Blue Eyes & Bones

It’s the beginning of fall, winter’s grand entrance here in Jeffrey’s Bay. With this season comes wind. A cold, strong wind. As my skin feels the change in seasons, my bones feel an urge. A wind going a new direction, a new season in life; I can feel it in my bones, right with that bitter winter wind.

Ian, Jonty, Tristan and I all stood there. My frame easily the smallest of our group; With Tristan and Ian both over six foot with bohemian brunette hair, Jonty just shy of their height with his cheeky blonde hair. We all stood there, 3 surfers and I – wrapped in hoodies, scarves, hats – anything to keep us warm. We stood on the sand, boots barely sinking in, we stood upon a hill with the wind hitting us as strong as it could, frigid and fierce. We stood there, staring at the waves.

A new swell has come to Jeffreys Bay, a swell that makes the surfer’s stoke. A swell that brings in waves that will be talked about along the coast, waves that will be respected. The waves came with an off-shore wind. My eyes absorbed in that alluring blue sea. We watched the surfers fight – they fought the wind, the cold, the current – they fought to stay. To stay, to play. Because you could look out upon bone-chilling water, with a biting wind and heavy, engrossing waves – and it could be ugly. But that was not today.

It was cold yes, but the refreshing, liven you up, type of cold. It was windy yes, but the reviving, new breath, type of wind. We knew each surfer was smiling out there, with each wave’s face being triumphed there was a new stoke planted. The waves were playful, inviting, enticing. The clouds, perfectly painted with accents and hues to kiss the gentle slopes that created each billow.

These blue eyes of mine, stared at a blue sea, at a blue sky today. These blue eyes of mine were entranced by a song that only the waves were playing, a song that nature fell in tune with – that my soul fell in love with. These blue eyes of mine, became the windows for these bones of mine.

These lessons I learn, I write – The refining I retain, I treasure – The challenges I conquer, I captivate. With new seasons, come changes. A change in the wind, a change in the temperature. I can feel it in my bones; a new direction, a new season – quickly approaching with fierce. And the stoke it has startled within my soul is … an urge, a fire, a desire, an arousal, it’s a feeling words cannot portray. A stoke that only a sea-bound sailor knows.