Back in the mind of many, so close yet so far away, but not forgotten, lies Sands Beach.  Sands Beach is located in the northernmost part of Island View and has the distinction of being the exclusive retreat for the students who attend the major university that becomes part of the state University system nearby.  No parking exists for Sands Beach.  Students walk in or lock their bicycles in the racks provided by the university.  The University stresses bio-complacency and urges its residents to walk or ride bicycles instead of driving a car.  A student places his or her bicycle in the racks, locks the bicycle, and then walks past a grove of planted pine trees to behold the undeveloped, unmarked, unspoiled vista of Sands Beach up to Naples reef.   The beach shares the same characteristics as beaches nearby in the Island View Community.  White sand with rocky stretches at the land-ocean interface, with plenty of seaweed dispersed, blending into Mediterranean scrub vegetation moving inland.  The Majestic Channel Islands sit offshore and block most southerly and northerly moving swells that might impact on this coast.  Clean ocean water lubricates the interface of beach and ocean and a rocky reef creates a surfing location amenable to board riding.  During the winter months of November to the end of February, intense onshore winds blowing around point conception create surfable waves up to eight feet on the rocky reefs after which the swells close out in a huge wall across the beach.  What makes Sands so attractive to wave riders stems not from its seclusion, or location, only the fact that the prevailing winds create wind swells all winter long.  During the winter months of Island View, Sands Beach breaks three to six feet almost every day.  A right-breaking wave predominates and pipeline tube riding becomes possible across the shallow rocky reefs.  Another byproduct of seclusion and University policy derives the fact that Sands is also the locally sanctioned nude beach.  Women in various stages of undress sunbathe or frolic in the breakers and show nature’s way in all shapes forms and nuances.  Modest girls only take off their tops and men become immune to the sights that normally would send a lone heart racing.

Wracks peddles his ten-speed bicycle to Sands with his Halloween orange progression surfboard shaped by Rdick every chance he gets and in Island View this happens almost every day.  The university does not enforce attendance in class and the girls do not magnetize to Wracks because he is nothing more than a starving student with no ways or means or committee.  Wraks loves to tube ride Sands Beach.  Dalman loves to tube ride Sands Beach, Cloy comes to tube ride Sands Beach.  The wave at Sands Beach has the attribute of being easy to master.  Merely paddle into a building right peak, put the board into a sideslip, and as the swell hits the rocky reef and becomes a tubular vortex; drag his or her hand and tube ride, pipeline style.  This action yields a wave cover-up and an easy exit over shallow water.  Even though the beach has pools of tar that riddle and trap a person who treks across its surface, Wracks never tires of the fine, offshore breezes that prevent the wave from breaking and create a spinning tube that breaks like a closing zipper with spray-pushing out to sea.  Wracks keeps a jug of paint thinner at his apartment to wash the sticky black goo from his bare feet.  Sitting out in the water on an early Saturday morning as the sun nears zenith and watching nude women parade up and down the beach, the reality seems like a vision from nirvana or utopia.  In a neoprene wetsuit, the cool, fresh ocean water, laden with beneficial minerals, replenishes and rejuvenates the body and the relaxation of the moment,  calms the soul making life bearable, even pleasurable.  Even the huge great white sharks that frequent the area bask benevolently and never intrude or molest people like Wracks or his roommate Cool.   Because the sewage outlet for Saint Barbara city, exits two points and ten miles to the south, the white sharks seem well-fed and almost friendly.  When a white shark has no hunger, the beast will hover underneath the surface of the water with its dorsal fin submerged.  A twenty-foot-long white shark can hover in ten feet of water, motionless for extended periods.  Occasionally, a huge white shark will shudder to warm its carcass in the cold water and vibrations from the shaking emanate in all directions like little ripples in a tide pool. At Sands Beach, white sharks often linger ten feet away.   When a white shark’s fin breaks water, the animal seeks to startle prey into bolting or flight. Motion excites predators.  In the presence of a predator, a wise human remains motionless, or moves slowly away from the animal, as they inch away.   Out in the water, if a fin comes up, a wave rider begins, without splashing, to paddle nonchalantly to the beach. This is because if a white shark touches him or her out in the water or bumps that person, the shark will ultimately attack him or her and devour them.  Once a shark has a person in their memory, he or she cannot ever go back in the water at that place and must hunt, catch, and harvest the shark because white sharks remember and live a long time.  Wracks never think about worst-case scenarios.  Waves at Sands beach break beautifully, the water cools and refreshes, and the young women look fabulous in the buff.  S.B. has a short winter period of wave activity, a narrow swell window, and a large surf that only happens for one day.  Wracks soon will return to the city of Angeles and intensive training in remorse.

Only the shadow knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.  Only the shadow possesses the word or invisibility outlined in the Holy Koran.  Wracks do not want to be like the shadow. Wracks wants to work in a free clinic and ride large surf radically.  The future looms hazily in the mind’s eye of Wracks.  The future in its nebulous and stochastic parameters, floats silently, but majestically and never leaves Wracks alone.  In a time when darkness pervades all, and righteousness and justice go on sabbatical without notice, there remains beauty in nature for all to witness, partake in, and enjoy.  Man, no matter how important he or she seems still exists as a toy in the hands of Allah.