Dancing With Doom

There are many phrases associated with large bodies of water. The sea is a cruel mistress. Never turn your back on the ocean. That sort of loveliness.

I knew there was a rip tide at Indian Head. Every surfer who goes there knows about it. So you stay the hell away from it.

But the waves on the north end are always so much prettier than the sloppy southern ones. They tempt you. They draw you in. They curl off the point so beautifully. So you start in the middle and let the water move you north until you know you should get out lest you end up in the rip.

The waves were nice. And they kept looking nicer. After a while I realized I had gone too far. I had gotten pulled in. Stuck in the rip. Once in, you can't swim for shore. Nobody can come and help you because then they'd get stuck in the rip as well. I've heard of it ending two ways. Both of them involve letting the rip haul you out to sea. If you know about the rip, you then know that once past the point, you paddle south and try to catch some waves back to shore. If you don't know about it, you get a helicopter ride from the coast guard.

Today I discovered that if you are lucky, you can swim north into the dangerous looking rocks, try not to get bashed against them, and then do some rock climbing in your wet suit while carrying a surfboard to get back to the beach.

A couple of surfers did some rock climbing to come and find me when they didn't see me float out with the rip. Very cool of them. They helped me with the board.

Luckily a couple of months ago I decided to start a daily exercise routine to get myself into better shape. I hate to think what kind of condition I would have been in otherwise.

Indian Head has a rip on the north end. Stay away from the north end. Don't let the beautiful breaking waves lure you in.



I ended up where you can see the wave crashing against the rock.

And for a little more perspective...