Heroes Out Beyond the Breakers

As a child I went surfing at Freshwater Beach in Sydney Renowned for its great waves, Swell waves for body surfing. Beyond the breakers, furthest out, were the 'Heroes' Old, leathery tanned surfers who waited hours and hours for 'the wave of the day' They only caught a handful of the biggest waves every hour or two. They spent hours lolling about beyond the break, waiting for the big one to leer up on the horizon Too proud to catch the small stuff, the run of the mill waves not fit for 'heroes' It was scary at first for a kid to venture that far out into the 'heroes' realm They leered back throwing daggers and sighs with disapproving glances But you could survive by giving them plenty of space, to avoid interfering with their rare big wave catch The challenge was to 'show them up' by surfing down the waves they just missed, Or staying on the wave for longer than they did. To earn mere morsels or crumbs of reluctant respect. They had a nasty way of ridding the blow-in boogie-boarders from their patch They would duck down as flippered boogie-boarder passed overhead But leave an arm and hand up To grab the boogie boarder as it passed, dipping the nose in Flipping the board and rider over in a somersault This shooed the boogie-boarders away from The 'Heroes' patch of sea just beyond the breakers.