In the blink of an eye, everything changes...

As Andy and I stood on the beach this morning, I was wishng we had stuck to the plan of going to Manuel Antonio today. There is a right point break there that only breaks on a big swell. Andy thought the waves looked smaller today, and he really wanted to just surf behind our rental place, so... this was it.

It still looked pretty big to me. It's hard to tell with no one out. But when it looks like it is breaking in slow motion, that usually means it is reaching max size for me. I resigned myself to it. My confidence was restored after yesterday. Still, as I stood there, watching the relentless and heaving power of the four foot shorepound... I stalled. We both seemed to sense something. Andy kept watching it, too. We must have stood there, the current pulling us around, for about a half hour.

Finally, Andy just went for it. I have so much respect for him. I just put my board down and watched from the shade of the palms. I just didn't want to risk it. I was truly afraid.

Just then Glenn walked up, smiling, ready to charge. He didn't hesitate, he just ran down the beach and jumped in, as I watched Andy narrowly miss a pummeling.

I watched them for a long time before Glenn finally caught one. It was a huge one, double overhead, he looked so tiny on that glassy right. He made it, and cut out the back. I wondered why he would be riding a longboard on such a big day, but knew he was used to it, and I knew it had the length to get into the slopey faces easier.

Andy caught a left, a nice big shoulder to get used to the size, and I knew he must be hooting out there. Then I saw Glenn get another good right, but narrowly miss getting closed out on. Andy got another bigger, longer left that I knew he was stoked about.

Lindsey, Glenn's wife, came walking up the beach then, and we talked before she took off for her morning walk. Deb and Ryan came out, too, and Ryan and I made creatures out of the beach debris lying in the black sand.

Then, everything changed. About an hour and a half had passed. Lindsey returned, and went up to the pool. Ryan, Deb, and I decided we would, too. Then I saw Glenn walking up the beach, so I took off running. I wanted to tell him he was my hero.

As I got closer, I could see red. His face was red, bright red, and my heart sank as I saw his hand holding his face, blood streaming down. I rushed to him, saw that it was worse than I thought, a flap of skin hanging from the side of his face, white specks bubbling out of the red mass his fingers seemed to be holding in place. I took his board and talked to him, worried he might fall or faint from blood loss or shock. I told him he would be alright, Terry Nails had done the same thing, I said, and he was going to be okay, just like Terry. Deb ran up and panicked, ran to the hotel, calling for help. Then everything started happening at hyper speed. Ryan ran to get Lindsey, and they all were suddenly gone.

I ran to get Andy, who was running up the beach. He had seen Glenn take off on a macking wave, right in the peaking pit, the nose of his board catching an edge. The last thing Andy saw was him supermanning down the waveface. Later, Glenn would tell him that as he tumbled in the whitewater he felt a hole in his face.

As I washed the blood off Glenn's board, I saw a chunk missing from the nose of his board, and knew that was where the impact had occurred. They told us later that a chunk of the board was imbedded in his face.

Andy ran up the beach and disappeared, and we all ended up on the road... searching. Ingrid, a lady who Deb had found, had driven Glenn and Lindsey to the clinic. We took off. Once at the clinic, we learned that Glenn had fractured his nose and had some crushed facial bones. They got an IV into him and were getting ready to race him to San Jose for surgery.

All the other details are unimportant. Lindsey called us when we got back. She said they had made it to San Jose in the ambulance in one hour and ten minutes, and that it had been one hell of a "Mister Toad's wild ride." GLenn was stable, had a broken nose, and his eyes and teeth were fine. His surgery will include plastic surgery to repair his nose. He may have to have a steel plate in his face, but they would know more once they got in there at 2pm today.

Once we knew he was going to be okay, we all sighed and breathed again. Deb and Andy took his car back to his house and washed the blood off it. Now we wait...