My Personal "Mavericks" Story

I just finished watching the movie “Chasing Mavericks.” It’s a true story about a young surfer from Santa Cruz, Jay Moriarity. It’s a very good movie and is family friendly. If you get it (I rented it from Red Box) get it in Blu-Ray if you have a Blu-Ray player. It is a visually stunning movie and illustrates the power and majesty of the ocean.

Anyway, watching it made me recall my own experience with the Pacific Ocean which taught me how small and weak I am in a very painful way. In 2000, our family went to Maui for an eleven day vacation. We stayed in a great hotel in Kehei called the Mauna Kai (I think, but my memory is a bit hazy). We had lots of fun doing the typical stuff like snorkeling,sightseeing and going to a luau. I have my motorcycle license so I rented a Harley Road King and everyone took turns riding with me around the island. Five members of my family (Linda, Daniel, Heather, Holly and Meagan) were able to bask in the sun and sand for the entire eleven days. I, on the other hand enjoyed the vacation for a lesser amount of time.

On fifth day, we discovered a piece of hell disguised as heaven called Big Beach. The six of us arrived at Big Beach, south of Kihei in our rented mini-van and unloaded our beach gear, which included several boogie boards. As we traipsed through the trees on a path that took us to the beach, none of us noticed the posted signs which read, “Caution!” “Swim at your own risk!” “No lifeguard on duty.” I guess we were distracted by the beautiful white sand and the azure blue water whic was so inviting and the waves were just the right size for us. We estimated them to be three or four feet. As soon as we hit the beach, Heather, Daniel and I grabbed one of the three boards and headed for the water. We were spread out about 30 or so yards apart.

Linda, Meagan and Holly sat on the beach and watched us. As I have written before, I love salt water and being as fat as I am, I float like a cork. The snorkeling I have done in Tahiti and the Caribbean was so fun and I am very comfortable in the water, at least I was until that fateful day on Maui. Things were going well, that is, until they went wrong. After taking several waves and riding them all the way onto the beach, I headed out again for another one. I suddenly realized the next one that was approaching me was waaayyyyy bigger than the previous ones. It must have been eight or nine feet and it scared me! I tried to swim to the beach but the undertow was too strong to make it. So, I turned back to the ocean and dove into the wave like I was supposed to, but I was a second too late. The wave broke just as I dove toward it and it picked me up and had its way with me. I went limp and tried to ride it out. I don’t know how long I was underwater but I didn’t panic and I just knew it would gently deposit me onto the beach. It was not to be.

Suddenly, the angry, crashing waves slammed me into the beach. I landed on the back of my head and the weight of that water folded me in half. In spite of my huge belly, my knee hit me in the forehead. Talk about compression. I crawled further up the beach trying to get away from the water. I was saying something like, “I’m hurt! I‘m hurt real bad.” I heard Holly and Meagan tell Linda, who was videotaping the event that I was hurt and needed help. Linda’s response: “He’s just kidding. He’s not hurt.” The pain in my side was terrible and it was difficult to breathe. I struggled to get up to my feet, but the second I did, another wave knocked me down again. I got up again and walk the rest of the way up onto dry land at which time I noticed my shorts had been ripped off me and I was as bare as a tree in winter, out there for everyone within a hundred yards to see. The kids tried to shield my nakedness by standing the boogie boards on the ends, creating a wall of sorts. I sat down and Linda covered me with a towel, still filming the action (just kidding).

