Time out the water is always going to suck, but eventually you always come back.
I checked out the waves, and there was one guy out. Water was freezing, but one guy out. I remember thinking, ‘well, only one dude, and some fun waves, so take the fat boy, put your boots and gloves on, and paddle out from behind the peak for a change.’
By the time I got out there, the tide had turned, was on the way up, and the other fellow was over it. “Too cold,” he said to me. “There are some barrels though.”
It was cold, and I felt a bit weird all trussed up in so much rubber. Still, it was bearable, and the gloves made a massive difference. My wife was on the beach, getting some sun, and enjoying the windless day at this quiet little beach.
On my first wave I clambered a little to my feet, not used to the boots. Luckily the ‘fat boy’ surfboard was a dream of paddling, buoyancy and catching waves, so it helped me get into the wave. I got to the bottom and turned on my forehand. The wave pitched right then and I pulled straight into a nice little barrel.
Or so I thought. The wave pinched hard, broke on my back and my knee was forced down onto my deck. I felt it go. I felt a little twinge, and then just a world of pain. I surfaced, lay on my board and floated in, crying out in pain. Coming in over the rocks was fun, but my wife was there, saw me in distress and helped me in.
When you damage your MCL it’s a whole big effort of rehab and exercises and pool work and knee braces to get it good again and to go surfing. There’s either that – what I like to call the Fanning method – or there is the self-loathing sitting in front of the TV and hating life and eating chicken approach, more like the Occy – method. I started rehab as soon as I could. I could not afford to eat chicken and drink beer at this juncture in my life.
Getting back in the water after a long break is always going to be a bit shaky and hesitant. Even if your physiotherapists have advised you, your chiropractor and everyone else who might have helped you along the way, you still feel vulnerable, and nervous that it’s too early, that you might damage yourself again, and have to go through the rehab process all over. The only way to do it is to do it really slowly. Take it as slow as you possibly can.
One such surfer who does done the hard yards of rehab is Owen Wright and it's great to see him back in the water. After his head injury and subsequent year out that water, Owen was giving the go ahead by neurosurgeons and medical practitioners to give it a go, and he did.
Unfortunately, Owen was eliminated, but he showed the world that he knows what to do in the water, and he wasn’t showing any signs of his injury.
Now he has to make that call on Snapper. On paper it’s an easy one. The waves are going to be small, and probably side shore, and Owen can can go out there and give it a go without too much danger. Should a swell arrive for the event however, and Snapper starts throwing some serious barrels over shallow, hard-pack sand, then it’s another game altogether. On his backhand, and after that year out of the water, Owen needs to maybe reminded – take it as slow as you need to, brother.
