The Run

The wave picks up my boat. It is not a terribly large wave but it is big enough to be worth the effort…I start the slide down the face. My vision switches from the five feet around my boat up to the line of the wave to my right. I feel the rail bite into the wave face as I arc back up the face and away from the pile. My head swivels to the left, I see some clear wave and then the pile. My arms shift my paddle to the left side of the boat and as my weight moves across the center line, the left rail grabs the water. I shoot back down the face back towards the foam. I shift for another bottom turn. As the wave catches up and starts to lift the stern end of my boat I reach out over the side, my eyes searching down the line. In the corner of my eye I notice something at the same time I feel a tightening in my abs. My weight is too far forward and my right, forward rail is running down the wave and not following the direction my body is going. My world shrinks back to the five feet around my boat. The bow pulls away from my head and shoulders while my torso sinks into the wave. I try a crunch to save it, but it is too late…I am upside down and my body is acting like a sea anchor as it stops my forward progress. I feel myself fall off the back of the wave. I roll up, blow water out of my nose and look around to see if I am about to get tooled by the next wave. I will do better next time.