
A couple of weeks ago, when I was surfing with Lars, a nice swell came in. Being a bit amped, I decided to surf my 10 ft. Takayama Double Ender without a leash. That morning a big black streak filled the sky as a set rolled in. I was stoked, to take off on another big wave. Paddling in was perfect, the ride was amazing, getting closer to the nose than I usually do. And, the kick out, well that's were it all began. After such a great ride I got a little cocky, kicking the board up to catch it while flipping it over the wave. The only problem was my left hand missed the rail causing my board to tomahawk right into my nose. Man, it rung my bell and moved my nose to the right a few centimeters. When I got to shore the gang was waiting with towels in hand to help stop the bleeding. It was ugly. I even had to move my nose back in place. At the time I thought I did a good job. But, as you can see, it was pretty bad.
The real trouble came when I went to the doctor back in Boulder. I should have known. The Doc gave me a choice, either have it rebroken in the office then, right before I had to give speeches in Denver and New York on the two next days or wait a week and have it fixed in the operating room. As you might imagine, I went for the former. David Morrissey, the doctor and a good friend, shot me up with a little novacaine and rebroke the nose. To keep it in place, he created a splint. Knowing I was heading on the road, Fellow CPBer, Dave Clemens, created a little design for me.

Well, put a cast on your nose and you'll learn a lot about a culture. In Denver, people asked me about the break. It was all of the usual questions; how did i do it? Where? When? New York was a whole different experience. No one asked me about it. I did, however, have four people ask me if my nose cast was some kind of new jewelry.
The more we think places are the same the more they're different.