Hush-Hush

Certain skills can be acquired when one spends all of their free time searching for surf. You'll learn to be both patient and persistent. To be self-reliant; to remain steadfast in the face of unforgiving failure. Most importantly, though, you'll learn to love a certain kind of sound, er, more like the lack thereof. The lack of loud. Quiet contemplation while you wait for waves. But there's another sort of silence, an absence of sound you'll sometimes encounter after surfing a spot that's, well, secret.

Defined in the dictionary as an informal adjective, hush-hush is how some of us say "secret" - shut up for the less enlightened. It's also a word one might use to describe a wave: "It's an A-frame, that breaks over black rock. You can only get to it by boat, so it's sort of hush-hush, you know?" Clear and concise. A surfer will understand what you're trying to say; that you're not going to tell them where to find this wave. They should, however, enjoy the idea of it. Because this sort of silence, this hush-hush stuff, it's pretty important. Especially when it comes to waves. "Never kiss and tell" is what my mother would say. "It's not good to gab." And now that I've been there, to that secret spot breaking over black rock, I understand what my mother meant. Some things are best kept quiet. Some things should stay hush-hush.