This site has a surfing thread! I had no idea. I posted this a while back on a kneeboarding site with the subject "The lineup laughed at my post-ride comments". One crucial thing to know is that Bing made boards called Bonzers that were unbelievably fast. They design died out quickly because virtually all of the boards produced by imitators had at least one severe flaw in their riding characteristics. See attached illustration
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The lineup laughed at my post-ride comments
It was early in 1975 at Lowers (Lower Trestles in California). The crowd built slowly, partly because it was a weekday and partly because the swell had doubled overnight to 8' - 10'. After enough sets had passed without catching a wave, I decided to test if the superior speed of my Bing Bonzer would let me take off in the ajacent 'nicely shaped but too fast to be made' section. I figured I'd come off the bottom and then give a surfer paddling shoarward the choice of backpaddling or getting T-boned by the warp speed kneeboarder. It worked, so I kept pushing my takeoff point up the coast until I was far enough to make my post wave description both accurate and funny.
After yet another long paddle to my lineup I headed outside so I could rest floating on my back without worring about a sneaker set. Don't know what I was worried about, it had been consistent three wave sets with the largest always the third.
After resting I looked outside before heading in. Saw something I'd never seen before. Part of the horizon was more blue than the inshore water. I'm so nearsighted that I have to squint to make out the letter at the top of the eye chart so I wasn't sure what I'd seen. But I'd messed around in boats outside the surfline to know what it could be. Headed out to sea at an easy pace.
As the first swell of a set approached I thought that I was so far outside that it's going to be embarrassing the next time I paddle through the lineup on the way to my lineup. I reached the top of the roller and Time. Slowed. Down. The next wave was clearly larger than anything seen that morning. It hadn't stood up yet but was showing patches of whitewater along the top where it was passing over shallower spots. But that wave didn't concern me too much because the third wave of the set was clearly larger than the second. And it also was dragging whitewater in a few places.
Felt the crest pass under me and looked over my shoulder. Saw I still had line of sight to the lineup and yelled 'Outside!' for all I was worth. Put my head down and paddled, just hoping not to get caught inside and lose my board.
The third wave was a big mushburger when I reached the base, but had top to bottom green water in front of me. Half way up I flicked my board around, took off and rode it to the shore. It was the longest ride, longest tube and most unbelievable ride of my 11 years worth of catching waves. The memories are etched into my brain, so where I use double quotes below, it's because I'm certain that's what I said.
Stopped in the lineup on the way back out and said to my friend "Did you see me backdoor that cloudbreak freight train that pulled through here about 15 minutes ago?". "Yes" he said, with what sounded like disbelief and astonishment in his voice, mirroring the two emotions that still flooded me. I began babbling a monologue, punctuated by pauses, trying to find some way of describing what I'd been through: can't believe I made it .... didn't think I was ever coming out ... wondered if this is a dream ... in there so long my eyes dark adjusted ... f*ck ... sh*t ... (then, with confidence because I realized I had it) "I haven't been that deep, that long since before I was born."
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