"Singing is a way of escaping. It's another world. I'm no longer on earth."
- Edith Piaf -
My surfboard used to literally sing to me.
Can you believe it?
I've already told you how my friend Walter gave me my first surfboard. What a life-changing gift! But, in that story — "Learning To Stand" — I glossed over a few things...
Many months passed before I heard it sing.
In that account, I forgot to mention the rather large gap between when Walter gave me the board, and when I actually started taking it seriously.
Walter gave me my first surfboard.
Image courtesy of Free-Photos and http://pixabay.com
When Walter first gave me the surfboard,
I'll admit that I was quite excited. That excitement dimmed quickly, however, when I discovered how hard it was to stand up.
I weighed about 175 pounds at the time. The displacement buoyancy of the thin board couldn't have been more than 75 pounds at best. The only way that board could support my weight was if it were moving at a good clip.
My battered, beloved first surfboard.
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Riding a surfboard takes "mad skillz."
I would "guesstimate" that learning to stand on a surfboard could be an order of magnitude harder ( that's ten times harder, for you non-math heads) than learning to ride a bicycle.
There are shortcuts you can take, and I would strongly encourage you to take them. "Training wheels," if you will. Most notably, start with a long board, made out of a non-threatening soft foam. Sign up with a surf school that boasts expert instructors.
At the time, I didn't have access to those options.
The board is a thin, 6'8" egg.
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As I have so often in life,
I set about learning the hard way. For some months, I made a sporadic effort to surf, but then gave up in despair. Between attempts, I let the surfboard gather dust while I went back to bodyboarding.
It has a single, glassed-in fin.
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Stubbornly determined,
I finally began going out with only the surfboard every day. It was a month or more before I was able to stand, as I described in "Learning To Stand".
When it happened, I was elated! But my rides were short and not very fast.
As weeks went by, I gradually increased the length of time between standing up and falling off.
With each success,
I picked up a little more speed, and went a bit further than I had before.
One day, much to my surprise, I began to hear a beautifully piercing sound.
It was a single, sustained tone.
Image courtesy of agnessatalalaev0 and http://pixabay.com
It was a single, sustained tone.
Although it has been years now since I heard it, I'd guess it was somewhere between two and four hundred Hertz.
My surfboard was singing to me.
Quite literally, unmistakably, and in the most lovely and haunting fashion, my 6'8" home-made, single-fin, egg-shaped fiberglass surfboard was singing.
Riding a wave while hearing its song was an erie, but blessed experience. My board would only sing on the best waves, the longest, fastest, and most sustained rides. It was like having my own, private concert.
I've never had another board quite like it.
My own, private concert.
Image courtesy of PublicDomainPictures and http://pixabay.com
How could this happen?
My best analysis is that the fin was glassed into the board at a very slightly off-angle. It is just the right thickness and density that it resonates, "ringing" like a bell or a plucked string whenever the water is flowing past at speed.
The fin resonates like a plucked string.
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During the year or two that I rode that board regularly,
only a few people heard the song. You had to be riding the board, or very near by on a wave that wasn't crashing too loudly. But as the rider, it was unmistakeable and sweet.
Eventually, through very heavy hard use, the fiberglass surface of the board delaminated and the cracks became too widespread to patch. It was time to retire my first board.
Though I never recorded the sound,
hearing my surfboard in action is one of those thrilling life experiences I will never forget.
A life experience I will never forget.
Image courtesy of Alexander S. Kunz and http://unsplash.com
Thanks again, Walter.
Your gift just kept on giving.
Visit my Library Surfing Shelf for more great surf stories.
FIN
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