My Wave

By Steven Craig

Throughout the past five decades, surfers have been falsely given a bad reputation that stems mainly from fictional movies. They are portrayed as lazy, weed smoking, hippy, free-loaders with no ambition in life other than surfing. That is not reality. Books with a surfing theme all have one thing in common; they are documents about courage, pushing the limits, near death experiences, overcoming all obstacles, friendship and love.
What outsiders do not realize is surfers have a unique and spiritual connection with the Earth and Mother Nature. Once it’s in the blood, it grabs hold of the soul and never let’s go of it. It changes a person, and in most cases, in a positive fashion. Before Steven K Craig was an author, a world famous artist, a champion Jet Ski racer or known for being a co-creator of the iconic metal band Slayer, he was a Surfer, and it was his love for surfing that paved the way for his future.
Steven dreamed of surfing years before he held a surfboard in his hands. At a very young age, the ocean reached in and took hold of his soul. He became the stereotypical Southern California surfer before it was stereotypical. To him, it wasn't a lifestyle; it was a magical way of life. His story is a testament to why people should live life with passion, to its fullest and never give up on dreams.

Only once in every generation, a surfer who is at the right place at the right time gets to experience what is referred to as Big Wednesday. It’s the day they hope for and dream about. This is the day a surfer’s physical and mental abilities are put to the test and pushed beyond the limits. On that day, death is close at hand, and for those that emerge victorious, they go on to conquer the world. There is no more fear, only living for each and every moment afterwards.

You do not need to be a surfer to enjoy this magical story. A marvelous tale for the young people of today about how a boy that was different didn’t follow trends or succumb to peer pressure conquered the world. People from all walks of life can learn what it is to truly be alive from the tale of a Surfer, even if they never grab a board and get in the water to take on the brutal monsters of the ocean, which only a true surfer has the courage to call “My Wave”.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steven Craig
• Release date: Sep 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311602633

Steven Craig

Steven K Craig's life so far has been one wild roller coaster ride after another. At a young age, he and a few friends set the pace for a new era of music with what is now the iconic heavy metal band Slayer. Steven closed his company Platinum Management & Direction to concentrate on another brainchild. His focus was then put on that as the creator of the music magazine Platinum Bound that featured the stars of tomorrow. Steven's pioneering ventures landing him in the music history books.Years later, he became recognized as one of the top graphic artists/air-brushers in the country, and once again, he set the pace for others to follow. This led Steven back into journalism. He wrote instructional articles for art magazines such as Airbrush Action. As the Internet began to take over and open up new possibilities, Steven created the first ever "fully interactive" digital magazine. AirbrushTechLive took digital publishing to a brand new level.Now he's doing it again in the literary world by breaking all the rules to produce literature that is unique, fresh, and staying true to everything he has done in the past, highly controversial in nature.

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Steven K Craig

Copyright © 2014, Steven K Craig. All rights reserved.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission from the author; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in publication reviews.

EMPIRE PUBLISHING

www.empire-publishing.com

www.steven-k-craig.com

Cover Photograph by Steven K Craig

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedicated to Kristen,

my amazing and beautiful daughter. Don’t do anything in life unless you have passion for it.

Surfer’s Glossary of Terms

180 / 360: Spin of a surfer board in a 180 degree (half circle) or a 360 degree turn (full circle) during a maneuver.

A Frame: Perfect barreling surf.

Aggro: Riding a surfboard with aggression. A person with a bad attitude throwing a temper tantrum.

Air / Aerial: Riding the board briefly into the air above the wave, landing back upon the wave, and continuing to ride.

Amped: Very excited. Anxious. Adrenalin pumped up while surfing.

Ankle Busters: Small waves close to shore in water below the waist.

Backdoor: Entering a tube from behind the peak of a breaking wave.

Backside: Surfing facing the shore with your back towards the wave. A regular footed surfer rides a wave going left or a goofy footed surfer going right will be surfing backside.

Bail: To step or jump off the surfboard in order to avoid a wipe out.

Banks: Sand on the sea floor of a beach break. Shore break waves are dependent on the quality of the sand banks to provide waves that can be surfed.

Barney: An inexperienced surfer or someone who is not good at surfing.

Barrel: A barrel is where the wave is hollow when it is breaking. It is most commonly referred to as a tube.

Beach Break: An area where waves that are good enough to surf break close to the shoreline. Also known as Shore Break.

Beach Leech: A person that prefers to borrow someone else’s surfboard rather than bring one of their own or rent one. This type of person never has wax and asks others to use theirs

Big Wednesday: Legend is that once every generation a surfer will ride waves that are abnormally massive in size. The term comes from the movie of the same name.

Bitchin': Term used for good and enjoyable.

Blank: A block of foam from which a surfboard is created.

Blown out: When waves that would otherwise be good have been rendered too choppy by wind and becomes unrideable mush.

Board: Short term for surfboard.

