The boat pushed off before the sun had fully cleared the horizon - boards wedged against the rail, breath fogging in the early air. Out past the Harbor Islands, a lighthouse was waiting. It’s been standing sentinel over this harbor, in one form or another, for almost 250 years. On this particular morning, it wasn’t just a landmark. It was the whole reason for the trip.
Boston Light doesn’t get talked about the way the Statue of Liberty or Independence Hall does, but it probably should. When the British finally pulled out of Boston, they didn’t leave quietly - they blew up the lighthouse on their way out, a parting shot meant to leave the harbor dark. The Americans rebuilt it anyway, stone by stone, on the same fire-scorched granite foundation the British left behind. Boston Light has been burning ever since, standing tall against the Atlantic for over 200 years now, a big American middle finger of resilience that’s guided people into this country with her light ever since.
That’s the story the we set out to chase this spring, loaded up with wetsuits and boards for a run out to the Harbor Islands to find some freedom just a few minutes outside of Boston. We weren't hunting the best waves, or even any waves that would qualify as "waves". What was out there was something closer to a mission: paddle out to a wave that barely exists, in the shadow of a 250-year-old lighthouse, in America’s 250th year.
Not the best waves. Maybe the most American ones.
These weren’t the best waves and they weren’t the biggest waves…they aren’t even readily accessible or consistently formed waves, but for one morning they showed up and were undeniably our waves.
And with Boston Light standing sentinel, they just might have been the most American waves.
A quiet paddle out past the rocks. A lighthouse standing where it’s always stood, watching the swell roll in the same way it’s watched everything else roll in and out of this harbor for two and a half centuries.
Two hundred fifty years after the shot heard round the world, the waves didn't care what year it is. But there was certainly a special meaningfulness about having the freedom to be able to be there, enjoying America's natural beauty in all it's splendor.