The Last Wave

The hardest thing I do every day is get out of the water. After that, everything else is like coasting downhill. One thing that makes it extra hard to get out of the water, though, is waiting for just the right last wave. This is how it goes:

I've had a pretty good session. It's almost time to leave for work - I've got maybe another five or ten minutes, and start looking for the last wave. Any old wave just won't do. The last wave of the day has to be a good one, a clean shoulder or a big drop, something to take me all the way in to shore with a smile on my face.

So I wait. I let one wave go by, maybe two. Waves that I would have grabbed gratefully earlier in the session, or on almost any other day - just not last wave material.

Inevitably, one of two things will happen. The most common scenario: I look at my watch. Ten minutes left. Is that a set coming through? A couple other guys start paddling out and instinctively I follow suit. No, false alarm. Seven minutes. The horizon darkens a bit. I turn around and start to go for it, just in case. It bellies out and I just can't take off.

Four minutes. "Lord, just one more good one." Two minutes, and desperation starts to set in. Okay, looks like a wave; nope, just another ripple. One minute. Hey, there's one! Well, not great; I go for it anyway. I ride halfway to shore, and then catch some whitewater the rest of the way. Hey, it beats going straight to work!

What’s the ideal scenario? At the five minute mark, I have just about resigned myself to grabbing about anything that promises to take me most of the way in. Someone way down the lineup calls out. The guys thirty yards south of me start paddling like mad for the horizon. Sure enough, something's coming in. I head outward, hoping for the best.

Fifty yards south I see a longboarder take off on a big one. The guys closer to me aren't quite as lucky. They barely make it over the top as the longboard cruises by, and then they have to duck under the next big peak. I, however, am positioned just right for a beautiful A-frame that pops up.

I kick once or twice, but the wave itself lifts me high. As I accelerate down the face, I know that this is the last wave. It powers me exuberantly toward shore.

I wish I could have the same reaction to events in life. Oh, that I would hold out for the best possible time or circumstance, not settling for that mess of pottage!