Songs of Thalassa

by Brian Tissot

  As they continued surfing throughout the day, Milo and Sage became increasingly aggressive toward each other. Milo was clearly upset about Sage’s bigger wave. With his superfast board, he was able to catch more waves than Sage and in several cases powered over and took off in front of her.

  On one wave, they took off together, and Milo faded deep into the peak, forcing Sage to go left, fall, and tumble down the face of the wave, driven deep below the surface. Rolled up in a ball as her ears popped in the white madness, she flashed back to her wipeout at Nazaré. She silently cursed Milo as she slammed into a sharp ridge with surprising force and was dragged over boulders before she activated her vest. Her suit filled with air, and she shot to the surface only to see Milo powering back out again while waving and laughing at her. Furious, she began to retaliate.

  When Milo took off in front of her again, she ran over him and watched as he fell and plunged into the white water. “Haha,” she laughed. “How do you like that?”

  On another large wave, she dropped in on him and followed him to the shoulder where they yelled and cursed at each other. She could see Milo’s anger growing, but she didn’t care. It felt good to throw him off his game as she watched for a big set of waves to arrive. Dina paddled over and glared at her. “What are you doing? This is a dangerous break and you’re being reckless.”

  But Sage said, “I’m fine. I’m making sure I catch the biggest wave.”

  Hours later, with Milo and Sage sitting at opposite ends of the lander, the team ate lunch as they reviewed some of the day’s video footage on a monitor. Although Dina and Sage were thrilled at the ease of surfing the big break, Milo was sulking, clearly unhappy that he had not surfed the biggest wave of the day and had been upstaged by Sage. But she was ecstatic. A new record. I can’t wait to go home and show everyone.

  As the lander hovered over the surf break, Sage stared at the reef, looking down on the jagged bottom. The tips of fronds rose to the surface as the tide began to recede and the reef was becoming shallower. Several times, she observed a brown animal just below the surface. But when she tried to get everyone’s attention, it disappeared, making her look foolish and jittery.

  “I think these 18-hour days are finally wearing everyone down,” Byron said. “Head back to the Duke?”

  Milo, who was vacantly staring at the swells on the horizon, turned to Georgia and said, “What’s the forecast for this afternoon?”

  Georgia quickly pulled up the latest iteration of her wave model. “The swell is building to 60- to 80-foot heights and 20- to 25-second periods on the offshore buoys and will increase in the next few hours. The tide is lower, which will make it a few feet shallower.”

  Milo perked up. “Oh, we have to stay for that.” But before anyone could object, Milo quickly held his hands out and added, “I know, maybe we should be more careful and take our time. But look at these waves! They’re huge, yet they’re easy to ride. I mean, there is almost a zero chance of not making these waves, and we can’t get caught inside because we can power out of any situation with our boards. At the worst, Byron can pick us up with Da Bull in the surf. That’s why I built it.” He laughed and threw back his head. “The only thing I have to worry about is Sage.”

  “You started it, Milo,” she said, feeling smug enough to justify her over-the-top actions.

  “These new waves must be from the northwest swell,” Dina said, a serious edge to her tone interrupting their banter. “So what we were surfing earlier was from the southwest. Now they’ll be combined. Yes, they may be easy to ride, but you have to be able to handle the worst possible situation, and frankly, the power of those waves scares me. They’re massive and unpredictable, and all it takes is one mistake. Sure, they’re slow and mushy, but once they get rolling there is a lot of moving water. The swell period is up to 20 seconds, so these waves are moving faster and with more energy behind them than this morning and, and they’re breaking farther offshore. Plus, the tide is dropping, and it’s getting shallower. I’m not sure I could survive a hold-down on a single wave out here, let alone two or three waves in a set. Sure, we have our breathers, but I don’t like to depend on those. It’s only for emergencies. Besides—and I mean no disrespect to you, Georgia—whatever you think is coming, this place is so huge, so strange and unknown, that the predictions may be way off. And you’ve all seen the forerunners out there, which means that a monster swell is—”

  Sage’s face turned ashen at her mentor’s tirade. “You’re scaring me Dina. I trust your judgment so let’s sit this swell out.”

