Cocoa Beach, Florida - Somewhere on A1A
Cocoa Beach, Florida
Somewhere on A1A
Johnny and I made our way up to the Kennedy Space Center and
spent the day doing tours and looking at the exhibits on the grounds. The tour bus excursion included going out to
the launch complex 39A & B where the Apollo moonshots would lift off. The complex of roads leading the rocket
crawler from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad was massive. The last section on each pad was a ramp to
the pad tower. It took over 24 hours to
move a rocket the 3 miles to ready it for launch.
After spending the day at the space center we headed over to
Cocoa Beach to swim and surf. Now, we
were two Georgia boys with no ocean anywhere close-by but we wanted to try our
hand at standing on a board and racing across the water. We camped out on the beach and no one seemed
to care as there were a couple other tents not far away from where we pitched
ours in the cool sand of late afternoon.
The next morning, we headed over to Ron Jon’s Surf Shop
right on the beach and talked with a couple of guys who rented us surf boards
and gave some basic hints to paddle out, look for a good wave, and hopefully
ride it into shore.
The first time that I paddled out the back (out past where
the waves were breaking so that you’re in position to catch unbroken waves), it
was amazing. It was a little
nerve-wracking to paddle up and over waves that looked like they were about to
crash on my head at any minute. Johnny
and I felt like we were bracing ourselves for battle, taking on each oncoming
wave one at a time . . . at least in theory, until our fear and anxiety began
to rise. We had to sprint and get out
past the breakers and were quickly out of breath.
But once we were out, it is so peaceful. You get to sit on your surfboard, enjoying the
view while noticing how lumps start to appear on the horizon and watching how
they roll in and change shape to get a sense of where the wave will break, if
it’s surf-able or not and where you need to be to catch the wave. You watched as fellow surfers started to
paddle for a wave, started to stand up and then disappeared down the other side
of the wave.
As I sat there watching everyone take their turn in the
lineup, I looked out to the horizon and noticed a larger lump moving in. Uh-oh, thinking to myself that this one looked
like it was going to break sooner and way before it got to us. Crap. That
meant that we would have to paddle out to meet the wave. We would probably have to turtle
roll (flipping the surfboard upside down as a wave crashes over you) in
order to get through the wave without getting crushed. And, so we did. Survived we did, again waiting in the calm
beyond the wave. My heart was pounding
in my head.
After several attempts, the next time we paddled out I caught
my first unbroken wave, and then my second. The first was OK. After I caught the wave, I was a little off
balance. The front edge of my board dug in and I fell off tumbling underwater, having
to paddle back out once again. Johnny was standing as he rode down past me
heading a long way toward the shore. The
second wave was AWESOME. It wasn’t a big
wave but I got up, managed to turn my board so that I trimmed across the face
(a little bit at least) and rode the wave all the way into the beach. It was an exhilarating experience. You could feel all the power of the wave
surging forward and backing off slightly before surging forward again.
When you ride a wave, it's not YOUR power propelling you;
it's the strength of the natural phenomenon. Surfing was a great experience for me and
taught me a couple of things that carried on in my life. 1.
Check your expectations. I wanted
to just get on a board and ride the waves and it took time to do just that. My expectations exceeded my ability at first
but with practice I could get up and ride the waves. 2.
Slow down. Surfing is a fast and
fun experience but in order to do well, I had to slow down, learn the basics
and then have fun with it. After a few
crash and burns, I began to feel the balance and form that I
needed to see and catch the next wave.
3. Commitment. You have to have commitment to get out past
the breaking waves on your head and get to that calm area to ride the big wave
to the beach. If you give up before you
get out past the breakers you may never have this unique experience in
life. 4.
Patience. There’s a lot of
waiting involved in surfing . . . waiting for the ocean to calm down so that
you can paddle out, waiting for a set of waves to approach, waiting for the
right wave. I learned to sit on my board
and to appreciate the amazing gift it
was to be in the ocean. 5. Learn
something new. It was an incredible
experience to learn something completely new with my best friend. How many opportunities do you have to do that?
I was out of my comfort zone but I think
that was why this experience was so rewarding. Later in life being out of your comfort zone
is a good thing to help you grow. Yes, I
pushed myself physically and mentally. We
fell countless times; I got water up my nose and we both earned a few new
bruises.
There’s something about learning a new sport that makes one feel
incredibly alive. It made me happy and enjoying the experience with Johnny
remains with me to this day. This experience made me more open to try new
things and to be uncomfortable because the reward is often so great.
Later on, I learned to hang glide and fly hot air balloons and
traveled all over the world doing something I loved and walked down some unusual
paths in my life. But scuba diving, fast
cars, and surfing with Johnny started it all for me.
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