THE FOOD CHAIN
5-7-08
By Corky Carroll

I was sitting here on my deck last night with my pals the “Iguana” and blue dog and we were talking about that swimmer that was killed by a shark in Solona Beach last week. Stuff like that is never great news to we who inhabit the ocean on a daily basis. We were discussing our own encounters with sharks and doing our best to psyche each other out. My own personal worst fright in the ocean was actually not with a shark though; it was with a far more sinister and horrifying Denison of the deep.

It took place in Puerto Rico during the winter of 1967-68. I spent about three months down there surfing and getting ready for the World Championship that was to be held there in the fall of ’68. There was nobody there then, only a handful of local surfers. It so happened that Tom Morey, the dude who invented the boogie board, also had decided to spend the winter down there too and we wound up living right next door to each other.

There is a lot of great surf in that area, but it is not as consistent as the Pacific so there are a lot of very small or totally flat days. On the flat days Tom and I used to go spear fishing for dinner. The deal was the guy who got the least amount of fish had to carry the bag the next time we went out. That was always me. Tom was much better at spearing fish than me, I have no idea why. I always seemed to miss and when I did hit one I felt bad. So I was always the one with the bag.

One day the bag got full pretty fast and so I was swimming in to unload it. We were diving on the same reef that we surfed over everyday at a spot called Rincon. I was swimming over the reef in about five or six feet of water. At one point there was a break in the reef and there was a sandy bottom about twelve or fifteen foot deep. And out from under the reef swam this big long and fat fish. This fish was about the same size as me but fatter. And it was swimming very slowly. So I get all happy and think that there is no way I can miss this dude. I am gonna spear this one and be the hero of the day.

I swam down to right next to this puppy and was already to shoot my spear into it when all of a sudden it spread out. It was not a fish after all, it was a giant octopus. When it spread out it was probably about fifteen feet across. And it was UGLY. Not just a little ugly either, it was all pinkish brown and hideous looking, like a monster from outer space or somthin’. And it was lookin’ at me. They have one big eye and this one was glaring right at me like, “..and what do you think you are gonna do?” I totally freaked out. I thought my heart was going to pound outta my chest. All I remember is flying out of the water and running to the beach on the tips of my fins. Everyone said I was as white as a sheet and ranting and foaming at the mouth. That was the most scared I probably ever was.

A few days later the surf was about four or five feet and we were sitting out there waiting for a wave. Way off in the distance there was this fish, maybe two feet long, and it was bouncing along on top of the water. Right behind it was another fish about twice the size of the first one. They were both hitting the water at the same time and coming towards us going really fast. As we sat there the two fish went right past us. The one in the front was straining as hard as he could to stay ahead of the one behind him and the one in the back was straining as hard as he could to eat the one in the front. They keep going as far as we could see. I asked Tom who he thought was gonna win, the smaller dude trying to stay alive or the bigger one looking for a meal.

Tom, in his most wisdomish like way said, “Well the bigger fish will win because it is taking the smaller fish more energy to stay ahead of the bigger one. In the end the smaller one will wear out first and the big one will eat it.”

Wow, that was actually kinda sad. I told Tom I felt bad for the little guy. He looked at me sort of blankly and said, “Corky, that’s just life in the food chain.”

That made a big impression on me. I don’t like life in the food chain. Especially if I am the food.

I WANNA TIME MACHINE
The Wave ~ 05-07-2008
By Corky Carroll

Have you ever fantasized about having a time machine and being able to go back in time? I have. In fact I do it all the time. Imagine putting yourself back into early Orange County in like the 1930’s with a whole lot of cash and a modern surfboard. Score city. You could buy up all the prime real estate and ride all the great spots with nobody out but you. I recently got an email from a dude named Bob Jones. Bob is now 83 years old and has lived here in our wondrous OC all his life. This story reminded me of my time machine fantasy. But this dude was actually there when Duke Kahanamoku and “da boys” from Hawaii made that legendary appearance at Corona Del Mar back in the 1930’s. Here is Bob’s story:

“Reading your articles on surfing brings back fond memories of going to the beach and watching the surf sport evolve. I couldn't resist sending you my memories of an early surfing event.

SURFING 1938

Surfing history was made in California when the Register announced that a group of Hawaiians were coming to surf the break at the Corona Del Mar side of Newport Harbor. I don't have specific dates but I was at Lathrop Junior High in Santa Ana when my dad took me down to the beach to watch the event.

At that time there was no rock jetty on the Corona Del Mar side. But there was the concrete pier that stretched out from the beach. People could stand on the pier when the surf was small. Fishing boats and sailboats had to stay on the Newport side to exit the harbor in calm water.

There was a crowd that day on the Corona Del Mar beach and pier. They were anxious to see the Hawaiians demonstrate their new sport. The waves crested at about five feet. People on the pier had to be careful that they didn't get washed off as the waves broke. The waves carried in as far as the rock outcropping on the Corona Del Mar beach. The bronzed men on their long redwood and balsawood laminated boards would lie back beyond the break. Then they would paddle to the crest and stand up to follow the slope of the wave as it broke. What an exciting event!

In just three years you would find boys in high school wood shops gluing balsa and redwood planks together to shape into their own boards. Their favorite spot was San Onofre and the breaks at what was known as the “trestles” or “old mans’ beach.”

Body surfing was, of course, the main sport then. I liked the Corona Del Mar area, especially the waves next to the rock jetty on the Newport Beach side. We didn't just ride the break. We'd ride the foam all the way up the beach to see who could go the furthest.”

I love getting stories like this one. I still remember when I was with the premier tour for the movie the “Endless Summer” in 1964. We put on surfing demonstrations all down the east coast. Thousands of people would come out to witness the new “craze” of surfing for the first time. It was a cool experience. Now that would be a fun thing to go back in time and relive, if you had a machine that would let you do that. How amazing would that be? Totally. I can remember so many times when I was a kid hearing old dudes tell me how much they would love to be young again and “know what I know now.” I always wondered what it was that they knew that was so cool that it would be great to be young and know. Honestly I always figured that they didn’t know cow poo poo and it was just something that old dudes always said to make it sound like they had some sort of mystic wisdom that you could only attain if you were a geezer. But now I am a geezer and I have learned what it is that would be great to be young again and know. The magic secret.
It’s how to score chicks and make money in real estate. Of course the secret of the magic secret is that it only works if you know what you know “now” and go back to being young “then.” Like if I could go back to 1964 and get back into my body then, with the knowledge that is in my mind now, I know I would be a very dangerous, and successful, boy.

Whenever I go with this line of dreaming it always ends the same way though. I come to the realization that if I changed anything that happened along the way I probably would not be in this spot and at this place in my life right now. Yeah, it would be nice to change a few things, like not being as fat as a cow, but for the most part I love my life right now. But still, a time machine would be a fun deal.