The Singlefin
Out in the surf was one lone man, a local from the looks of him. I didn’t see or hear him arrive, but I could see his motorcycle parked a hundred meters down the beach. He didn’t seem to see me at all. Off in the distance, over the Pacific was a light squall. The squall created a distant rainbow over the horizon, just above the beach break where I had been surfing the day before. In no time at all it started to rain just lightly, quietly, over the beach and over the surf, but rays of sunshine were still coming through the clouds and glistening off the ocean’s surface.
The man remained unwavered in the gentle rain and managed to catch a nice, clean, right-hander that rolled slowly to the beach. He rode a longboard, a singlefin by the looks of it, and about half way through the wave he walked up to the nose and perched himself there, riding straight down the wave without cutting or turning, all the while perched on the board’s nose. He held out his hands to catch the rain and looked up toward the rainbow as he let the beads of rain pelt his face…never moving from the nose of the board, still gliding down the wave, this silhouette of a man with arms out, just the quiet of the surf and the beauty of the sun and the rainbow and the rain and nature all around him, having no idea I was on the beach watching him. All I could do was sit and watch in awe.
I think about that man and that wave about twice a year. I think it may have been the most majestic thing I have ever seen in nature.
The man remained unwavered in the gentle rain and managed to catch a nice, clean, right-hander that rolled slowly to the beach. He rode a longboard, a singlefin by the looks of it, and about half way through the wave he walked up to the nose and perched himself there, riding straight down the wave without cutting or turning, all the while perched on the board’s nose. He held out his hands to catch the rain and looked up toward the rainbow as he let the beads of rain pelt his face…never moving from the nose of the board, still gliding down the wave, this silhouette of a man with arms out, just the quiet of the surf and the beauty of the sun and the rainbow and the rain and nature all around him, having no idea I was on the beach watching him. All I could do was sit and watch in awe.
I think about that man and that wave about twice a year. I think it may have been the most majestic thing I have ever seen in nature.
