My first thought was that is going to be a ton of fun!!  Now I’d never paddle boarded before but how hard could be?  I’ve seen guys do it lots of times and it looks ridiculously easy.  Peter figured maybe we should get a couple boards and do a little practice first.  He’d only done it once before as well.  I didn’t think it necessary but agreed despite.  Mike at Pacific Vibrations lent us the boards and we headed out to the beach.  The waves were coming in high and hard.

From the minute I jumped in the water I realized I was in trouble.  It’s hard.  Really hard.  I’m a fair swimmer but moving that thing though choppy waters pushed me to my physical limits.  After a half hour I realized that if I do this thing I’m going to end up on some highlights reel of funny moments in sports.  So we turned around and headed back to shore.  Pete decided that it might be fun to cut to the section of beach right in front of the expo.  The waves were coming in there higher than Godzilla and twice as mean (hours later I shot a little clip of the beach with my cell phone.  The waves had subsided but you can see the ugly nature of the waiting lava formations!)  Having an IQ above room temperature I put the kibosh on that idea.  He decided he was going to try one wave any way.  I protested but Pete’s not one to go the safe route.  He peeled off.  I saw him about 50 feet to my right.  Then the swell that would break into the wave that would crush the life from my friend came rolling under me.  The last thing I saw was his smiling face as a wall of water crashed down.  He didn’t do much surfing.  After a minute or two he bobbed up.   Neither of us breathed the entire time.  I’d had enough and headed for a five foot section of the beach that had a bit of sand and the remote possibility of getting back on firm ground without serious bodily harm.  Pete caught up to me – then started to half-board me.  The race was on (like this guy is gonna be able to stay away from competition for long).  He beat me to shore by a hundred meters.  I felt like I needed an IV when I got there.  Some more practice time will be in order tomorrow.

In the evening we had a dinner with Eric, a Philly boy who’d won a contest with Carmichael Training System, Specialized and Power Bar.  Excellent dinner and good local beer at the Kona Inn!  From there we met up with Regensburg (girlfriend’s coach) at Lulu’s.  More local beer and an agreement to meet in the morning to run on the Queen K.  It was a good day.

As race day approaches and the level of stress amongst the athletes rises, the level of relaxation and mirth increases in our camp.  Pete needed to step away from the sport when he did.  I agreed with his decision and defended it completely, yet I also believe that if he could rediscover the beauty of the sport and the training he could still have something to say here.  When the expectations of fans, sponsors and even loved ones reaches the kind of heights he’s had to deal with, it almost turns into a no-win situation.  When coming third in the world championships feels like losing then it is time to make some changes.

We look at someone like Dave Scott and Scott Molina.  Those two former champs can now jump into any race they want to and no one expects them to stand with the blue ribbon at the end of the day.  No one calls it a come back.  I think Pete is very much looking forward to the day he can jump into a little race with 9 hours a week of training and just have fun with his friends.  I hope it comes sooner rather than later.