by Nik Peachey 尼克.皮奇著

"I've spent most of my entire life surfing, the rest I've wasted." (Anonymous)
我一生中的大多數(shù)時(shí)間都在沖浪，其他時(shí)間都浪費(fèi)了?。涿?/p>

It seems that the oceans of the world have become many things to many different people. For some the ocean is a source of food and income, for others a source of inspiration and fascination, for some a beautiful garden with hidden depths to explore and for others a dumping ground for their toxic waste, but of all people the ones that probably appreciate, admire and perhaps even understand the changing landscape of the ocean best are surfers.
似乎這世上的海洋對于不同的人來說，意味著很多東西。對一些人來說，海洋是食物和收入的來源，對其他人來說，海洋是靈感和魅力的來源，對一些人來說，海洋是一個(gè)可以探索的深幽的美麗花園，對其他人來說，海洋是一個(gè)有毒廢物的傾倒場，但能夠最好地欣賞，贊美，甚至是了解海洋風(fēng)景變化的人是沖浪者。

Surfing, which is thought to have originated among the Polynesian peoples of the Hawaiian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, has been around for quite some time. The earliest recorded account of it was made in the journal of Captain King, a contemporary of Captain Cook, in 1779, but there are pictures of surfers carved into volcanic rock that are thought to date back much further. Surfing was regarded by the Polynesians as the sport of kings. The Chiefs used surfing and other Hawaiian sports to display their strength and agility and even the types of wood used for the boards was determined by the person’s rank in society.
人們認(rèn)為沖浪是太平洋夏威夷群島的波里尼西亞人發(fā)明的。關(guān)于沖浪，最早的紀(jì)述是1779年，來自于現(xiàn)代版的庫克船長--國王船長的日記中。但火山巖上發(fā)現(xiàn)的沖浪者雕像，使得沖浪的起源被追溯得更遠(yuǎn)。波里尼西亞人視沖浪為國王的運(yùn)動(dòng)。族長通過沖浪和其他夏威夷的運(yùn)動(dòng)來展示力量和敏捷的身手，甚至用做沖浪板不同種類木材，也由一個(gè)人的社會(huì)地位所決定。

Nowadays the hierarchy between surfers is determined more by their courage and none are more courageous than the surfers who brave the jaws of Maui, where 20ft is considered an average sized wave and big can go up as high as 60 or 70 ft. The huge waves of Maui are created by a mixture of unusual circumstances. There is a huge ridge deep below the sea's surface that was created by the lava flow from a volcano. This combined with the presence of a reef not far to the north of the island and swells created by winter storms some two thousand miles away in the Aleutian Islands can create the kind of waves that make a surfer's heart race. The people who regularly surf there are almost religious about the spot and they frequently monitor weather forecasts and wave readings from buoys for days in advance to calculate when the best conditions will be. A ride on the jaws of Maui can last less than half a minute, but for surfers who fail to keep pace with the 25 mile an hour waves extreme danger awaits. Trapped inside a wave they can become totally disorientated with little sense of which direction takes them up to the surface. They also have only seconds to head for the safe zone of calm water before being crushed by the next big wave. A British surfer who had this experience described the sensation as like having your whole body pulled in every possible direction at once.
現(xiàn)今，沖浪者的等級(jí)更多是由他們的勇氣所決定的。沒有人比敢于面對毛伊島的魔爪的沖浪者更勇敢，毛伊島的海浪的平均高度是20英尺高，最高的可達(dá)60至70英尺。巨浪是獨(dú)特環(huán)境的融合所造就的，海平面深處有一個(gè)巨大的海脊，那是火山的熔巖流形成的，海脊把離毛伊島北部不遠(yuǎn)處的暗礁和兩千多英里外的阿留申群島上冬季風(fēng)暴所造就的隆起地連接在一起，成就了可以讓沖浪者驚心動(dòng)魄的巨浪。經(jīng)常沖浪的人對這個(gè)沖浪點(diǎn)很謹(jǐn)慎。他們往往會(huì)花幾天時(shí)間通過浮標(biāo)監(jiān)測天氣預(yù)報(bào)和海浪信息，事先計(jì)算好最佳的沖浪時(shí)間。沖浪者可以在毛伊島的狹口上漂浮的時(shí)間不到半分鐘，對于那些跟不上時(shí)速25英里的海浪的沖浪者來說，等待他們的將是極大的危險(xiǎn)。如若困在海浪里，他們將完全迷失方向，不知哪個(gè)方向可以將他們帶出水面，在下一波巨浪來襲之前，他們也僅有幾秒鐘的時(shí)間朝靜水安全區(qū)奔去。一個(gè)有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的英國沖浪者描述，那種感覺就像你全身同時(shí)被拖動(dòng)且朝向各個(gè)不同的方向。

The idea of surfing, however, with its images of sun-tanned youths and tropical beaches, has always seemed to me somehow at odds with the weather and culture of the UK, yet nothing could be further from the truth. The UK, being a collection of islands, has no shortage of coastline and rugged seas and is reported to have an active surfing community of some 250,000. Most of the surfing centres around Croyde Bay in North Devon and Fistral Beach in Cornwall. It was in fact, at Fistral Beach in 1989, where the world record for the most surfers on one board was broken, when 12 surfers rode on a 37-ft longboard. Britain was also home to the first ever University degree course in surfing to be offered and even has its own surfing film. 'Blue Juice', which was filmed in the south west of Britain, is a light hearted tribute to the lifestyle of Britain's surfers and counts Welsh girl Catherine Zeta Jones and Ewan McGregor among its cast. The lifestyle and the people it portrays are very different from the stereotypes of muscular bronzed young men listening to The Beach Boys as they wax their boards, but beneath the surface it is clear that there is still a common link that runs between them and that is their love and admiration of life and the sea.
沖浪給人的印象是在熱帶沙灘皮膚曬得黝黑的年輕人，對我來說，總覺得沖浪跟英國的文化和天氣不大一樣。然而，事實(shí)并非如此。英國是由許多島嶼組成的，并不缺乏海岸線和洶涌澎湃的海浪。據(jù)報(bào)道，英國有25萬個(gè)活躍的沖浪社區(qū)。大多數(shù)的沖浪點(diǎn)都集中在北德文郡的克羅伊登灣和康沃爾郡的費(fèi)司球沙灘附近，事實(shí)上，1989年費(fèi)司球沙灘上，一塊37英尺的長沖浪板上站了12個(gè)人，打破了一塊沖浪板上能站多人的世界紀(jì)錄。英國也是第一個(gè)提供沖浪課程大學(xué)學(xué)歷的國家，甚至還拍有自己的沖浪影片，英國西南部所拍攝的電影《藍(lán)汁》，是對英國沖浪者生活方式輕松愉快的贊美，威爾士女孩凱瑟琳.澤塔.瓊斯和尤恩.麥格雷戈也出演其中。它所描繪的人和生活方式，跟那些老套的黝黑肌肉男青年一邊聽著《沙灘男孩》，一邊個(gè)給自己的沖浪板打蠟的形象很不一樣，但很明顯他們之間仍有一點(diǎn)共同的關(guān)聯(lián)，那就是他們對生活和海洋的熱愛和贊美。