  Milo shook his head, “But the model says—.”

  “Look!” Sage said, cutting Milo off as a brown head popped up in the surf. No mistaking it this time, this was a large creature, with a snout, eyes, and a mouth. Sage pointed at the creature, and everyone saw it as it disappeared underwater in a flash of long tail.

  “Holy shit!” said Georgia. “You weren’t kidding. It’s like a hairy alien alligator or something.”

  Milo face was turning red. “Dammit! Can we focus on the waves here? We have a giant swell coming. Ignore it for now.”

  “But they’re swimming in the waves!” Dina said. “You won’t be able to avoid them, they could attack you, or you could hit one.”

  Milo’s wasn’t interested. “Forget that thing! You all sound like you’re looking for an excuse not to go back out. That’s easy to say now that Sage has a new record. You stay here, but I’m going out and catch some more waves. You can watch me set a record that will never be broken!”

  Sage took it as a challenge and decided no matter what happened she would go if Milo did. There was no way she was letting him beat her, no matter what the conditions.

  As they waited for the predicted swell to arrive, an hour passed and they all sat there watching the creature dive up and down and the waves break, neither of which appeared to be changing. Finally, in the late afternoon, Georgia yelled while looking at her console, “Hey, I’m getting 50- to 60-foot northwest swells at 25 to 30 seconds on the inner buoys. That’s huge, and they’re coming our way!”

  Soon enough, dark, ominous swells began appearing on the horizon, and Sage watched as the larger swells approached the reef. As in the morning, they jacked up to tremendous heights when they hit the shoal. But unlike before, as the swells funneled in through the submarine canyons, the deeper long-period wave energy felt the canyon walls and refracted their swell energy onto Colossus reef. Once there, the swells from both canyons doubled up to form a massive peak of moving water.

  Sage watched with disbelief as a mountain of water began piling up on the shoal, and the wave face grew several times the height of the swell. At that point, the wave keeled over, but with the greater energy and shallow water, it broke as a hollow wave from top to bottom. From the lander, she could feel the power of the mammoth waves, the vibrations in the air passing through her as she stared in awe at Thalassa’s ocean. Colossus indeed, she thought, as intense fear paralyzed her body.

  Georgia was speechless. “The longer-period swell has completely transformed the break.”

  “Why, what’s happened?” asked Byron.

  “Longer-period waves, which come from farther way, carry more energy below the surface and turn and refract off deeper water bottom features, which shorter-period waves can’t touch,” Georgia replied. “The bigger, longer-period swells are refracting off both canyons walls, and with the incoming northwest swell, they are tripling up on the reef, creating that ungodly peak. Milo, are you sure you even want to try that?”

  “Sure,” he replied. “Why not? For all we know, this may be the best swell of the year. I’ll drop in early and hang on. Piece of cake.”

  Sage was doubtful it would be that easy. “Yeah, right.”

  Dina stared at the waves, which were hitting the reef from several directions. “The surf looks unpredictable. We shouldn’t go out.”

  “I do
n’t see that in my model,” Georgia added. “I’m more concerned about those brown critters in the surf. They look like they’re feeding or something.”

  As the swells broke on the edge of the shoal, Sage saw that the big waves were exposing large yellow fronds, ripping them off the reef, and shredding them in the white water. She realized that the broken fronds were a hunting opportunity for the brown creatures, and she observed half a dozen of them. As the fronds were ripped apart by the giant swells, the pika were exposed and frantically sought new shelter amid the turmoil as predators came in to take advantage of the situation. And most of the action was where the waves broke, where the reef served as a perfect foundation for the frond forests.

  Although Milo was visibly shaking, he stood up and directed Byron to drop him outside the line-up. “I’m going in.” Then he popped in his earpiece and spoke with a quivering voice. “Georgia, let me know if anything changes.”

  She nodded back. “Roger that.”

  Watching Milo jump into the water and paddle among the giant swells forced Sage to decide. As she watched the walls of ocean approaching the reef, fear gripped her body as never before. She was facing the biggest waves of her life. Waves, she realized, she had dreamed about for years. Like a moth to the flame, she had to surf these waves. She grabbed her board and jumped in.

