Surf’s up!
Instalment 5 of Message in a bottle for Trevor.
No sooner was my one eyed teddy (from my babyhood days I admit with no shame) sitting on the bookshelf of my new room and my clothes in the cupboard, than I was invited to go surfing with the Johnsons.
Would these thrills know no end?
Firstly, I was seeing a new side of my aunt, Sarah. She is a person who takes her time to check a situation out but once she is committed ………oh boy, she is ‘all systems GO!’
We moved into the Johnson’s Garden Cottage known as ‘The cottage’ and it was shaken, stirred, dusted and re-organised within an inch of its life. Most of the furniture was theirs but new curtains whirred under the needle of a sewing machine she borrowed from Jane. There was a scrubbing of the stove that it had never before experienced. She sang while she worked and her face smiled even as sweat popped out on her forehead as she pushed the couch around the living room to find its best position.
I woke at sunrise with a beep of my cel phone. My feet hit the cool tiles running as I splashed water on my face, grabbed the wetsuit that Gary had shoved at me and joined them in the 21 year old aged Prado that was already piled with surfboards on its roof.
The mere sight of it made me joyous. I could simply have stood for an hour appreciating the fact that here I was enjoying the birth of a brand new day, birdsong and orange glow over the rooftops, about to go surfing.
It was the most awesome feeling.
But I got my ‘goo goo eyed wonder’ under control, though Nellie got it I think because she gave me a sweet ‘different’ sort of smile and then we were off in a roar of exhaust fumes, dogs begging to come with us and yells to ‘hurry up Gary!’.
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The sight of sunrise over the sea ………..oh my word ……….all shimmering gold right to our feet in the cool little waves ……. from the horizon. A lone surfer was ahead of us, already catching his first wave. And then, would you believe it, a V shape of cormorants flew across the flaming sky……... Stunning!
But no time is to be wasted when the waves are perfect.
I was left in the hands of 12 year Nellie.
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I was faintly disappointed, she seemed so slight next to the bulk of her twin brothers, but they were fully occupied that morning. Gary was coaching a group of ‘troubled’ kids from a local school and Billy Bob was in top training for the club champs. Their dad, Bill waved to us as he joined his mate on the back line.
Nellie rose up like a champ which I heard later that she was in the under 13 section for girls.
She had already checked that I had been taught the basics in England where I had been born. So on this bright sunshiny day she got me into the water and checked my position on the board Gary had lent me. ‘Make sure that your feet stay together,’ she advised. ‘Come slightly further forward so the board is level on the water. Remember to arch your back and paddle using those muscles, not just your arms,’ she advised seriously.
I did as instructed and felt the difference immediately.
‘Let me see how you get up.’
I tried on a small wave and fell immediately into the white foam.
‘You’ve got to be quicker,’ she said. ‘Anchor that back left foot and swiftly get your right foot and your weight forward, then balance with your weight evenly distributed over both feet.’
Under her capable instruction I was soon ready to go further out with her and then…………………………........................
I was on my own.
Being out on the waves, far from shore, takes me into a zone of comfort and joy that I know nowhere else. Time, place and people fade and a feeling of well being invades my body.
I sat on my board that morning and let the rhythm of the ocean take over. I felt the surge as I rose and fell on that glorious first morning.
Most of Durban was still asleep and the view from the foaming tops of the waves, gently pushing and pulling me, luring me into her pulse, was stunning. I imagined tiny little people waking, still snuffling into their pillows trying to make the day go away, making coffee, hurrying to get into town and I was at peace.
I watched in admiration as Nellie got up and caught a curl of foaming blue. She was married to the wave as she rode it almost to the beach.
I felt the power of the approaching wave and with my heart a thundering roar, I turned my board at the right moment. To my amazement I got it just right and with my weight over my spread feet I towered like a giant and rode the wave 50 glorious metres'.
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I lost concentration for a split second and fell. I relaxed under the sea, seeing bubbles and blues swirl, before I shot up to try it all again.
Nellie appeared next to me and with a ‘thumbs up’ we both started paddling towards the horizon, ducking beneath the frothing caps of waves. I felt new energy as I arched my back and knew I was going to suffer the next day as I worked muscles that hadn’t been used for a long while.
‘No gain without pain’, I thought and smiled wryly.
Bill Johnson beckoned us in from the shore, a black silhouette with his board still attached by his line to his ankle.
‘Breakfast,’ he boomed as Nellie and I surfed in.
We sat at a table on the deck with platters of fried eggs, bacon and tomatoes slapped down in front of us by kids my age it seemed, earning pocket money. The sun dried and the salt tightened the skin on my back as I tucked in to this feast.
Conversation ebbed and flowed with shouts of derision from Gary as his brother appeared. ‘You missed the biggest one bro……… but that last one was the best,’ he conceded as Billy Bob threatened to cuff him alongside his ear.
Bill went along with all the teasing, laughing and bad table manners with only one, ‘finish the food in your mouth before you speak again, Billy! Your mother would have a fit,’ he added with a smile.
‘Now to serious things Trevor,’ and a chill crept into my ‘floating in the clouds’ heart. ‘Why oh why couldn’t I just become one with the sea and sky and never come back to earth?’ I asked myself but with one look at Bill’s face I pulled myself together and when I heard the word ‘school’ I realised that the perfect magic of the morning was over.
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Read Instalment 6 to find out what challenges Trevor faces
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