bit, never saying anything to each other, just watching each other surf and enjoying the lack of other people. I happened to be in position when a decent-looking set wave rolled in, and took off on it. He was down the line a little ways, paddling back out. At the last second, he spun around, yelled “party wave!” and pulled in. I went high, he went low. I cut back below him, he got up high and pumped a little, before getting caught up in the white water. While he could’ve kept going, he pulled off the back and started laughing–not because I fell, but because he had fun. At first, I thought maybe I should be mad. Then I laughed, too. That wave was so much more fun than any other wave I got that day, and it was because it was shared with a total stranger that took a chance that I wouldn’t take it as seriously as some other people might. I don’t know who that guy is, but if you’re him, thanks for making an incredibly forgetful session a little more memorable.
Oh, and the film above features Trevor Gordon, Travers Adler, Tosh Clements, and Spencer Gordon. They love to party wave, and damn it, they’re great at it.
