A Short Story About Kauai Surf Girls

The Kauai Girls Surf Team

The radio in the rental car was playing Scar Tissue, and the rain was tapping lightly on the windshield. It was spring break in Kauai, and I was on vacation with my friend Burt and his family. We pulled up to a surf spot outside of Hanalei Bay and unloaded the boards. We changed into our board shorts, slathered on the sunscreen, and darted across the sand. The sun was starting to break through the clouds and the water felt like a Jacuzzi. Burt and I paddled out past the shore break and into the line up. We were typical 14 year olds from Southern California, we surfed when we could get a ride to the beach, and that was not often. However this made no difference to us, every three-foot ankle-slapper we rode was recounted as a ten-foot barrel. We didn’t mind that our boards were made of sponge, often associated with beginners. What mattered is that we were in the water. On this particular day we had an audience.
As Burt...