so things have been tough lately, this fog hangs thick and consumes every thought…
so today one of the young guys who works for me ,rings me up and says ,ive got no choice hes coming around to get me for a surf ,hes making me go surfing “itll do you good” he says…
still tough…
had to really push myself …still no stoke there…
after the surf ,i walk over to the crew hanging in the hangout area, i just wander over sucking on my iced coffee…
everyone was looking long faced , so i just blended right in…a few of them knew of my current situation…
after a few minutes , i mention a news story of a shark attack down the coast yesterday, i make the comment “pretty heavy hey”…
scotty looks up and says “havent you heard” at that point everyone looks up and looks at each other , as if to say ,well whos gonna tell him?
it was Brad Smith someone says…
when i first opened my business one of the first guys to ever walk in the door was this little blond haired stoked grommet about 13 or 14 …i think i was about 19 at the time…
just about every second day this grom would swing past on his bike with his board under his arm , he would stop in and see if i was in , hed say “wanna come surf the bombie with me ?” most of the time id be up for it …
id ask him about shcool …hed give me some excuse …i knew the deal …
i use to wag it to go surf the same wave 5 years earlier…
this kid lived for the ocean…im sure many of you relate to the type of kid he was…
over the years he grew into a competant charger , who ripped, and became a seasoned surf traveler…id run into him all over the state ,hed be telling me about some sick waves he just got at some exotic location…
so today i find out it was him who got biten in half yesterday , in a staged attack by two sharks, a 3 meter and 5 meter pair of sharks of unknown description…
the story is he spent about 45 seconds trying to fight them off he was seen clinging to and punching one of the sharks …
Brad was a solid dude , real likeable and gentle…
i heard the comment today…“real typical of brad ,it took two of em to take him down and he still put up a good fight”…
i dono where to start…
just another one of those really beautiful people in the surf community…
numb and number , that about sums it up for me at the moment…
ive been floating around in the background for a few days , but my brain doesnt come up with anything logical…
so im gonna have some time off ,till im thinking clearly again , before i get back into posting…
regards
BERT