Some of the nicest people surf (and live in Maine). I was honored to be invited to the annual ritual surf and toast to the 2010 surf year by a friend and his longtime surfing buddies. After catching a few waves, Tom McInerney read the following benediction on the side of the road at Higgins Beach. Plastic cup toast and all it was the perfect start to the holiday weekend. I continue to be humbled by the generosity of the surfing community and those beautiful (and at times intimidating) waves.

Benediction by Tom McInerney

Water symbolizes purity and our unconscious state.

Surfing takes place on in under and sometimes surrounded by water.

Surfing also takes us TO a place that is like our unconscious mind.

Surfing takes us away from our controlling task oriented self to a place where we lose ourselves and we move by instinct.

FIRST we paddle and we magically almost instantaneously (for some) pop up from horizantal to vertical, the unconcioius mind usually provides the key that unlocks the speed and the balance necessary to start on the journey.

SECOND we crest , then fall, crest and then fall again. We take what the wave gives us. We are not the masters of the water but partners with it. Again it is the unconscious mind that automatically feels the wave speeding up or slowing down and our immediate dance to keep time with it.

FINALLY we fall some gracefully some with no style whatsoever but we all fall.

Surfing 2010 was a great year.

This year a dedicated core group has migrated BACK to the ocean and hopefully learned about themselves and about each other.

We discovered the 11^th street Beach in Old Orchard Beach as a laid back venue with plenty of room to find your own wave. We learned more about Hydraulic Jacks. We discovered the magic of an easy paddle with a stand up paddle board down the Spurwink or just around Higgins or the harbor. We made multiple trips to DOCS. Board repair has become more and more routine with some members throwing up challenges for our local repair GURU. We ripped out fin boxes, destroyed an entire 9’ length of board, in addition to the usual scrapes and dings. We also discovered a few more places to eat after surf like KENS and the ROCK and ROLL Diner in Scarboro.

So let us raise our bottles and glasses and toast to our friends to Higgins and to a great 2010 season!

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 27th, 2010 at 11:01 am and is filed under Holidays, Surfing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.