An off-duty lifeguard from another beach happened to be there, enjoying the afternoon. He ran over to us to do triage on me. He had his radio with him so he summoned help. The kids were crying and I was hurting like never before or since. A bit later some big, strong Hawaiian firemen walked up in response to the call for help. They were carrying a back board that was all of 18 inches wide. I am a good 30 inches wide and there is no way I could lay on that thing. I looked up at the firemen and said, “I weigh over 400 pounds and I’ll stand up and walk off this beach before I’ll make you guys carry me off.” One of them said, with a look of relief on his face, “Thank you, bruddah!” The lifeguard partially deflated the tires on his pick-up and drove it from the road to where we were. They helped me get up and sit on the tailgate and we slowly drove out to the road where an ambulance was waiting. By that time the adrenaline was wearing off and the pain in my side was beyond description. On top of that, I could hardly breathe. Doing so made it hurt even more and my left side felt like it was stuffed with burning cotton. The hospital was 20+ miles away on windy, bumpy roads. It was obvious the driver knew the location of every pothole on that road because she hit every one of them. I thought I was going to pass out. This would have been a relief, but no such luck. The EMT riding in the back with me said I was fortunate because I had not broken my neck. He speculated this was due to my substantial girth. He went on to relate that he had personally taken two men off that beach whose tangle with the waves resulted in them now being quadriplegics. He also advised me that Big Beach was one of the most dangerous on the island which is why there were no lifeguards there. The municipality of Kihei did not want to be sued for injuries people suffered, thus the warning signs to not swim there and no lifeguards. On top of that he said the summer swell had come in the day prior which caused the huge rogue wave that hit me.

At the ER, x-rays showed I had fractured six ribs and punctured my left lung. The attending doctor said it was more accurate to say my ribs were “shattered.” I was admitted to the hospital. Well, so much for my dream vacation in the sun. Linda and the kids didn’t want to leave me alone in the hospital and said they would stay with me. God bless them, but no way was I going to allow that so I insisted they could visit me each day for a short time after which they had to go and do vacation-like things. They did so, reluctantly.

Most of my caregivers were little Filipino women who were so kind and attentive. Their cheery demeanor was one thing that kept me going. The other thing was Demerol administered intravenously. It is said that childbirth is the most intense pain that women ever endure. I cannot argue with that due to the obvious reason. However, I nominate fractured ribs as the second most. I was instructed by the nurses that when the pain became too intense, I was to summon them and they would bring Demerol. I usually held out as long as I could until it hurt so much I nearly cried. Almost immediately after hitting the “call button” and asking for some pain relief the nurse brought in a syringe and put it into my IV. A few nanoseconds later, I would feel warmth, starting at the top of my head, travel down to my toes and the pain disappeared. This experience helped me to somewhat understand why heroin users become addicts. After the drug was administered, I was euphoric and probably wouldn’t have cared if someone had punched me in the side at that moment.

I was still in the hospital when our vacation ended, but I was not well enough to go home, so my family left without me. My nurses continued to tenderly care for me and make my stay as good as it could be. Two friends from our college days lived on the island so they visited me a few times. Even the couple who owned the Harley rental shop came to see me.

I was in that hospital for a total of 13 days. I would often tell my nurses how much I appreciated them and was as polite as I could be. I didn’t complain at all because they were so lovely and kind. I was embarrassed that they had to perform certain duties to care for my “hygienic needs” and I told them so. They just smiled and told me it was okay and they didn’t mind doing it. I loved their sing song voices and smiles. Once the word got out that I was leaving a lot of them came to say good-bye and some told me I “was the best patient we ever had.”

Even though I have traveled quite a bit, I had never bought travel insurance. However, for this trip I did, and it was the best $250 I have ever spent. The insurance paid for Linda to fly back to Maui to accompany me home and covered the cost of her hotel for two additional days while waiting for me to get discharged. Of course, the six of us had flown there in coach, but the doctor said I wouldn’t be able to handle that for the trip back. He called the insurance company about it and they sent us home in First Class, all on their dime. That was the only time I have ever flown First Class. I only wish I could have enjoyed it. The pain in my side was still very severe and I know I would have hardly survived coach class.

To this day, I have not been back into the ocean and watching surfers on TV or movies such as “Castaway” gives me the shivers. My snorkeling and boogie boarding days are over. I’m not one “to get back up that horse.”



What it was SUPPOSED to be like



What it ACTUALLY was