Friday. A day that started out like any other day. A blue sky. A rising swell. A perfect day to go surfing. But this day would turn out to be like no other day.
With the surf report hinting at 6 foot waves and the first real southern swell of the summer to hit Vallarta, Ximena, Salim, Fer, Andrew and I loaded Salim’s pick-up truck with 5 surfboards. To avoid the traffic, we decided to skip Burros and hit up La Lancha. Andrew was borrowing the fun board and Fer was borrowing the fish. We strapped all five boards to the rollover bars in a diagonal position with the noses pointed up. Andrew and I hopped in the back and sat on each side of the large quiver of boards. Lola jumped in the back with us.
On the road up to Punta Mita, Lola was walking across the deck of the truck, under the boards, back and forth trying to find a good standing position to endure the sharp turns in the road. I finally, just grabbed her and put her on my lap, giving her stability and sticking her nose in the side wind screaming by.
About a mile south of the parking spot for La Lancha, I heard a large ripping sound and a big boom and looked over my right shoulder to see all 5 boards flying in the air as if a small tornado had grabbed them. And then they all landed, one by one, sliding across the highway with small bits flying everywhere. The truck screeched to a halt.
Andrew was the quickest to realize what a dangerous situation we were in: stopped in the middle of a recently rehabilitated stretched of highway, with 5 surfboards splayed across a blind curve. He dashed out of the truck and grabbed the first board and brought it to the side, one by one, we all jumped out of the truck as well, grabbing all of the boards and bringing them back to the truck.
We all stood there for at least 10 minutes, taking stock of the situation. I was in shell shock as I checked each of my 3 boards. The only boards I own. Each one totally messed up.
Ximena’s board scored the most damage with a de-laminated and crushed nose and a few deep scratches and cracks. Salim’s board, which had just been repaired, sustained several deep scratches and cracks. My fun board had the fins ripped out, breaking the fin wells that secure the fins. Also several deep scratches and a busted nose. The fish: busted nose, deep scratches, and two busted tail tips, heavy scratches on the fins and a large crack in the bottom. My shortboard: the nose was punched in about 2 inches, heavy scratches and broken fin wells.
After we surveyed the damage, we loaded all the boards back on the truck in a more secure way, with the backsides hanging off the back side of the truck. We had decided to head directly to Sayulita, to Ximena’s friend, Jose Luis, who fixes surfboards.
As we regained our collective composure, it hit us all, one by one, that nothing worse had happened. In a terrible situation, miraculously, no one was injured. Andrew, I and Lola were in the back. We could have caught a board or a fin to the head, a leash or a tie-down could have entangled us as well. The situation could easily have been deadly. There could have (and most surely should have) been a car behind us. One of the boards could have hit the windshield, or at the very least, the boards could have been run over or caused someone to lose control of their car. Like I said, it was miraculous.
As we drove up to Sayulita, each one of us digested the event and as we stood in Jose Luis’ surfboard repair shop retelling the story, each one of acknowledged how lucky we were that it wasn’t worse. Boards are fixable, people are not so fixable.
Jose Luis took stock of the boards, laughing at each one of the repairs, he told us he was just happy to see other boards then the same 15 or 20 boards brought in by the Sayulita locals. All dings, scrapes, gouges, cracks and de-lams were fixable. He made us all sigh in relief. And me, the most, since my entire surfboard collection was now sitting on the floor in this man’s repair shop. A surfer with no surfboard is like well, you make up some colorful simile. I was dejected, but Jose Luis hooked it up and made us all feel better. He said we could come back on tuesday and pick up the boards, but I’m sure it’ll be a few days longer, possibly a week.
And what does a surfer do, with no surfboard? to be honest, I’m not quite sure.
Speaking of accident involving cars & surfboards, i just reminded myself of that scene in a Lethal Weapon movie where a bad guy gets his head chopped off by a board.
Your post makes it less hilarious and more freaking real.
Anyway what about improving your skateboarding skills during the repair?