What they seek is a very high roller, on the top of which they leap
from behind, lying face downwards on their boards. As the wave
speeds on, and the bottom strikes the ground, the top breaks into a
huge comber. The swimmers but appeared posing themselves on its
highest edge by dexterous movements of their hands and feet, keeping
just at the top of the curl, but always apparently coming down hill
with a slanting motion. So they rode in majestically, always just
ahead of the breaker, carried shorewards by its mighty impulse at
the rate of forty miles an hour, yet seeming to have a volition of
their own, as the more daring riders knelt and even stood on their
surf-boards, waving their arms and uttering exultant cries. They
were always apparently on the verge of engulfment by the fierce
breaker whose towering white crest was ever above and just behind
them, but just as one expected to see them dashed to pieces, they
either waded quietly ashore, or sliding off their boards, dived
under the surf, taking advantage of the undertow, and were next seen
far out at sea, preparing for fresh exploits.
The great art seems to be to mount the roller precisely at the right
time, and to keep exactly on its curl just before it breaks.
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