Surfing, Surfing and Surfing

Three days in a row. I got to go surfing three days in a row without even taking a day off. Pretty good for someone with a full-time job in Burlington, Vermont.

Thursday (Thanksgiving day) was, as predicted, large and blown out under ominous clouds (and a 'severe thunderstorm' warning). I spent a lot of time underwater but it was good practice to tackle storm surf with my new board. After I got out, I watched five crazy guys surf at Rye on the Rocks in the dark. Two of them didn't even paddle out until after sunset. The waves may be infrequent, but nothing in Australia compares to the somber beauty of the North Atlantic during a storm. Everything is rendered in shades of black (a black sea, a black pebble beach, a point of black rocks and jet black thunder clouds). I could only see the surfers because their wetsuits were slightly blacker than the ocean.

On Friday the sun came out, the waves cleaned up and the air temperature dropped below freezing (water temperature is still about 45F or 7C). I surfed until I could barely paddle and my feet were iceblocks. The sun was behind me as I rode and I would watch my shadow riding the blue-green face of the wave ahead of me. Friday night Ray and I went into a subdued Boston for some beers. On Saturday, the waves were only waist high but I went in anyway. It has been hard to readjust to work.

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Since we are on the topic of surfing it's appropriate to tell you that my paper 'The Tragicomedy of the Surfers' Commons' has been published in the Deakin Law Review. My fellow authors in this volume include two people with jobs I covet: Philip Ruddock (Australia's attorney general) and Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia. I'm going to take that as a good sign.