The Wave

One day, my friend Eric and I were hanging out in the water, waiting for a good wave, joking around, our surfboards afloat at our sides. And then I saw it. Just a tiny swell, a little lump of water on the flat plain of sea in which we swam. It was pretty far off for a swell that size. I remember thinking to myself that if this wave stayed together until it reached us, it’d be an epic ride.

It kept coming and coming . . . I felt my excitement build as the swell rapidly gained matter; soon it would be higher than me. In no time it was towering, some insane wall of water approaching and growing by the second.

Eric was whooping and yelling like a maniac, daring me to take it.

It was almost here! I jumped onto my board and started paddling like crazy before I could change my mind and chicken out. I saw Eric do the same thing a little ways off. . . .

The timing was perfect; I was propelled by the huge wave and I yelled triumphantly. The rush of wind was amazing.

I heard a shout from behind as Eric lost his balance and submerged, but I didn’t risk even a glance back.

My ride started to curl in, so I leaned to my toes, gliding nearly parallel to the monstrous wave. The wave kept curling in, and all of a sudden I was in my own little tunnel. The tube of sea surrounded me completely, and a huge, insuppressible grin spread across my face. At that moment nothing else mattered. It was just me and the wave, powerful, unstoppable.

It was so awesome, gliding with the sea spray in my face, but such times of ecstasy can only last so long. The ride through the wave lasted only a few moments before I saw the shore approaching and the tunnel shrinking. I managed to slip out of the wave before it completely closed in on itself.

It was an incredible experience that I will never forget.