Only a Surfer Knows the Feeling

A detailed Summary of Only a Surfer Knows the Feeling

There is a guy from Hawaii that I know. Every day, he wakes up, straps his surfboards to the racks on top of his car, drives his car from a town called Ewa, across the island of Oahu, to a little beach known as Ala Moana Beach Park. He does all of this even before the sun comes up. He spends a few minutes just looking at the ocean, watching and surveying the waves and how they break. As soon as the sun makes its first peek over the horizon, he grabs a board, waxes it up, and jumps in the water. He then paddles his board through what many people call a journey: two hundred yards of dark cold water, blistering currents, and waves pushing back against each stroke made to push forward. He makes this journey to get to a point right past where all the waves break, to a point called the line-up. It's here, where he waits for a wave that he catches back towards the shore, only to make the journey back through all the cold harsh currents and waves again. He catches a few waves, and then catches one all the way back to shore, where he showers, gets dressed and then goes off to work.

He has one of the most stressful jobs I can think of. He is a counselor at one of the local shelters for teenage runaways.

A surfer often has to be aware of their surroundings. What ever he knows about what's around, him will greatly affect what he does while he is in the water. For instance, if a surfer sees a large set of waves off in the distance, he will paddle himself out towards deeper water, where he is safe, because waves break in shallow waters, and nobody wants a wave to break on them. It's also the reason why surfers use deep-water channels between reefs to swim out past breaking waves, instead of using up most of there energy trying to paddle through them. Sometimes there is no channel, so surfers "duck-dive" under the breaking waves. Surfers have to know where these things are and how to use them. It's all about being clever: Using smarts instead of strength. A single twenty-five foot wave at Waimea bay on Oahu's north shore can provide enough power to generate electricity for the entire island for three days. Not even the strongest man in the world can do that. So you have to be smart. It's just like real life; learn to work around problems, instead if smashing right into them face-first.

Most surfers also have to have respect and humility. They have no choice but to be humbled by the ocean and its power. At any given time the ocean can claim a life, with no regard to how good a surfer or swimmer a person is. They respect it by taking care of the environment. Because it's important to a surfer to have waves to catch. And it's not the preference of surfers to surf in polluted waters. They also respect other surfers. They learn to let the other person catch a wave, or to pull off of a wave if there's another person behind him, and not to get in the way of other surfers. They also learn to respect the person who came before them. If a surfer is new to a surfing spot, he doesn't go around disregarding the regulars. He respects them by being aware of who they are and not pissing them off.<

Some common words found in the essay are:
Surfers It's, Beach Park, Surfer Feeling, surfers learn, waves break, day spa, currents waves, breaking waves, person surfer, catch wave, life people, waves catches, people surf,

Approximate Word count = 1275
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English