“A storm was coming in a day or two, so the waves were decent, enough to body surf a bit. Then a five to seven-foot monster waves came out of nowhere. I dove under each one and when I came up after the last one, all of the water receded and dragged me out. I swam at an angle to shore, parallel and directly towards the shore. No progress… Out I kept going. I was getting tired so I stopped to tread water, way out.
A surfer paddled up out of nowhere and asked ‘Do you need help?’
‘If you don’t mind,’ I responded.
He had me climb on his board to rest and tried to tow me in. We were both getting sucked out. So then we both held onto the board and swam for everything we were worth. Finally, we got back to the breakers, and I told him I’d probably be OK from here and cut loose. Got tumbled back to shore, rougher than I expected. Got back on the beach, puked out some saltwater and just laid on my side for like 20 minutes.
Never tracked down the surfer, and that was all we said to each other.”
