To my ocean athlete friends, Would you be the one talking or the one being talked about?
Excerpt from The Wave, by Susan Casey (Ironically also author of The Devil's Teeth.) pp: 125-126
"Far from instilling cockiness, their years of survival validated the attitude that had been there from the start: profound respect. Though none of the three had actually been born in Hawaii, they were native in their outlook, so the point of superstition. Whenever Jaws broke, they always carried a ti leaf along on the Jet Ski - a Polynesian tradition when going on a risky journey-for protection. 'You take the leaf out,' Hamilton explained, 'and the leaf brings you home.' For all the flash and technology that went along with tow surfing, they believed in timeless principles like karma, that a person gets back what he gives out, and they understood the hubris of humans trying to impose their will on the ocean."
"...In this belief system, to rush around after a cash prize for the title of First Man to Ride a Hundred-Foot Wave was to tempt fate. 'As soon as Billabong put the golden carrot up, that was when the carnage started,' Hamilton said. 'That was the beginning of skis on the rocks, guys getting hauled away. Everyone came out of the woodwork to get their shot at it.'
'They didn't need to outsurf anybody, Kalama said. 'They just needed to stand in the right place long enough for someone to take a picture.'
'How big was my wave?' Hamilton said, in a mocking whine. 'Is my wave bigger than his wave? His was sixty-eight feet? Well, mine was sixty-eight and a half. Biggest, longest, widest, tallest - what is it, a dog show?' "
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