This morning I went down to the beach to start my day whenever I can in the summer and do some surf fishing. I call it “fishing” but it’s more like going through the motions. On occasion I’ll catch a fish. It’s really more of a peaceful way to start my day.

While I was surf fishing, a group of surfers were also practicing their own style of futility, trying to ride waves that weren’t very big and weren’t coming all the way in to the shore line. But they also looked like they were having fun in the early morning hours.

After an hour or so of casting out and reeling in, bathers started to arrive and go into the ocean. Rather than risk hooking a tourist, I packed up my rod and reel and headed off the beach to the parking lot.

Passing a group of surfers who were taking a break on the beach, I heard one of them ask another, “Why aren’t you on the water? Wait are you waiting for?”

What struck me was the use of the phrase “on the water.” Ships and boats float on the water. But people normally sink. I assume the surfboard is what allows the surfer to be “on” the water rather than under it.

So that means…

Surfers are “on” the water.

Swimmers are “in” the water.

Divers are “under” the water.

And the fish that keep eluding me? Guess they “own” the water.

True story.