  “Damn it,” Dina yelled at Sage. “This is crazy. I hope you know what you’re doing.” Then she jumped in to join the line-up.

  Torn between feeling grateful to have the company and worried that they all might die, Sage looked back at Dina as she paddled out on Milo’s big gun and said, “Me too.”

  Chapter 12.

  Maelstrom

  As Sage paddled among the massive dark-green swells shimmering in the late afternoon sun, she watched Milo using full power to catch a large swell, easily 50 feet high, and speeding down the wave’s face. She could see he was nervous as he jumped up and shot straight out into the right shoulder when the wave jacked up on the reef. But unlike this morning, the combination of a larger swell and low tide created a semi-hollow 150-foot peak. The lander came flying by with Moshe hanging out the door for a water-level POV for the cameras. Milo looked like a tiny dot on the face, rapidly powering across with his board at full speed.

  Sage was stunned at the incredible power of the monstrous wave and Milo’s courage to ride what would kill most people. Milo came flying off the shoulder of the wave with a huge grin on his face.

  Moshe screamed, “146 feet!”

  Dina, Georgia, and Moshe hooted and bellowed at the stunning achievement. “Awoooh, Milo.

  “He did it!” Sage said to herself. Now, she thought as she bobbed gently in the water, I have to beat him. As another swell approached, Milo powered back out and took off in front of Sage as she dropped deep in the peak behind him. She screamed at him, “Goddammit, Milo! Don’t screw around. It’s too dangerous.”

  Laughing, he turned and went flying down the huge wave’s face. Caught between anger and fear of the towering wave, she powered her board toward Milo. Approaching him, she saw several brown heads in the water. But she ignored them, passed by, and pushed Milo. As he struggled to stand on his board, he hit one of the creatures, flew several hundred feet over the back of the wave, and landed with a huge splash.

  Riding the wave onto the shoulder, Sage smiled at his wipeout. As she paddled back out, she saw Milo struggling to get back on his board and gave him the finger. The lander was silent. Paddling up to Dina in the water, her mentor looked away and shook her head in disappointment. “What the hell, Sage?”

  “But, he…” With a sudden awareness of where she was and the consequences of her actions, Sage was embarrassed by her aggressiveness. What am I doing? There’s three of us surfing this planet, and I’m fighting with him. Sheesh. And I pushed him into some big critter. What’s happened to me? Then she looked down and saw Milo’s flaming-red board beneath her. Shit! she realized. I’m becoming Milo.

  Looking at Dina paddling away from her, she remembered her words, Be the young girl full of aloha spirit, and made a decision. Powering over to the lander, she motioned to Moshe to take Milo’s board and lower down Kekoa.

  Knee-paddling back out among the giant swells on her strong koa board, she thought of her early passion for the ocean and the respect and patience her father taught her. “Feel the swells,” he had said. “Let the waves come to you.” Dina saw her on Kekoa and gave her a hoot and a shaka sign.

  Sage smiled back at Dina, buoyed by the strength of her old board beneath her.

  Georgia’s voice erupted in her earpiece, announcing updated buoy data. “The model is showing a larger and potentially chaotic mixture of wave size, period, and direction. The new swells will arrive soon. I advise that you all get out of the water before they get here.”

  Sage saw Milo shaking his head as he paddled farther out on the reef. He was ignoring Georgia’s advice, and although her body was trembling, Sage decided she couldn’t let him be the only one out here, sweeping up the waves and stealing all the glory. “I’m staying, too,” she yelled at Dina.

  Dina responded in a shrill voice, visibly shaking with fear. “OK, then so am I—I don’t want to leave you out here. But this is a really bad idea.”

  The swells began hitting the reef, forcing Sage and Dina to scramble around as huge walls of water came in from different directions. They got separated as they paddled and powered around, trying to be in a position to ride waves while avoiding being caught inside and pummeled by the ocean. With the unpredictable swell direction, it was all Sage could do to stay afloat, and she had to power out into the channel several times as waves broke in front of her. To avoid the chaos, she decided to paddle farther outside. As she pulled up on Kekoa, she fumed at herself for being reckless and hoped her old board would be enough to keep her calm.