Boardshorts: Lightweight shorts that is longer than normal shorts and designed to help keep legs from getting chafed by the wax on the surfboard.

Bomb: An exceptionally large set of waves. The best or better than average.

Boogieboarder: Slang for body boarders. A sport made famous by the invention of the Morey Boogie board.

Bottom Turn: The turn made at the base of the wave after going down the face. It's often the first move made after dropping in.

Carve: Classic surfing maneuver of quick and sharp turns on a wave.

Caught Inside: When a surfer is paddling out and cannot get past the breaking surf.

Charging: A person surfing aggressively.

Chinese Wax Job: Getting wax on the bottom of a surfboard.

Choppy: Rough water. Waves that are subjected to cross winds have a rough surface

Chowder: Used to describe pollution in the water.

Clean: Waves that break from a single peak along its length and provides an open face for a surfer to ride on.

Clean Up Set: A set of waves that are larger than average and break before the lineup. Many surfers will ride this set first, leaving the following set for other surfers.

Clidro: The process where a person turns up and down the face of the wave while surfing the length of the wave.

Close-Out: A wave that cannot be surfed because it breaks at every position along the face all at once.

Clucked: Being scared or afraid of waves.

Cranking: When the waves are exceptionally good.

Cross Step: Crossing one leg over the other across the board while walking forward and backwards.

Cutback: Making a cutback is reversing the direction that you are surfing in one smooth fluid move.

Dawn Patrol: Surfing first thing in the morning usually as the sun is just beginning to rise.

Deck: The upper (top) surface of the surfboard.

Ding: A dent or hole in the surface of the board resulting from damage. Dings can be cracks in the fiberglass shell and usually look like a indented dimple. A crack in the fiberglass can cause water damage to the foam inside.

Dirty Lickings: A gnarly wipeout.

Drop, The: The drop is where a surfer first gets up on a wave. Usually from the top, a surfer drops down the face of the wave.

Drop In: Dropping into (engaging) the wave, most often as part of standing up.

Drop Knee: Placing one knee on the deck of the surfboard.

Duck Dive: Pushing the board nose first underwater and diving under an oncoming wave instead of riding it or trying to go over the top.

Dude: Dude can mean pretty much anything depending on the tone and intonation. It is mostly used as a term for what friends call each other.

Dumping: When a wave collapses in big sections, making it un-surfable.

Eat It: Wiping out on a wave and usually landing in the water face first.

Endless Summer: Endless Summer is the absolute classic surfing movie. Surfers dream of an Endless Summer that can only be achieved by relocating to different countries at the right season such as when summer ends in the United States, it begins in Australia.

Epic: Exceptionally good waves. Epic is also a description used for a perfect wave and outstanding surfing session.

Face: The forward-facing surface of a breaking wave.

Fade: On take-off, a surfer aims toward the breaking part of the wave before turning sharply and surfing in the direction the wave is breaking.

Fakie: Riding backwards on the surfboard with the tail facing forwards.

Fin: Fin-shaped inserts on the underside of the back of the board that enable the board to be steered It's sometimes called a skeg.

Fins Out: A sharp turn where the surfboard's fins slide off the top of the wave.

Firing: Firing is the same as going off, where the waves are exceptionally good for surfing.

Fish: A type of surfboard shape that is shorter and thicker than a standard shortboard. Fish surfboards are for surfing smaller waves.

Flat: No waves at all.

Floater: Riding up on the top of the breaking part of the wave, and coming down with it. A floater is also known as being the body waste (turd) bobbing in the water that someone has let go because they were too lazy to get out and use a toilet.

Foamies: These are either whitewater waves or surfboards that are made out of foam.

Foil: The rate of change of thickness of a surfboard from the nose to the tail.

Frontside: Surfing facing forwards toward the wave.

Froth: The foam left after a wave has broken.

Frube: A surfer who does not catch a wave the entire time he/she are in the water.

Funboard: A mid-length surfboard.

Gas chamber: The effect when a big wave rolls over, enclosing a temporary horizontal tunnel of air with the surfer inside.

Glass Job: The fiberglass finish over the shaped foam of a surfboard

Glassy: Water or wave without a ripple that resembles the smoothness of glass.

Gnarly: Particularly dangerous surf conditions.

Goofy Foot: Surfing with the left foot on the back of board. This is less common than regular foot where the left foot is at the front of the board.

Goat Boater: Derogatory term for kayakers and wave skiers.

Going Off: A term used for outstanding surf conditions.

Green Room: Inside the tube or barrel.

Gremmie, Grommet or.Grom: A name used to describe a young or inexperienced surfer.

Grey Belly: An older surfer with the big belly.

Grubbing: Falling off a board while surfing.

Gun: A surfboard designed for big waves.

Hang Heels: Facing backwards and putting the heels of the feet out over the edge of a longboard.

Hang Eleven: This is when a male surfer rides his board