Video: Seeing through a blind surfer

U~T San Diego ^ | July 27, 2012 | Kevin Acee

[jwsea55]

I’m standing on the sand of La Jolla Shores on Friday morning.

Out in the water, a blind man stands up on his surf board, and for a moment I feel like I actually might burst into tears.

A guy who can’t see has shown me that anything is possible.

Derek Rabelo does not stay up long on this first ride of the day. No one would have. The wind is mild. The water is glassy, its waist-high waves more crumbling than crashing.

But these few seconds are enough to confirm for me that too much time is spent focused on fear, on what we can’t or won’t do, on challenges we not only won’t accept but don’t even look for.

Derek, 20 years old and blind since birth, took up surfing three years ago. Already, through a series of events he attributes to a greatly generous God, he has surfed off the shores of his home country of Brazil, as well as a number of the legendary breaks of Hawaii and California.

[jwsea55]

Brazil, Bruno Lemos, Bryan Jennings, Derek Rabelo, Hawaii, Kelly Slater, La Jolla Shores, Laird Hamilton, Makua Rothman, Jim Caldwell, North Shore Malibu, Redondo Beach, Rob Machado, Tom Curren

[freedumb2003]

Not a surf movie, but a coming of age movie.

I was there in Malibu on Big Wednesday. It was gnarly - the surf was huge but went straight up and straight down -- no way to ride it.

[freedumb2003]

I cried that I had no waves until I met a man that had no stick.

[jwsea55]

Not a surf movie, but a coming of age movie.

I was there in Malibu on Big Wednesday. It was gnarly - the surf was huge but went straight up and straight down -- no way to ride it.

just a great movie!...like Riding Giants...movies as much about life as surfing...Big Wednesday must have been an amazing day.