  Watching from her spot far out on the reef, she saw that Milo was manically trying to steal the show and beat his own record. Even though he was using his motoboard, he began to tire and was having trouble paddling and standing after catching over a dozen waves.

  Despite the mountains of water passing underneath her, Sage pushed back her fear and focused on remaining calm. Let it come, she kept saying to herself, remembering her father’s teachings while rubbing the familiar deck of her board from her home island. Looking at the inlaid sandalwood, she could almost smell its warm, heady scent. Thoughts of the jagged reef and her ordeal at Nazaré entered her mind, but she pushed them out and focused on a vision of a tranquil reef teeming with marine life swaying in the current. Despite the shifting swells, she stayed in a spot clear of breaking waves, a place where she felt the converging energy from the canyons on the reef. This is the place. Be patient.

  As the sun dropped toward the horizon, she saw a line of gigantic dark mounds appear and converge on her location. One of the swells began slowly building in front of her as it merged with wave energy bouncing out of the canyons. Awed by the raw power of the mammoth peak, she felt like the entire ocean was amassing before her. It was as if every wave she had ever surfed was gathering into one, all of her life now piling up in front of her to test her courage. As the combined swells grew into a mountain of water, she felt pain coursing through her wounds to the beat of her heart, reminding her of past mistakes. She pushed it all away; her moment had arrived. This is the wave of my life!

  As the swell grew larger and steeper and the wind began blowing spray off the top, she saw Milo powering over at max speed to cut her off. Her anger flared. Pivoting on her board, she turned and paddled hard into the near-vertical mountain and applied a spurt of power. With shaking hands and a lump in her throat, she stood up and made an angled turn at the top of the massive wave, heading toward Milo. As he saw her bearing down, he pulled back and missed the wave. Screaming obscenities as she flew by, he helplessly watched as she turned and headed down the mountain-sized peak. She knew it was the biggest wa
ve ever ridden.

  Dropping down the steep face, with her board moving at a breakneck speed, she felt the familiar stability of Kekoa beneath her. Her body trembled as the wave broke in an enormous bowl with a thick lip keeled toward her. The enormous lip of the wave carried so much water that it could kill her in an instant, and her heart beat wildly in her chest as she fought her instinct to turn away.

  Making small adjustments to her stance, she pushed her board into a slow, graceful turn away from the thunderous waterfall exploding behind her as she straightened out on the wave’s huge wall. The picture-perfect wave broke across the reef, and she was flawlessly positioned inside the massive pipe as it broke around her. It was a tube unlike any other. It was beyond Earth’s oceans. It was a wave that existed only in surfers’ dreams—or nightmares—something she could never have imagined riding. From the lander, which was perfectly positioned low on the water, looking up at the mountainous wave, Georgia gasped at the sight and whispered Moshe’s reading in Sage’s earpiece: “180 feet. Damn, Sage.”

  Sage felt like she was inside a mountain-sized cathedral. Yellow and blue light filtered through the back of the wave as the glare of the setting sun beckoned to her from the end of the tube. The water was crystal clear, and she could see fronds swaying on the reef below. Although the sound of the cascading wave was deafening, for a moment everything went silent, and the water surrounding her moved in slow motion. Despite the danger, the fear in her heart evaporated as she moved in time and space. She flashed back to her first tube ride as a child and the feeling of beauty and poise and balance. She remembered her pono with the wave at that moment and the perfect balance between her, the wave, and the reef. There was nothing to fear in this brief moment. She could feel her pono returning and the energy of Thalassa flowing through her.

  It was a deeply spiritual moment: she was positioned perfectly in the womb of Thalassa’s ocean—at the core of absolute power, which could inspire her or destroy her in an instant. Her life hung in the balance, and it felt like her soul had left her body. The detachment helped her see herself at that moment in the path of her life. What do I want? This competition is killing me and needs to stop. If I can reclaim pono on a wave, I can do it in my life.