It's been rather weedy and waveless in these parts lately, but Mr. Betty and I took a surf-related scoot (on Mr. B's scooter) way out Bellevue to Rough Point last evening. The road is always longer than I remember it — two or three miles? Which makes sense, I guess, when one considers the length of the Cliff Walk running parallel, on the back side, through the back yards (if you can call them that) of all those cottages ...
Anyway, we pulled into Rough Point (last cottage on the left), stopped to pay a $5 fee to the gatekeeper, and I said to Mr. Betty, "Whoa! This place is hopping!"
There were cars, trucks & scooters everywhere. A few had surfboards on top. It struck me as funny somehow, seeing a fins-up vehicle at the front door of Rough Point, even though I know, by way of the current exhibit, that heiress/philanthropist Doris Duke was a surfer ...
We didn't see any people, though — nary a soul — 'til we'd gone through the door and proceeded toward the patio. Again, WHOA. It's like the whole world was there: all ages & sizes, all manner of dress. Granted it was so foggy that the water (that view!) was invisible, as if it didn't even exist (you know that effect?), which in a funny way made the colorful scene even more colorful. One had no choice but to keep eyes to the ground, where hundreds of surfboards — again, all ages & sizes — comprising "Doris Duke's Surf Fest" outlined the contoured gardens and contoured lawn, rocky and rolling toward the hard-to-see sea ...
In that big back yard, we saw LOTS of people (700+ I heard later): some we knew, more we didn't, a few we wished we knew ... like Sid Abruzzi of Water Brothers fame who'd worked hand-in-hand with Rough Point to draw the collection of surfboards and adoring crowd. Sid's the whole package — surfs, skates, plays rock n' roll. Is that why he's called "The Package"?? I've always wondered about that but never focused on it or much else long & hard enough to find an answer, and this foggy occasion (replete with plenty of Newport Storm) was no exception ...
But my image/impression of the whole scene? The one-ness of past & present, history & novelty, young & old (or just older), surfers & surfboards and the whole wide world of wave worship in general?
Let's just say I may take up surfing ...
