Pete wrote:
ok - this will make you laugh
25 years ago my 1st boat was a 7 ft 6 Raider Plastic Roto mould ( wave rider ) surf ski with quick release belt - this think went off in the waves, but the stand ups didnt like them in the line so were shunned Australia wide. Pity as it was a full thruster set up and I surfed bells and all the big spots, went off.......
Wow
![:woohoo: :woohoo:](/media/kunena/emoticons/w00t.png)
I'd forgotten all about that bit of my past. In 1989, a then 19 year old sailor, new to his home port of Western Australia bought a Raider plastic roto moulded waverider, strapped it to the roof of my 79' Holden Gemini wagon and headed where they told me was the best surf "Margaret river". Slept in my wagon overnight then the next morning headed down to the rivermouth. Funny the waves dont look so big looking down at the them from the lookout at sunrise.
Wetty on, jumped on the ski, and paddled the 300 metres or so out to the reef break, no paddle leash, no helmet, no booties and no @&^%$ idea
Stayed to the outer edges of the break getting my confidence slowly moving closer to the inner break zone, when after a failed attempt to catch a wave I turned around to see the horizon rising before me.
(Queue the jaws music). My heart went straight into my throat, this monster was still about 100 metres out but it was plainly obvious by the way all the surfers were paddling like crazy towards it that this was not a wave to be meddled with. I followed suit, paddling like crazy to try to cheat death.
As it approached it went eerily quiet
I knew it was line ball if I'd make it or not and as I paddled up the face I tried not to guess the size, but the saddistic part of me wanted to judge if so if by some miracle I wasnt consumed by this beast I'd could brag about the tale, like all fishing stories the size changes depending on how many ales I've had before telling this story but as I'm sitting in a cafe drinking earl grey you'll have to believe that I estimated it to be around 3.5 metres.
As I reached the crest I plunged the paddle in for one last final pull over the top......but something was wrong, the paddle moved too easily back, I looked to the side and realised I was still on the crest but was suspended in the air with my paddle breaking through the lip of the wave and had moved out over the wave and was about to be dropped into a terrifying ride not of my choice.
Instinctively I let go of my paddle and wrapped my arms over my head curling up into a ball. It felt like it took for ever to fall, I tried to time when to take my breath of air and then wham, I was in the machine, tossed and turned I then realised I would get spat out sooner if I undid the belt and parted with the ski, so I did.
Of course somehow I managed to surface coughing and spluttering and expecting the hordes to come running, swimming, paddling to see if I was okay......nope, no-one was, the surfers were queing up for the next wave, not an eye was on me....WHAT I had just cheated death!
I saw my paddle just a few metres away, and was able to swim over to it, now where was my ski?
As I peered towards the coast some 200 metres away I could see my ski sitting on the other side of the reef near the beach.
So began the journey back to land. Now this is wear the fun really started, after about a 30 metre shallow swims over rocks and reef I had to try to walk over 100 metres of more rock and reef while breakers were washing over it, with no booties on
Once ashore I was beaten, battered, bruised, cut, grazed, but grinning from ear to ear for the experience.
I called it a day went into town, bought a Gath surf helmet, leg leash, paddle leash and booties.
That evening in the pub I played pool with some of the guys that were surfing that day, rather than give me a hard time for being a "goat boater" the then nickname for us, they were truly congratulatory for the gutsy/crazy effort for this Victorian who had never wave skiid to go out and take on what the margaret river break had to offer.
After that I surfed around WA for the next few months until I went away on overseas deployment and found other sports to fill my time never going back to wave skiing again.
Thanks for that trip down memory lane