SURFING WITH DOGS OFF LEADS: A MAWGAN PORTH POEM...

Floaters

Bodyboarding alone ‘tween flags of red and yellow

Was confining but I feared a lifeguard’s bellow

Of harsh admonishment should I have strayed

Outside the markers and my embarrassment displayed;

I was bodyboarding totally alone,

As my minders sat in their jeep relaxed and prone…

So I guess it came as an unpleasant surprise

When, as I surfed I was aware of dog owners’ cries;

Balls from plastic slings were then hurled   

Into the sea near me, where the waves unfurled;

“Why here?” I groaned, “There’s a whole shoreline free,

Why are your barking dogs retrieving right next to me?”

Were my eager, panting, canine companions classed

As bathers now? I was totally aghast;

I wondered whether during my next ride there’d be

Brown canine floaters surfing alongside me…

Pete Ray

April 2018

Mawgan Porth beach, April 2018. 

I followed the rules, surfed between the red and yellow flags and was very careful but then a couple of dog owners arrived and slung balls for their dogs to chase and retrieve from the sea. Unbelievably however, they did so between the bathing flags, despite the fact that there was a vast expanse of shoreline for them to exploit.

People, also dogs, amaze me…

Thanks for that.