Show RIDING THE SOUTH SEA SURP authors author a description makes one long to participate I 1 shall never forget the first big wave I 1 caught out there in the deep water I 1 saw it coming turned my back on it and paddled for dear life faster and faster my board went until it seemed my arms would drop off what was happening behind me I 1 could not tell one cannot look behind and paddle the windmill stroke I 1 heard the crest of the wave waie hissing and churning and then my board was lifted and flung forward I 1 scarcely knew what happened the first half minute though I 1 kept my eyes open I 1 could not see anything for I 1 waa was burled buried in the rushing white of the crest but I 1 did not mind I 1 was chiefly conscious of ecstatic bliss at having caught the wave at the end of the halt half minute however I 1 began to see things and to breathe I 1 saw that three feet of the nose of my b board oar d was clear out of water and riding on the air I 1 shifted my weight forward and made the nose come down then I 1 lay quite at rest in the midst of the wild movement and watched the shore and the bathers on the beach grow distinct I 1 didn dian t cover quite a quarter of a mile on that wave because to prevent the board from div ing I 1 shifted my weight back but shifted it too tar far and tell fell down the rear slope of the wave jack london in the woman s home companion |