Wisdom

The swell lines were coming in with a ruthless efficiency, Detonating 6 foot caverns over the shallow reef. Only 7 guys were out, all but one sitting on the inside, catching the medium sized ones, which spat down the point at warped speed. Then there was the one. He sat further down the line and a good 30 metres out to sea compared to the pack. It appeared he was completely out of position. Too far out to catch most of the waves, and the big set waves were sectioning badly where he was, closing out and offering no opportunity to get to your feet.

He sat there, unmoved, for 30 minutes while the 6 were catching wave after wave. Then shadows appeared on the horizon. Set. These looked different, as if they were coming more from the east, lining up differently. He comfortably scratched over the first, then sat up and turned. 4 strokes and he was to his feet. The wave hit the outer reef and threw as he calmly bottom turned, set his rail at midwave, and allowed the lip to envelop him. Stand up tube, flying down the line past the pack. 

He rode the wave to the beach, jumped off and walked slowly back to the carpark.

Several crew paddled out to his spot, trying to catch that wave.

No one did.