Man vs. Wave Luke Powell was stoked. His eyes were locked onto the huge waves crashing out to sea, clutching onto the old pair of binoculars that were hanging from his neck. He stood up on the cliff as ordered by his father, forbidden from going down to the beach where Johnny and Will were crouched down by the longboard in serious conversation. His father’s wife Alex had convinced Luke that he’d get a much better view up high, which was probably true considering that all the spectators were watching from the cliff.
“There he goes,” Alex put a hand on Luke’s shoulder from where she stood behind him, pointing down to where Will was jogging down into the water with his longboard.
Luke brought his binoculars up to his eyes, not wanting to lose sight of his much older friend from this point onward. He was glad Alex had made him wrap up warmly as he could feel the cold stinging his cheeks. It looked very gnarly and Luke had nothing but awe for Will and his bravery. The other surfers were small dots on the waves, waiting to pluck up courage to take their shot. There were a few big boats sitting out on the waves as well, having taken most of the surfers out but there were some, like Will, who paddled out straight to the peak themselves.
Luke’s father and Will’s fiancée Rolene joined him and Alex shortly up on Pillar Point to watch but Luke barely noticed their reappearance and he watched Will paddle out (which was impressive in itself given the enormity of the sets). It was hard to keep his binoculars trained on Will the further out the Aussie got, surrounded by other surfers. There were more surfers out than Luke had expected but he doubted all of them would have the guts to take a wave today.
The first surfer took a wave but he wiped out almost immediately as the lip came crashing down behind him. He reappeared on the surface a few moments later, allowing the spectators to let out their breath. A friend of Johnny’s looked as though he were paddling for the next wave but pulled out last minute.
Before long Will was paddling for a wave and Luke felt his heart beating faster even though he wasn’t the one out in the water. He went over the edge and got to his feet, gliding down the face. It was beautiful to watch, the way he cruised down the giant wave almost in slow motion but this glorious sight was broken by a muttering of Luke’s dad behind him.
“No no no.”
It was so quiet that Luke thought he’d imagined it but he kept his eyes trained on Will, unable to tear them away to look at his father for reassurance. But the whisper had prompted him to notice the way that Will suddenly looked askew on his board. He didn’t have the right angle to hold it and through his binoculars Luke could see him try and correct this. It was too late.