Thems Some Big Waves!

A few weeks ago while on the Oregon coast, I wass, well, kinda scared. If you’ve never been on the coast, the sheer force of Mother Nature is only so apparent in a tornado, tsunami or hurricane. There, the waves were routinely 30, 40 and 50 feet high. Lincoln City, OR is one of the locations for big wave surfers to hit for international competitions. And, the whole time standing on those beaches, I just kept thinking, “Thems some big waves.” Again, power so apparent it caused my grasp on the English language to loosen.

I just heard an interview with a big wave surfer who is quite familiar with those conditions. The five finalists in the World Series of big wave surfers are buddies. After all, it’s a pretty small group of pros who can handle such a sport. At their most recent competition, there was a $30,000 purse at stake.

All finalists, five in all, were sitting and waiting for a temporary lull in the wave action to pick up. Didn’t look like it was going to happen. So, the competitors decided to simply split the winnings equally and head out into the water for the sheer adoration of surfing.

Would you do this? Risk a a good portion of a year’s salary in order to bond with other pros? I’m not sure it’d occurr to me to even make such an offer, but either way, wouldn’t you feel a lot more comradery with others if this were one?

After surfing waves that were 80 and even 100 feet high, the brothers of the beach simply saw this as an opprotunity to do the right thing-level the playing field and seize the day for the love of Mother Nature. Props to all the guys who took part in the sharing of the wealth!