Safetosea

Sometimes, with the highs, you get the lows.. Indeed that's life and this week has mirrored that, though I will say the highs were great.

If you're a surfer (most who read this) then you probably will find some interest in the fact that the much praised swell finally did drop away, but not before a flurry on Saturday, and a last gasp through Sunday and yesterday.

I did manage to wet my nether regions, although with five waves to myself in five and a half hours it took monumental patience with the crowds.

First inconsistent Bells , then busy Winki, I may have spent my time better elsewhere. On Sunday we had the showing of Musica Surfica to the good people, young and old, of Barwon Heads.

In the afternoon I picked up Richard Tognetti, Satu Vanska, and Julian Thompson of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, car festooned with boards, and headed to the coast. Halfway down I was sideswiped by a guy changing lanes without looking, not too much damage and thank god he fessed up and took the blame.

Then on to town and the concert.

I did a fifteen minutes speech about the film, and the 250 odd people packing the hall looked like they were interested.

To say they loved it the showing is an understatement, I had my fifteen minutes of fame further extended, and the topper was as an after show treat, the ACO guys did a live performance.

They brought the house down. The general consensus was it was the best thing the town had ever seen. It did wonders too, for the community, as it brought together such different groups for the first time, and the next day the town was abuzz. No surprise I say as we were all signing copies of the DVD for what seemed like forever afterwards.

After the show too, Wayne Lynch came up and said he and his family loved it, and said how much he envied those people that could put so much time and talent into becoming so good at something. I did point out that that was exactly what he'd been doing his whole life, and it is true. His surfing journey is as inspiring in its own way.

He had me reflecting on what is our equivalent to the master musician and his score.

I decided we do have one, with every break being the score, and every surfer the interpreter. To any score there are infinite interpretations, and the same applies to us. We dance our own dances on the waves, but the performance has to be done within the discipline of the wave, our state of mind, and our skills. It's an interesting thought, but true, I think, as we seek to do our variations on themes written by time.

Yesterday morning we managed a fun session at small 13th Beach. Rich went finless, I rode a speed dialler on loan, and Jules was on my new MC.

Topper for me in a negative way was I discovered as we left I hadn't tied on my boards and two hit the road... lost a fin on the new MC, and the finless got a bit of a scrape but otherwise not too bad... sort of.

So that was my other low, but small price to pay for the wonderful highs.

Last night I took Joey to see the full orchestra in all their glory.



Pics for today...
Bells, yesterdays small 13th, Richard and Julian waxing up while Satu went shopping, and me giving my speech, as captured by Julian's iPhone.





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