Oregon150

by Taylor Richards
Oregon City, OR

In the middle of summer, the blue and cloudless sky overhead and the roaring ocean before me, I stood on Cannon Beach with the tides coming in to numb my feet further. My black skim board stabbed into the wet sand to keep it standing without me having to hold it up.

Something poked my shoulder.

I broke out of the daze the ocean held me in and looked over at my best friend KK who was grinning at me. She looked back over at the ocean, that grin still on her face and the wind whipping her hair across her face in all directions. She asked if the tide is right yet, and I told her to wait just a little while longer, it’s almost perfect.

The scent of the salt water was burned into my nose. It was all I could smell, all I could taste and the wind burned my eyes. With a sigh I told KK it’s definitely right now. The tide was in and it was time to go. She smiled and waited impatiently for the next wave to come in, and when the waves crashed onto the beach she pulled her board out of the sand, letting the water wash over it to clean off the clumps of wet sand that stuck to the wax.

She stood, the board held in her hands and her stance wide, waiting for the water to retract back into the ocean, waiting for the perfect moment to steal a ride. I looked down the beach, making sure it was clear and told her to go when the film of seawater was thin over the sand. She threw her board and it hit perfectly, gliding on the water and she sprinted after it, jumping onto it and gliding along with it.

Just from seeing her I could feel the adrenaline dripping into my bloodstream, and it made my heart pound behind my ribcage. When her board finally stopped, she jumped off and picked it up hastily, having a little difficulty getting it back from the sand that held onto it like a starfish to the rocks. She ran back to me, her board under her arm and an exhilarated smile going ear to ear. I smiled back at her, starting to laugh.

Now it was my turn. I picked up my board and washed it off as a huge wave hit the beach and crawled towards us with cold fingers, hungry for the sand. The pressure of the water on my feet and legs was all I could feel; my entire body was completely numb. I waited for the perfect moment, my stance wide and my eyes focused on the strip of sand before me. I closed my eyes and exhaled heavily, and when I opened them I threw my board, running beside it and jumping on it. My arms spread out to help keep my balance and the feeling of being weightless came over me, the board, water, and beach beneath me no longer existing. The adrenaline coursed through me and my heart raced. I glided down the beach, the water taking its time as it hurried back to the sea. Surprisingly it took me about forty-five seconds to stop, the gooey sand beginning to stick to the bottom of my board and I hopped off, trying to pull it up. I tugged and pulled with all my strength but it came up fruitless. I looked out to the ocean and a massive wave crashed onto the sand, the mass of it depleting by small amounts as it charged me. I pulled harder and harder on the board but it held to the sand.

The wave hit, pushing me three steps back from the sheer force of it. Shivers ran down my spine as the water raised almost half way to my knees. I heard KK trying to run towards me, wading through the water. I dove in, fully clothed except for shoes, and probed along the sand with my fingers, trying to find my board. The tide pushed and pulled me as it continued to wash back out to the sea and not a moment later I was above the surface, my sopping wet hair in my face in my hands board-less.

That day I left the beach completely soaked to the bone and without a board and somehow missing twenty dollars. Even though the beach is a great place to be in the summer I don’t think I’ve ever been as miserable. Oh well, I’ll still be back next summer.