As I write this, it’s been 48 hours since I saw fellow surfer, Larry Kong, get a beautiful set wave all the way from “Poles” to the stairs at Campus Point. That was Larry’s last wave of his life. I’m still processing the event.
I passed him as he was smiling, paddling back. I caught a small wave, and then, when I kicked out and started paddling back up the point, I noticed something was wrong. Very wrong. When I got up to him, he was floating facedown. I pulled him on top of my board, and turned him over to clear his airways. It was scary and spiritually surreal as I tried to press on his chest, shake him, and revive him.
At first I thought he was moving, but that must’ve just been me moving him. I swam him in on top of my board. It was very quiet. The ocean had turned completely calm. Although it felt like an eternity, it probably only took a couple minutes to get to the beach.