There is good reason for me not to be a resin rider.

I had perfect peeling waves almost to myself for an hour yesterday - middle of the afternoon. I guess the regulars believed the forecast or were deterred by the wind. It was fantastic. Then ... they all started showing up.

I usually go over to 'the rock' when the boards appear, but the swell was odd - only one good peak, and it was the crowded one. I decided to stay in the pack and bully my way into my share. I had a few shared waves with other spongers - great fun, but I was getting more antsy for my own wave. Finally, I took a fine peak - was cutting across it and saw a longboarder just beginning to turtle at the base. I saw him peeking out from under his board just before I thumped over it!! It has been a while since I ran over anyone out there, so I was quite surprised. Greed for that cut on the wave I guess.

It got worse. I was wallowing in wave hunger. Once again I grabbed a great peak and this time saw a sponger down in front. I was certain I could cut above him - I didn't want to waste this perfect wall and get closed out on the inside. But something in the outgoing currents changed - I felt like I was slowing down ... and was aiming right for the sponger (who was looking a bit anxious).

The oddest thing is that it all happened in slow motion for me, but I know it was fast, because at the exact moment I was going to impact the sponger I felt someone else bump OVER my legs behind me (going the other way on the wave??). I ended in a tangle with the sponger - lots of tumbling and laughing. As I bobbed up apologizing I saw he had all these face studs/piercings and in the back of my mind figured 'hey, this probably made his day!' He wasn't hurt; me either - except for my pride when I had to get all the razzing from my buds. (They liked the way the guy's rash guard was all twisted when he surfaced.) The guy who 'ran over me' turned out to be the best spongers out there, my buddy Dwight who seems to have the keenest instinct in the water. I must have been really out of control!

The studdly booger ended up staying out til the moon came up and we all had a nice chat paddling in - a Brit guy, no less ... good surfer.