It was about midnight on Sunday when I got the text message from Lounge, “be at my house at 7am.” I wasn’t sure of the reason why, only that I was to bring the camera and be ready to shoot.
My first thought was that some local secret spot must have been firing the last couple days and he wanted to get some footage. Then I realized there was no swell in the water and ruled out the possibility of scoring an epic, rarely breaking wave.
I arrived at his house full of curiosity about what we were going to shoot. As I sat on his couch while his two little groms wrecked havoc around me, he told me a story about a friend he had met in the water a little over 8 years ago.
Being the only two people in the line up, Lounge started talking to the unfamiliar face. As it turned out, the stranger was in town from Holland, gearing up for a long road trip down through Mexico and Central America. Lounge, being an avid Mexico traveler himself, immediately dove into conversation about the many places and people he had experienced in his travels through the area.
Over the next month, Tom from Holland camped out in front of Lounge’s house in preparation for his trip. Since he embarked eight years ago, the two had not seen each other since.
I finally realized why I was sitting on Lounge’s couch at seven in the morning, Tom was back in town. Needless to say, my level of curiosity went up a bit. I knew that people surfed in Holland, but I wasn’t aware of the roots that the surfing lifestyle has planted there.
We followed Tom around all morning, checking the waves and talking surfing. We finally found some rideable surf and got into a few waves before Tom headed out on the next leg of his trip.
Lounge pointed it out best when he said that even over the eight year span when they hadn’t seen each other, they hadn’t missed a beat because of their connection through surfing. I’m sure the next time Tom is in town, it will be the same case for me.
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