Ungovernable sea provides comfort, lessons in humility

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Alfie in the Suis lineup. Maybe he’s flown south to enjoy summer in his native Australia.

I miss Alfie’s cheerful greeting and the way he sits half underwater on his shortboard, gazing contentedly at the sea, the sky, the distant green Koolau and craggy cliffs of Leahi directly onshore.

When he misses a wave, he groans, then laughs at himself. When someone drops in or cuts him off, he doesn’t get angry. He shrugs. They’ll get theirs.

For the ocean is unpredictable. No matter who you are, the waves will humble you: Witness the epic wipeouts featured in every surf film.

Invariably, when the outside wave that I’ve been waiting for finally comes and everyone cheers me on, I miss it or tumble over the falls. You gotta have a sense of humor.

LATELY THOUGH, light spirits have been scarcer on the Hawaii surf scene. In November the Eddie Aikau Invitational was canceled due to a disagreement between sponsor Quiksilver and the Aikau family.

This month, after asking to switch the dates of its two Pipeline contests on Oahu’s North Shore, the World Surf League threatened to cancel all six of its Hawaii contests if the city denied its request, which Mayor Kirk Caldwell promptly did. On Thursday, WSL stated it would not hold the Billabong Pipe Masters in 2019, without specifying the future of its other Hawaii meets.

WSL’s original proposal to have the Pipe Masters and Volcom Pipe Pro exchange holding periods without changing the dates seemed reasonable, but why the all-or-nothing stance? I wonder what Duke Kahanamoku, the worldwide ambassador of surfing — and Hawaii — would have thought of this international organization’s challenge to the city in the birthplace of the sport. The champion Olympic swimmer was also renowned for his humility.

And surfing is a lesson in humility. Sometimes you don’t even need waves.

Speaking by phone from Kauai, where he holds an annual music camp, musician Keola Beamer recalled how years ago, when he was diagnosed with cancer, his first impulse was to go surfing.

“Surfing always gave me a beautiful clarity when I was a young man, took away stress,” said the slack-key guitar master and composer of “Honolulu City Lights,” now 66. “I wanted to get back out in the ocean and think about my life.”

Beamer hadn’t been surfing in 35 years. He bought a longboard and headed for Guardrails, a break off Lahaina.

He’d forgotten how far out it was. His arms got tired of paddling. “I’m way out of shape. My shorts are dragging in back, catching water, slowing me down.”

From behind him, “I hear this voice of a young girl asking sweetly, ‘Uncle, do you need help?’”

Irritated, he thought, “Do I look that bad?”

He thought again. “‘Uncle’ is a term of respect. She was concerned. I said, ‘No, no, I’m fine, no worries, thank you.’”

As the girl paddled swiftly past, he had a desperate flash: “Maybe she could tow me out with her leash!”

Too late. She was gone.

Beamer never made it out to Guardrails that day, but he did refresh his relationship with the sea.

He sold the surfboard and started kayak fishing. The cancer treatment worked. He’s fine, and released his latest album, with wife, Moana Beamer, last year.

MY ELDEST brother is also a cancer survivor, and 20 years ago, when he was undergoing chemotherapy, he’d swim at our neighborhood beach. He took photos of waves fanning across the sand and wrote poetry about the sea and our family.

On Saturdays, as children, we’d watch our grandfather, tired after his workweek, dive into the ocean and come up looking refreshed, as if all the tension and weight had washed away. Then he’d briskly swim out into the channel where, decades later, we scattered his ashes.

Sometimes we float in the warm, salty Hawaii sea as if in our mother’s arms. Other times we get lickings. The ocean is wild. It’s nature — the big picture.

Humans might regulate use of the ocean and run surfing as a business, but we can’t control the sea.

“In the Lineup” features Hawaii’s oceangoers and their regular hangouts, from the beach to the deep blue sea. Reach Mindy Pennybacker at mpennybacker@staradvertiser.com or call 529-4772.