Sunday, 14th of March / East Corrimal / tide coming in / 2 foot, 3 on the sets.
I though localism was all but dead in the surf. Apparently not.
I'd only been in the water 15 minutes when this little nuggetty wanker and his side-kick paddle out and proceed to paddle the inside of me and another chap to supposedly exert their authority over us. I'd seen "wanker" before on another occasion further up the beach, acting the same.
The waves weren't consistent so I didn't really worry too much. I wasn't missing out on anything. Anyway some time passes and a set comes through. By this time "wanker" has floated to the outside, but paddles back towards the other chap and around him to take the inside back, therefore assuming the wave is his to be ridden. The classic 'snake' manoeuvre.
Upon paddling back out to the line-up, "wankers" mate calls out "That's in your top 5" - meaning it's one of "wankers" worst snakes he's seen him do. "Wanker" simply replies, "Yeah...well if he doesn't like it, he can go to another beach." My pulse starts to rise and I'm starting to see red. "Good on you champion" I call out. Either he doesn't hear or he's ignoring me.
Time passes and another set looms. "Wanker" is in position but a little too deep. He takes the wave anyway and looks like he won’t make the first section of the wave. I want to make my point to him that he doesn't have it over me so I decide I'll smoke him which I proceed to do. He makes the point of surfing the whole wave behind me even though he has no hope of making anything of it. I surf it through to end with a re-entry manoeuvre, almost landing on top of him in the process. I jump off into the water to land right next to him. He looks at me. I look at him. We lock eyes for a moment as he decides whether or not to make anything out of it. He says nothing and paddles away.
I hate little dogs with large barks.
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
The older I get, the better I get at not sitting back and letting people put it over me. I'm too old for it and too tiered of it and way too stubborn to give in to it.
