Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Blue (10/08/09)
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TITLE: Saving Blue | Previous Challenge Entry
By Matthew Eldridge
10/13/09 -
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We scoped the scene upon arrival, adrenaline searing our bodies as the massive walls of water thundered into thick white clouds. We watched the break and studied it. Where was it shutting out? Where were the longest rides? Was it breaking better right or left? It was hard to judge such things with the strong winds and needle-like rain drops puncturing our skin.
After waxing our boards, Josh and I made a mad dash for the water and started paddling out. Within minutes we were tossed around in the soup, being sucked out to sea, and then spit back into the whitewash, being thrown from side to side. My arms ached, but I pressed on until I hit the first break.
Josh was a little stronger than me, and made it out in the line up first. I watched as he took off on a wave. He dropped in and went right, pumping the nine-foot wave with an up-and-down motion on his board. He made a beautiful bottom turn, headed for the lip, and smacked it vertically, quickly turning around and gliding down the face. The power of the wall beneath him was more than he expected and it threw him off his board, slamming him below the water and forcing him to kiss the ocean floor. I watched for what seemed to be an eternity. Seconds later, Josh’s board popped up – at least half of it. The powerful water mountain crushed his board in half, leaving part of it still attached to his foot. I continued to watch.
I heard a faint scream in the shallows, which weren’t that shallow in this storm. I surveyed the area, trying to see beyond the whitewater circus and moving liquid hills. I glanced back in Josh’s direction. His second half of the board popped up, but still no Josh.
“HELP,” the tiny voice screamed. I looked back to the soup again near the shore and could see the tip of this blonde headed kid bobbing up and down. Was he faking it? Was he just scared? Where were his parents? I looked back in Josh’s direction – still no body.
By the third scream, I decided to head into the shallows and help this young life. It took me a couple of minutes to get to the inside set of waves. Even the shallows were pumping six foot waves and crashing in waist deep waters, with a suction so hard nothing could stand in its presence. I was close enough to the boy to see that he had been sucked out into the violent deep waters well above his head. He was perhaps nine or ten. I watched as a mammoth wave engulfed him, throwing his small body around like a ragdoll. As the waters subsided, the young boy wasn’t moving. I was crying out, “dear God, dear God…”
I got to the boy and pulled him over my board. I grabbed the board by the tail and swam towards the shore. He didn’t appear to be breathing. Another set of waves came in and tossed him from the board, and I picked him up again and repositioned him. It took what seemed to be an eternity to get him to the actual shore.
Some tourists saw what happened and they helped me carry him to the sand. His face was blue. I was spent. My nerves were shot, and my energy drained. Luckily, a nurse was in the group and she revived the young boy with mouth to mouth resuscitation. I began to cry as the color returned to his face, and the young lad began to cough up water.
It was then I remembered Josh. I glanced out to the water and there was no sign of him or the pieces of his board. The strong current must’ve pushed his board down the beach, I thought, so I looked south of the pier. A young surfer was walking to the beach, about knee-high in water, carrying half of a surfboard. I squinted to make sure. It was Josh. I smiled. He smiled. The boy smiled.
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