NB: The image isn't mine but I have chosen one that gives you the size. Our break is also a right not a left.The praying must have worked because we got some decent swell and offshore winds. It wasn't even that crowded which was surprising given the recent 'drought'.
As usual I chose a spot just off the main break and waited for the sets that would swing further around the point and therefore wide. It was pretty chaotic because some bigger closeouts were coming through and I was wearing a few of them because of my position. But I was also getting a lot of short rides before they closed down, more than most people who were competing on the main break anyway.
So I was doing OK until some young dude came hurtling down the face of a wave straight at me. I stayed where I was because he was a better surfer and quite capable of avoiding me. He really should have pulled out because we were on a collision course and that would have been the etiquette. But being on a good wave he wasn't going to give up, he pushed his luck, and my head, a bit too far.
Because of the size of the wave and my position, the full weight of his 6 ft teenage body and board came down on the back of my head. I actually felt a bit dizzy. Luckily though, I was wearing my Gath helmet. We ended up in a tangle of arms, legs and leg ropes which always makes me nervous because being entangled like that has implications for drowning. I surfaced before him and saw his arm extended upward, the usual precaution against getting whacked with a flying board. Instinctually I grabbed his arm and pulled him up, thinking he may also have got a serious hit on the head. We were face to face, nothing else to do but make the usual apologies and off for another wave. I did consider getting out because I was feeling a bit wierd but it was just too good so I stayed and got my best wave of the session.
The helmet has saved my head on quite a few occasions. I started wearing it after I fell on the rail of my board at Nanarup and ended up with 4 stitches in my eye socket. I originally got it for our Cocos sojourn because for the first time we were going to be surfing on reef (that's another story) I know I am the cause of some mirth out there - this 'middle-aged' woman in a red helmet. Robin wears a blue one and we make jokes about our alter-egos as Buzz Light-year and Astro-girl (that's what my family used to call me). I see teenage boys smiling at me and it's not because they are just being friendly. But the beauty of getting to this age, is that I really don't give a shit. I just quietly wonder if they will remember laughing at me when they are older surf tragics trying to get a wave and the young'uns won't let them get a look in or just mow them down.
