It's the End of the World as We Know It in General
- Sept. 20, 2017, 2:14 a.m.
- |
- Public
That’s right it starts with an earthquake, birds snakes and airplanes.
Jose is sitting and spinning off the coast of southern New England. That means gray skies, wind and surf.
Oh yeah. Surf. 5-10 foot swells around noon tomorrow. Guess where I will be?
Car is already packed. I figure to sleep in until 8am, swing by Duncan to fill up the thermos. Then down the Kennebec Chaudière.
It will be windy, and unfortunately the wind will be out of the north. That means chop on a south facing beach.
Worst comes to worst, I will make a nice drive to the coast in the rain, listening to a book. Best case: The wind is more to the east and we get awesome swells.
Either way, I’ll be dressed for it.
I sent a letter of inquiry to the flight school. I spelled out my questions. My money is consolidated. I am ready to start. With any luck I can get an orientation flight this weekend.
In 1989, while I was in AOCS, I saw one of the class t-shirts mounted in a passageway.
Across the top was the DI and class Officer’s names. The class number. Below that was a tableau, an F/A-18 pilot looking over his shoulder and he was going vertical. Behind him was a full blown War at Sea. Nimitz class carrier in full blown flight ops, Soviet era destroyers and cruisers launching weapons.
Above the picture was the phrase “It’s The End of the World as We Know It”
And below the picture was “And I Feel Fine.”
Looking back, I realize we never really looked at the big picture. Sweating in the cockpit we never worried about anything other than getting the job done. We didn’t think about family or country. We only thought about the job.
Fuck it. I’m going surfing. And I feel fine.
Bound and Tied ⋅ September 20, 2017
I've just recently come back....so I'm a bit fuzzy....but all these years I thought you WERE a pilot. Why do you need to go to flying lessons?
Duke Bound and Tied ⋅ September 20, 2017
13 years out of the cockpit. I am basically starting all over again!
=bernard= ⋅ September 20, 2017
I vividly remember standing on a promontory on Race Horse Beach in Cape Cod watching a storm come in from the Atlantic, incredible. Huge black clouds and very high surf yet there were people on the beach collecting the flotsam and jetsam.
Deleted user ⋅ September 21, 2017
It's always the guys surfing the storm waves among the rip tides that amaze me . I understand a passion, but not a death wish.
Duke Deleted user ⋅ September 21, 2017
The secret is to not fear the ocean, but to respect her. Once you have that down it's not that dangerous. Being able to swim is kinda helpful as well.
Deleted user Duke ⋅ September 21, 2017
I was a good swimmer until my spine got hurt. At nine I swam in the Atlantic Ocean off Jxvillle Beach unsupervised almost every day . My Mom was not big on supervision. I loved to body surf ; you know when you wait until the wave is at its peak and dive in; then it picks you up and hurtles you through the air then back in the water. In those days I had no fear. I almost drowned a couple of times and got beaten up by a pod of wild dolphins but it never stopped me. Now I like looking more than swimming but I have a lot of good memories :-) and some scary ones .
Duke Deleted user ⋅ September 21, 2022
I too, was a big body surfer. Cracked some ribs when a wave grabbed me an slammed my into the floor. Hurt like hell for a few weeks.