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Organizations
information - because change is only going to come about
by public will. Our government is not going to do its job
in this department, and so I will keep this issue before
the public every chance I get!
What was surfing to you when you started?
See - above - with Rabbit Kekai - just the most
wonderful experience, sensation in the whole world.
Now, it is not only fun, but a tremendous way to be in
and of the sea.
What are you long-term plans for you surfing career?
I will ride waves the rest of my life. They are God's
gift. I'm committed to getting our ocean cleaned up in
Santa Barbara County, because I am constantly mindful
of the terrible legacy we will leave to future generations
if we do not turn 180 degrees in the way we view the
sea. We cannot use it any longer to dilute our waste, to
use it as a toilet!
How have you made a living around the ocean?
I have made my living since graduating from college
by writing about the sea - since 1966. Working as an
editor for Skin Diver Magazine to start, then expanding
to a lot of magazines. I made a decision a long time ago to
do what I could to help the ocean by writing about the
beauty of the ocean, what we stand to lose. Adventure -
underwater and surfing, has always been a main love, to
share with others what the sea can offer - from diving for
treasure on a sunken Spanish galleon in the Bahamas (1972
we found the Nuestra Senora de Las Maravillas), or
exploring the sunken sinkholes of So. Australia (for
National Geographic Magazine). I’ve been having more
fun in later years writing about adventures on waves, and
under waves, for magazines like Surfer’s Journal.
What has the ocean taught you about yourself?
See the first chapter of my book.
How has your career/character made a difference
to non-surfers?
Probably through Heal the Ocean. An unhealthy
ocean affects everyone, whether we surf or not. The sea
is the source of our air, our water, our very life! Every
human being has within his/her bloodstream the same
proportion of minerals as the sea - we came from the
sea! My present work with Heal the Ocean emphasizes
that everyone needs to respect the sea, whether we are
farmers or fishermen, surfers or bricklayers.
What were your reasons for going public with your
commitment to the future of the oceans?
A great need for change. Our abuse of the ocean, as
evidenced by beaches closing, has come back to haunt
us in a horrific way! As a newspaper reporter for the
News-Press, I did a number of investigations of ocean
abuse, particularly sewage and the dumping of drill muds.
When the beaches started closing in 1998, I made a
survey of the state agencies whose mandate is to protect
the ocean, and when I learned that none of the agencies
are doing their job, I got mad and went public with the
The following is the first chapter of “Dancing on
Waves,” a book in a final edit process by Hillary Hauser,
copyright by Hillary Hauser,submitted here in response
to question #14, “What has the ocean made you realize
about yourself?”
SWIMMING
Early October, just before sunrise. Wearing my nightshirt, I leap
over patches of Rhodes poppies, sailor’s lettuce and iceplant, and
scrambling across a pile of rocks, land with both feet on the sand.
Looking up and down the cove at Miramar Beach, from Hammonds
Meadows to the tip of Fernald Point, there is no one but me.
Everything I see is all mine. Even the ocean itself, all mine!
This morning I awoke once again with the awful realization
that my husband is no longer with me, that it is unlikely he will ever
be again. He said so, and I have no choice but to believe him.
He has moved out. He refuses to talk about it. He is through.
“I want a divorce,” he said yesterday. My confusion, my desolation,
is immense. Where is my old strength the way I used to feel when I
was not involved with any man?
Except for small wavelets that shove long-legged birds back
and forth in a jokey game of water tag, the sea is very still. The sky to
the east is about to burst with fire, and one hundred eighty degrees to
the west the scene is from another time and place: a Land of Dreams,
ruled by a bright and smiling moon. From the direction of this moon a last
gasp of cold hits me in the face. My feet are achy-frozen, ready to break.
It is my fault! In the middle of one of the angry outbursts that
had become too common with us, I asked for a separation - time out!
Time out, I said, we need to think what we’re doing here!
Okay, he said. The next day he moved out and from then on,
never looked back. The time Out has become permanent, and it was
me who had asked for it. I cannot take back my words, I am filled
with regret, and now there is a setting moon beneath my rib cage.
Memories of our happier times continually flood my heart, gush out
my eyes. After ten years, how to recover one’s balance? How to
remember what one was before it all started? How to become whole
again?
The ocean will tell me what to do. It has always told me what to do.
Suddenly a flame appears at the top of the mountains and
torches a lighted path across the sea. Liquid rows of oranges and
yellows begin to bleed with dusty pinks, mauves and a hint of pale
blue. The sea looks like a Florentine ceiling spread out. It is a
breathless panorama that hints of a reality I’d forgotten - beauty that
transcends human error.
I walk to the surf and jump in.
