Around 1954 we had a hurricane which really churned up the surf. Brother Skip and I couldn't wait to get to Nauset Beach to do some serious body-surfing. We convinced our mother that as soon as the wind died down, she should drive us to Nauset.

Keep in mind that we were both "creep-agers" and neither of us had ever been accused of deep thinking. Anyway, sure enough, the wind laid down. In hindsight it laid down very quickly but that wasn't our concern. Surfing was.

Our mother dropped us off at the parking lot and headed back home. We raced for the water not wanting to miss a single wave.

For the uninformed, there were two essential types of waves. Rollers and breakers. (there were probably others but those two were all we cared about.) A "Roller" was ideal for body-surfing. You could get on the front of it and ride it clear to the beach.

A "Breaker" did just that. It rose up and broke. If you happening to be on the front of one of those puppies when it broke, it drove you into the sand like a tent peg. OUCH! One other thing, if you are beyond the surf line, you had no good way of knowing whether the wave you chose to ride in on was a roller or a breaker.....until it got there.

Aha, the light is starting to come on isn't it. Yup, you guessed it. We took beatings like you wouldn't believe. Neither of us had a square inch of skin that wasn't bleeding and abraded. About the time that we were both contemplating the need for transfusions, we noticed the wind was rapidly picking up again. Then we saw our mother hurrying towards us.....waving frantically!

We discovered why the wind dropped off sharply, and why it was picking up just as sharply now. The hurricane hadn't gone by but its eye had. We had been body-surfing while in the eye of the hurricane....and lived through it. Great lesson though.