Circles

A charter member of our crew (not the o.g. tattoo level, but close) is leaving us. I received his email and gave some thought to time and change. Double is moving on to greater things and he is an irreplaceable man. To find someone with his riding ability and special set of quirks will be impossible.
I remember the first ride I was on with him. We were screaming down the hill on Overstreet, and he did a full power slide, and looked back at me right in the eye. My first thought was; "I'm not good enough to ride with these guys."
Eight years later and I am still thinking the same thing.
I decided to leave Ft. Pierce in the fall of 1985. Two events led the decision.
The first was hurricane Gloria. It passed by us about 1500 miles off the coast. My brother Chris, Greggo (owner of North Jetty Surf Shop), my best friend Kevin, and I paddled out in the dark at about 6:30 am. It must have been during a lull, because I never went through any waves till I was way outside. The sun started coming up, and I realized I was looking back across the inlet, at the end of the south jetty. This put us somewhere about a quarter mile out. As the sun broke through, I looked up to see my brother taking off in the semi darkness, on the biggest wave I had ever seen. It was about 6-8 feet over head on the take off. I barley punched through the set and made it outside. I surfed the biggest, best waves I had ever seen since I moved there in 1969.
When we came out of the water it had really gotten out of control and a lot of people had tried to paddle out, but couldn't. I turned and looked at the waves, the only thing keeping me in the God forsaken town, and I knew it would never get better than that.
Later that year on my birthday, I was in a retched bar in Port Saint Lucie. I looked over and saw two of my ex girlfriends talking to each other, while giving me dirty looks from across the room. My circles were starting to intersect too much.
I went home packed my car and left without telling anyone except my boss at the shop. It was tough but eventually became a great move for me, I have lived here ever since.
I hope Double has a good run in Cali, and I hope he comes back to visit (he won't)..... So maybe we will have to barge on him once he gets the trails wired. If I am invited.
Good luck.
w.b.z.n.