The next day, with the euphoria faded and fallen into an endorphin hangover, I was disappointed that I had not been more aggressive and hit the lip for a big aerial. Everyone talks about the ego-stoke of individual-centred action sports like windsurfing, but no one mentions the ego-drain, the ego-suffocate, the ego-shame that is the inevitable yin to the yang. I’m not religious, but riding Jaws comes close to being a religious experience. Riding a Jaws wave is to be part of something so much more powerful than yourself, you become insignificant. But at the same time, in riding the wave, you become part of the wave, part of a force so inhumanely powerful. The self disappears in the power of the wave and becomes the wave at the same time – but only for an instant. And then life goes back to normal until the next set wave, which is what we are still looking for. Just one more. Just one more.
“ Riding a Jaws wave is to be part of something so much more powerful than yourself, you become insignificant ”