This is a story that originally appeard on Pacific Waverider.
See my new site for more surf stories.

July 2001

My daughter and I went to the North Shore this weekend. If you are wanting a moment by moment description of a surf session, you had better stop reading now. Waimea Bay -- that bay of stupefying, thundering winter waves -- was flat as flat can be. Such is summer on the North Shore, O'ahu.

And summer at Waimea also means hoards of grom leaping off the cliff-rock; shrieking keikis making the most of a mini sandbar swell by the river mouth and ... training. Yes, folks ... you all remember the film scenes of the guys carrying the big rock while they ran across the bottom of this clear blue bay? Sunday my daughter and I decided to try it for ourselves.

To be truthful, I had not planned such an adventure. My daughter is home visiting her new niece and we just wanted to have one special afternoon together before she heads back to the PNW. I had rather hoped she would paddle out to my break with me and take some surf pictures. That idea was pretty well crushed when, upon arriving, the first thing she handed me was a Time magazine ("The Summer of the SHARK"). She had read every detail on the plane.

So, while driving up island I listened to my daughter reminisce about 'small kid days' when she and her sister would leap off the rock at Waimea. I determined that I needed to come up with some alternate challenge; I am not the leaping sort. We both got excited about the underwater rock-running idea. I told her of a beautiful ad I had seen of a young girl carrying a rock. What a photo op! (even though all we had with us was my disposable underwater camera)

It didn't seem strange to us that we found "Our Rock" almost as soon as we swam out. Later, we noticed that there were no other rocks around. Funny ... just one rock.

The problem we first encountered was the depth. We could dive 15-20 feet, but couldn't do much but turn around and surface. We decided to roll the rock in to more shallow waters so we could really pick it up and get some pictures. It really is a big rock -- neither of us would even attempt to pick it up on land.

Once in closer, I dove and got to the rock; it was still a bit heavier than I expected. Then, with my hands grasping the rock, I felt my body -- butt first -- floating back toward the surface. I was doing a perfect hand stand at the bottom of the ocean, except my legs were flailing in all directions. Both Ami and I surfaced with spasms of laughter. I don't remember seeing *that* in the videos and posters!!

We did finally figure out how to grasp the rock (sumo stance), then lift (hugged against the chest) and then run (the easy part). We both were able to run about ten yards across the sandy bottom! We counted twenty steps on our best try. We took lots of pics; used up all the film. Then we began to do it seriously.

It is a strange feeling, challenging your body this way. I can understand why someone would want to do it all the way across the bay and back. After the first faltering tries, we were able to carry the rock with a calm and steady pace. We kept trying to take it a little further each time. I felt like I could run forever; didn't even feel worried about getting air.

When I was telling friends at work about the adventure, sharing the pics, laughing about it ... one of the older surfers said (deadpan):

Brian and the boys are gonna be down here lookin' for you.

Brian? ... from Makaha? Huh??

That's his rock -- he uses it for lifeguard training. You moved it!

LOL

Hmmmmmm ... maybe we should have rolled it back out to the deep water, eh?

A good excuse to go back next weekend! !

Malama Pono, Süs     ... Running with Fish ...