Whad I miss?
by Corky Carroll
I have to admit that I spend a lot of time on social media, mostly Facebook. It’s where I post my paintings and get most of my customers from, so I am checking my page fairly constantly. And I like to browse thru the posts to see what other pals and people are saying and doing. This morning I was doing that and watching a video of a guy riding one of those “foil” boards. If you don’t know what that is I will try to explain it. it’s a short and a little bit wide board that has a metal keel on the bottom with a wing on it. A hydrofoil. When the board gets any speed at all this lifts the board out of the water and it rides on the wing. So the person riding it is basically riding the wing, and the board is only his platform. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. Riders are able to ride swells forever and do amazing long sweeping turns all over the place. It’s incredible.
Laird Hamilton had a lot to do with developing this back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. I saw some early video of him doing it and sort of passed it off as just another one of Lairds wild ideas. That guy is amazing. Nothing he can’t do. After that I started spending almost all my surfing time on Mainland Mexico sort of off the grid in remote areas. So I never had the chance to see any of these boards actually in action. I heard they were dangerous and could hurt you if you got hit by the keel-wing thing. After that I didn’t really think a whole lot about them until recently. Seeing the videos on Facebook and Instagram has really blown me away.
See Corky's surf Art at the Dana Point Gallery, Dana Point, California
This is a perfect example of one of the “Wow, I wish I had done that when I could have” things that have seemed to pop up a lot in my mind lately. This comes with the aging thing. For way longer than it’s true you are convinced you can do anything. And then it slowly creeps into your thoughts that you actually can’t. This is when the list of “I wish I had done that” things starts to grow. It’s evil.
My list is getting way too long and most of the time I prefer to not dwell on it. It includes the places I could have gone to, but didn’t. Like I never made it to Bali. Nor Java or any of those great reef breaks in the Indian Ocean. I see photos of these places and I slap myself for not taking the time to go there. Luckily, I did spend a lot of time going to Tavarua Island, off of Fiji. Same kinda deal. I loved it there and it sort of filled my need for that kind of adventure.
There is also that spot in Tahiti called “Teahupoo.” I think I would really have loved that spot. Probably would have killed me, but hey. It’s like watching the vids of that giant wave spot in Portugal, “Nazare.” The place they keep going for the 100 ft wave. It’s easy to kick back in my cozy lazyboy and think, “that would have been fun, look at how fast those guys are going.” The speed intrigues me more than the size. But ya know, sometimes its ok to have missed some of this stuff and still be here to wonder about it.
I am glad to still be here. I appreciate that more and more everyday. I have a wonderful and beautiful wife who takes amazing care of me and won’t let me get into trouble doing things I either shouldn’t be doing or can’t do even if I think I can. Spent a whole life riding waves and in a lot of exotic places. Now I can be comfortable painting them and telling you stories about ‘em. Life is good. But wow, I really wish I would have done the foil boarding thing, it just looks so cool.