But if you do have a moment, wind back the clock and respect a culmination bringing this moment to a head. Without all that thinking, talking, dreaming of surfing. Without the countless duckdives, hold-downs, windmills and prone-outs. Without BK at Sunset, Gerry at Pipe, Curren (and now Slater) at J'Bay, GC at Manu or JM at Stent would you, could you, have just made that last split-second tuck under this pitching lip to find yourself deep and happy, halfway out of a makeable tube?
Yeah, probably. You've gotta back yourself in those critical moments eh, dig da toes deep into dat wax bruddah! Surfing whilst its going down is as personal, individual, as it gets. No matter how packed the parking lot is, how many buddies hit the lineup at the same time, whether or not you're burning that old dude you were just chatting to for this prime peak starting to rear its head, it's you, ya' numbskull, that's about to wear that fat lip on the head unless you paddle hard right now. Ain't nothing existential about it, surfing is pure existence.
Sure, everything else is too... its just that this is way more fun. Still, I do concede (and actually I take a strong interest in) that the past adds an important qualifying colour to the starburst one-eyed monochromatic sheen I stare through as I zip and zag through the crowd with machismo's ease. Ever noticed when you're surfing the best that every thing's happening all at once, but time is protracted, irrelevant, still? Is this really you?
Digitally speaking however, if you'd like, I can tell you exactly when and where the spray dropped as you were hauling arse off the bottom headed for the lip, camera's and definitely photogs' do lie, but custom functions don't. You failed to complete said manoeuvre at 16:54 hours and 23 seconds GMT at 42 South 186 East. Yeah, you dug a rail and blew it, and I gots' the proof. All, of course, at absolute sea level.
Searching for a hook usually abstracts into padding these ramblings, but it always does contain a kernel, but perhaps not of the truth. Time to state an intent: Having shot surf for a fair while now, the library and the back-room and the hallway closet are pretty darn' full. It's high time to let some of those images out into the light of day. Present them to the world (wide web) and see what they got. I gain such enjoyment from the chasing and taking these images that that's often enough. But in the interests of personal growth I really shouldn't be so selfish. It's catch and release, and I hope you enjoy them!
Rowan
Check out The Light of Day - Photo vaults of Rowan Klevstul.
