Steevie pulled up at my place at 6:30 a.m. on a Friday. The conditions were simple: go surfing, and a ride to a softball tournament outside Vancouver, WA will be had. After picking up Teresa, another teammate in need of a ride, we set course for Westport: a two-and-a-half hour drive southwest of Seattle. Apprehension, coupled with sleepiness and the excitement of trying something new, swirled about as we got closer to Westport.
Three questions — “Isn’t the water cold?” “Where to surf?” “Did you really say, ‘surfing?’” — were answered one by one as we pulled into the lot of the local surf shop to rent boards, wetsuits, and booties. By the time we arrived at Westhaven State Park, suited up, and were oriented to surfing basics, Teresa and I were ready … quite the novices in this extreme sport.
The waves wiped us out repeatedly and exhausted us as we had to also mind our boards as the waves dragged everything to the shore. My excitement began to metamorphose into doubt: why am I in this freezing ocean? The next wave came, and what happened next caught me by surprise.
As I took off, I managed to not only pop up from my board, but completely stand up and surfed successfully to the shore. Both Steevie and Teresa screamed wildly, but nothing was better than feeling the sun on my face, the air cleaving away from me, and being both exhilarated and at peace with the ocean’s power.
While the rest of the weekend was filled with hitting singles and rounding the bases at the softball tournament, I couldn’t shake the fact that I caught a wave … and I wanted to catch more.
Life, as the ocean, takes a hold of you and does its thing. It wasn’t until two summers later that I was able to surf again. By this point, I had purchased my own board, gear, and a car to get me to the beach. So, bet you really wanna trying surfing now, yeah? Here’s some more materials from The Seattle Public Library catalog, as well as a surf report website for planning your surfing experience.
Washington Surf Reports and Surf Forecasts website
The Beach Boys: Greatest Surfing Songs! music cd
~ Amy, Central Library
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