The Cry for Help

I surfed this morning.

Pulling into the parking lot, i zipped my sweater up because it look chilly outside. The parking lot was filled with tons of older guys and most of them had long boards. It wasn't looking promising for me and my six foot shortboard. I hopped out of my car and walked to the edge of the beach to scan the ocean. There were a good amount of guys out in the water but thankfully they were all spread out. Wind was making the waves mushy but every now and then a set would come handing out rides to select surfers. Realistically it was not that great out there but I had to get in the water.

I paddled out to a part in the lineup that wasn't too crowded. Through the first hour of being out there I caught quite a few good waves and definitely had the most fun surfing in San Diego since I've been here.

There were a group of 5-7 of us in my area and there was another large batch of surfers closer to a point break down the beach. As I sat out there checking for incoming waves I noticed this dude a good 100 yards out past where I was. He started to yell for help. I looked at the guy and girl nearest to me and told them the guy needed help. We started paddling.

I saw a few surfers start paddling from the point break. The water was choppy and my mind was wizzing. I didn't think it was a shark out there but I was ready for it. The guy was probably just inexperienced and found himself spooked and way to far out.

The guys from the point break got to him first but i kept paddling with the crew with me until we got to the guy. He was definitely freaked out and embarrassed. He got into the rip and he said he was too tired to paddle at all anymore. He wasn't cramped but his stomach hurt. We rigged him up to two of the other guys longboards and started to paddle pull him back to shore. It took quite a bit of time but we made it and I'm sure the guy gave a big sigh of relief.

It was cool how a group of strangers can band together to face a problem. I've always been curious to how people would react in a time of crisis and I saw it in action today. There are those who ignore the problem. I'm not sure if they feel that they can't contribute to the solution or if they would rather not be bothered. Then there are those who take action. Everybody can help out in some form or other when there is a problem to be tackled. You don't have to be on the front lines getting your hands dirty.