{"id":32131,"date":"2017-10-03T15:05:59","date_gmt":"2017-10-03T15:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/?p=32131"},"modified":"2023-07-05T11:41:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T17:41:57","slug":"trial-by-marbella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/trial-by-marbella\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial By Marbella"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Amy\u00a0Waeschle<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"I stood in the idling boat with the others, our breaths collectively held. Fat ridges of swell were stacked to the sapphire-blue horizon, and one was steaming toward Marbella\u2019s black-sand shore.<\/p>\n

The wave peaked; the deep blue lip reaching forward, then a burst of spray sparkled in the sun like shards of colored glass. The wave peeled perfectly for an impossibly long time, roaring like a jet engine. The entire crew of surfers exhaled a simultaneous, \u201cwhoa,\u201d before becoming a flurry of bodies rushing and jostling to get into the water. Smirking, our boat driver underhanded our surf boards into the water like fistfuls of rice at a wedding. I plunged in after my board, reminding myself that if my guides didn\u2019t think I could handle this wave, they wouldn\u2019t have sent me here.<\/p>\n

After three days of Witch\u2019s Rock tours program, I was well on my way to surfing my brains out. I could also feel myself getting more comfortable surfing bigger waves. I was ready for this\u2014I\u2019d been surfing for only a few years but wanted to push myself and improve. I was tired of being the newbie, the scardy-cat.<\/p>\n

But I hadn\u2019t slept a wink the night before because Marbella was a serious wave. When my favorite surf guide found out I was headed to Marbella the next day he looked at me gravely and said, \u201cCareful. Mar-baya ees a heavy wave.\u201d He also told me to not<\/i>, under any circumstances, get caught inside.<\/p>\n

Yikes<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sitting in the lineup, my throat was so tight I wondered if I might be having an asthma attack. Do not get caught inside<\/i> rang in my head. I kept a constant eye on the horizon for the big sets. The first surfer paddled for a wave and got pitched over the falls, the wave exploding with a thunderous boom <\/i>as he disappeared inside the massive foam ball. I winced and didn\u2019t exhale until I saw him scratch over the next set. Another surfer dropped in with the same result.<\/span><\/p>\n

What was I doing here?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Another surfer dropped in and ducked beneath the lip, shooting down the line, the wave arcing in a perfect oval after him. An almost-barrel. He carved a hard turn for the lip and flew over it just as the wave slammed shut in a thick mass of foamy, blue water.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally it was my turn. I spied my wave and spun for it. Behind me, the lip made that feathering sound when it\u2019s starting to spill. When I dropped-in and punched to my feet, I was greeted by a lip as thick as my thigh. I carved low around the fast-breaking section, balancing against the alarming pace and steepness by grabbing my outside rail and crouching low, outrunning the pitching wall while my heart thumped like a base drum in my ears. The wave glittered a shiny, slate blue, thinning as it reached out. I held my breath and raced upwards for the lip.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do not get caught inside.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The wave pounded shut behind me, erupting with spray that peppered the backs of my legs like buckshot.<\/span><\/p>\n

I paddled a safe distance outside and replayed what I had just accomplished. My mind relived the steep drop, my hand reaching for the outside rail (when had I learned to do that?) the fluttering, crushing lip folding behind me, my smooth, racing exit. Slowly, a grin spread across my face. My first almost-barrel! I couldn\u2019t wait to try it again. My next ride lasted a lifetime and left me breathless.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the end of my weeklong trip, my arm muscles were so worked I couldn\u2019t brush my hair in the morning and my skin was so fried from the equatorial sun that I barely recognized myself in the mirror. Something inside of me had changed, too, though no one could see it. I had ditched my newbie surfer self for good.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

AMY WAESCHLE is the author of\u00a0Going Over the Falls\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Chasing Waves<\/i>. She sometimes gets crazy, such as surfing urchin-infested reef breaks or taking her kindergartener backpacking. This month she\u2019s giving away a boatload of surf books. Enter here:\u00a0https:\/\/bit.ly\/2xVOxtJ<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Amy\u00a0Waeschle I stood in the idling boat with the others, our breaths collectively held. Fat ridges of swell were stacked to the sapphire-blue horizon, and one was steaming toward Marbella\u2019s black-sand shore. The wave peaked; the deep blue lip reaching forward, then a burst of spray sparkled in the sun like shards of colored […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":32132,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,9,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-costa-rica-surfing","category-lifestyle","category-talk-story","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}