Mavericks

I have all these new words in my vocabulary since moving to the Outer Banks. Words like pop-up and swell and barrelled.

I have these words in my vocabulary because when we moved, my husband almost immediately took up surfing. Now Nathan and the boys are constantly practicing paddling and popping-up in the living room. New wetsuits and boards that are completely necessary keep appearing in the garage. Nathan slips out the door before first light to surf before work. I don’t know what’s happening anymore at my house but, I’m not going to lie, it’s fun. 

Last weekend we took the boys out to the beach to watch a pro surf competition. We could only manage to keep them engaged in one heat — the women’s finals. The young women were amazing, carving out these intricate rides out of lackluster waves. The reality is that I would have been dazzled by just about any level of surfing, so it wasn’t until their heat was over that I was really impressed. The defeated surfer (who happened to be the 2018 World Junior Champion) lingered at the shore until her competitor finished her victory ride. Despite her visible exhaustion and tearful disappointment at losing, she and another young woman hoisted the winner onto her shoulders and carried her up the beach.

There’s a chance this is customary sportsmanship in surfing. But it brought tears to my eyes, nevertheless, that I pretended weren’t there as I continued to bury the boy’s feet in the sand in an attempt to keep them still a bit longer.

This was on my mind when we read Sarah And The Big Wave, written by Bonnie Tsui and illustrated by Sophie Diao. This nonfiction picture book is about Sarah Gerhardt, the first female to surf the big waves at Mavericks in California. It’s an inspiring story about an unknown surfer who made a name for herself in a sport largely qualified by male victories. There is a timeline on the last page, the final event occurring in February 2020 when Maya Gabeira broke the world record for the largest wave surfed by a woman.

While I hid my own tears from my boys, I hope they saw hers so they know that their own hard work matters, but the real impact comes from hoisting up those on the journey with us.

#sarahandthebigwave