North Star

16 | waterman

2019

"Statistically speaking, I think you should have been able to catch at least one wave by now," Anthony said as Nikau came up from the water.

I wasn't an expert on Nikau Reed's behavior, but if I had to guess, I would say he was about two seconds away from attempting to drown Anthony and I wasn't sure if I would have stopped him.

"Bro, I will end you."

(Yeah.) (Two seconds and counting.)

Although Anthony was undoubtedly the best at surfing out of all of us, he was also sometimes a little bit of a shit, which meant surf lessons could either go superbly or horribly. And considering how close he was to Nikau, the latter was an unsurprising outcome. Kanani would have probably been a slightly better instructor if she hadn't been coaxed out of the water by Keali'i so they could find something to eat, dragging Leimomi and Micah along with them. I would have gone with them but Nikau would have been left by himself with Anthony and I probably would have felt guilty the entire time. Even if I wasn't offering any educational value, I could be used as a shield when Anthony got too annoying.

It wasn't even real surfing, according to Anthony. And he was right. We went to Waikiki Beach—groan—or, as Nicki Minaj had so eloquently and accurately described, the islands of Waikiki for the sake of having easy, small waves for Nikau. We couldn't technically even call it surfing at this point because he wasn't able to just stand on the board for more than two seconds without holding onto one of us.

"Anthony?" I said.

"Yes?"

"Have you considered being nice?"

Nikau sighed. "Thank you."

"No, I have not."

"Fuck you."

"How about you take five, yeah?" Without waiting for an answer, I shoved Anthony toward the shore. He swam away laughing and muttering something under his breath while I turned back to Nikau who was hanging onto his board with more disdain than I had ever seen someone direct at an inanimate object. "Okay, so your technique isn't bad at all."

"Which is why I keep falling off."

"You just need to get in the right mind space. Nobody wants to admit this but any sport is about twenty percent physical and eighty percent mental. Don't listen to that loser and his statistics. There are no statistics out here. There's you and the wave. Take your time. Trust your gut. Feel your mana. It'll carry you the rest of the way. And if you miss a wave then no big deal. Let the other guy go and catch another one."

Look, I wasn't a teacher by any means, and I probably could have spent more time making sure he understood his technique and why it worked for him, but I was of the belief that mental hindrances were the worst to overcome. If Anthony felt differently, he could help him correct his form later on. Right now, he had to stop thinking about how many times he had fallen and realize there were still so many more opportunities to keep standing.

He looked at me funny.

"What?"

"Nothing." He shook his head. "You just... you give a good pep talk."

"I more or less stole that from Duke Kahanamoku. Don't give me too much credit."

"Who?"

My mouth fell open. "Did you ask who?"

"I—I don't know who that is. Sorry."

I turned around and pointed toward the statue on the beach that I had never seen without a handful of leis hanging from each bronzed, outstretched hand. "Duke Kahanamoku. The father of modern surfing. One of the greatest Watermen to ever live."