The circus

Over time I've seen all sort of tricks in the water.

I've seen people jumping high on shortboards, riding tubes, beautiful hang-ten, switch-foot, stylish drop-knee turns, and also people doing handstands, couples doing figures like a ballroom competition, dogs surfing better than me, spins and slides without fins...

But I've never seen anyone takin-off going backward. Yet.

Some weeks ago this guy with a longboard was paddling out when he saw a wave coming (no need to say that I was waiting for it nearby, but obviously right then he was in priority over me). So he decided to paddle backward and -without worrying about where he was going- he got it that way. He popped-up going backward, turned the board like an helicopter blade and away he went, like everything was normal.

And I was there, on the shoulder, trying to catch the leftovers. Just try to imagine how many waves I didn't get while surrounded by these guys training for the circus.

In acqua col tempo ho visto fare di tutto.

I salti con le tavolette, corse dentro al tubo, hang-ten spettacoltari, switch foot, drop knee turns, la verticale sulla testa, coppie in figure da balletto classico, cani disinvolti, tavole da 15 piedi, giravolte senza pinne...

Ma non avevo ancora visto uno partire in retromarcia.

Qualche settimana fa sto giovanotto sul longboard ha visto un’onda arrivare mentre remava fuori. Allora ha remato al contrario, all’indietro, e senza guardare dove andava ha preso l’onda al contrario. Dopodiche’ si e’ alzato andando all’indietro, ha girato la tavola come fosse la pala di un elicottero ed ha continuato normalmente in scioltezza.

Ed io ero li, che tentavo di raccogliere gli scarti lasciati da questi marziani. Immaginate quante onde non ho potuto prendere in mezzo a questi che facevano il circo.