Life's a Beach

When I first learned to surf in Real Life (RL), I was in high school and had just moved to a coast community in Southern California.  I missed more class spending time with my new friends at the beach.  I had a crush on every surfer boy and surfer girl - curled sun bleached hair with that salty smell, tanned or freckled skin sometimes with a blob of zinc on the nose, and the ever present, "it's all good", passing a joint around the fire pit after a full day in the curl or on the sand.

Rell Sunn

A boy I liked had a long board - no, not a euphemism, an actual long board - that seemed gigantic to me at the time.  He took me out and showed me the fine points of finding that right angle and moment for momentum, and I spent most of that first few weeks of summer on my knees on the board, working up the balance and nerve to stand.  When he left the area to further his educational pursuits, he left me his long board.

photo courtesy Travishoots.com

That next summer and every one after, surrounded by short boards and every other combination of board fin, curve, and length, I faithfully lugged that long board into the waves until I could stand along the spray of a baby wave.  No big mountain water for me - I was thrilled to be standing and riding along the crest of any size wave.  Rell Sunn was my idol.  And after hours in the water, the best times were gathering around the fire with old friends and new friends. I had found my tribe.

Old surfers would occasionally show up on the sand - bearded faces, leathered skin, some kind of board no one had ever seen before.  Without even a trace of interest in the young bucks, they hit the waves in a ballet of movement that always left us in awe, and they couldn't care less. They weren't there for the admiration - they were there to live their life in the spray.  The fact they couldn't care less made us admire them even more.


Landing in Second Life ten years ago, I was naturally drawn to the sand and surf.  I landed on a strip of sand called Majini where the local surfers partied on the deck every day after surfing the waves.  You could almost feel the sun, the sand, the spray.  It was all there - sun bleached hair, tanned skin, surf boards, waves, the beach, the vibe.  Squint your eyes, and you're back in the surf laughing with friends.  Give in to it just a little bit, and you can hear the sea gulls.  It's always been about that.

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