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Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Have a Seat - Mr. SnakeyPants
From: Foondoggy <wfover@nist.gov>
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 17:43:55 -0400

Last weekend there were a few Father/Son surfers in the lineup at my
homebreak. I get a vicarious stoke watching these pairs experience
surfing together and get as much of a charge when a kid gets a good ride
as the Dads do. I know a few of these folks by name, but mostly we're
just nodding acquaintances.

On this day, we were really getting it good with exceptional conditions
spawned by I believe the remnants of hurricane Lili, which was just
spinning up some lines way out in the Atlantic. Most everyone was
getting good rides and there were plenty of waves to go around the 12-15
riders in the lineup. One of the young boys was just learning to ride a
new board and as yet had not mastered the technique of controlling it.
In fact, it was so new he hadn't even put a leash on it yet. So
basically he was being real careful about the waves he picked.

As luck would have it he was concentrating on positioning himself for a
good middle wave in a set and he didn't see me going for it, though I
was closest to the peak (I know, it's real hard to see a 215 lbs man on
a black bodyboard and black wetsuit charging down a green wave.) The
result was, he snaked me pretty good. I didn't mind since I was planning
on practicing my sophisticated controlled sideslip in the soup and I
could tell the wave was walling up for a big closeout. So I was hanging
back, riding as much of the clean face as he would let me. Since he had
his back to me he didn't realize he would turn right into me if he
cutback to straighten out. All of a sudden he made a lurching cutback
and my body board hit him just above the back of his ankles as it went
over his board. Amazingly, he just leaned back with a leg on either of
my shoulders, and gently SAT DOWN ON MY BACK!! The kid weighed maybe 55
lbs, so as we cleared his board, I still had enough momentum to continue
slowly along the wave face. 

The kid laughed out loud and grabbed the strap on my wetsuit zipper for
a handhold. Very quickly it was apparent the wave was going to closeout
and the kid yelled "Straighten out Mr.Foondoggy!!"  I assessed the
situation and thought, "Not likely, Snakeyboy. This could be the one and
only time you ever ride tandem on a bodyboard so to make it memorable,
WE'RE GOING FOR IT!!" The kid realized when I angled up the face of the
wave I was not going to straighten out and started to scream a loud,
"AH..OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" as we completed about 180 degrees of an in the
tube rollo before we went over the falls and got worked big time.

We both came up spitting and laughing. I let the boy hang on my board as
we ducked under two more waves of the set, then went in with him to get
his board. His Dad came riding in and since he didn't see what happened,
the kid had a great time describing the ride to him. The Dad got a kick
out of it but I was glad he pointed out to the boy to be more alert when
going for waves. The next big, freckled bodyboarder may not be so nice
and give him a ride.

-Foondoggy (One of the few wipeouts of mine I wish had been videoed)