The Waterman's World
By Craig Lockwood

ou’re a surfer. You've surfed for a good part of your life. An important part of your life. That best part of your life you've always cherished. Years shared with your best buddies.

Dawn patrols. Drive 50, maybe 60 miles to surf that special break. First time out at Sunset Beach. Experiences you'll never forget.

And the ocean was your world.

As a kid you learned to bodysurf, boogieboard, dive, spearfish, sail, windsurf. Maybe you

Ever. And maybe you even made a vow.

ure. But then life happens. To everyone. High school ended. Then maybe the service; maybe college; maybe both. You kept surfing as much and whenever you could. Saving your stroke .

Work; good job. That girl. Marriage. Kids.

And pretty soon you're surfing on day a week.

Then a month.

Then on vacations.

Pretty soon you started seeing yourself as a has been who never was.

Still, you've never forgotten just what all that meant to you; how much it meant. In your heart you'll always be a surfer.

hen one day you go to paddle out. You know it after 50 strokes. It isn't coming easy. Arms feel like rubberbands. A set hits you and stops you dead. You get to the break and you're winded.

Net set comes rolling through and you go to take off. Miss the wave. Whip a turn. Only to find you're too far inside for the second. Paddle to get over and get ...

Fill in the blanks.

Whatever it was that happened, we've all felt it. It takes something away we'ed all like to get back.

We'd all like to be the surfers we always believed we were. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. We admit it. The size 30" trunks don't fit any longer. You can see it in the mirror.

ow's your chance to create another alternative.

That swell won't wait for you for you to make the important calls. Won't wait for you to sign that contract. Pick up the kids. Go to that damn meeting.

Nope.

What you'll get - if you're lucky - is leftovers. Or worse. The flats.

But when you won a Waterman it;s all good.

Flats? You can paddle a Waterman a mile in 5 minutes. 20 minutes gives you the paddling equivalent of two day's worth of Mainland wave riding.

ee, the deal is nobody ever forgets how to ride a wave. What we forget - what our bodies forget - is how to paddle.

So if you own a Waterman any time's a good time.

Think about that.

It's always your call. No down time.

Think about that.

Think about that.

It'a always your call. No down time sloppy, flat, choppy, windy. You can beach launch and go.

And when the next swell comes, you're ready.