Dave H
Well-Known Member
Long before the Internet, home computers, Tyee fishing and the like, I was a surfer and part of a small but dedicated group who frequented the point break at Jordan River.
Surfers are famous for both bequeathing and receiving nicknames, so here's the story of how I may have acquired mine, which was Hump.
It all started off innocently enough.
I became a surfer in 1973 and moved to Jordan River in 1975, where naturally enough I met all the regulars of the day plus most of the visitors who passed through.
Like most groups of regulars who hang together and who spent countless hours milling around waiting for the wind to die or the swell to show or something to happen, individuals acquired nicknames.
So, when I arrived there was Datsun Dave, The Old Man, JVD, Whip, The Baron, Mystic Max, Smeggy, Mona, aka The Belly, Horny Bob, aka Pygmy, aka The Horned Rodent, aka Pig-eyes, (and probably a couple more I've forgotten).
Later names I recall include Nookie, Blanche, Doc, Kiwi, Sombrio Steve, River-mouth Mike and, the generic name for the new South African arrivals at the end of the '70's, the Affies.
As I became accepted by the crew and they realized I wasn't going to go away and that I wasn't all that bad a guy even though I was older than all of them, someone gave me my first nickname.
I honestly don't recall who used it first because there were and are still some very clever and witty guys from that old crew so I don't want to give due to any one of them and be wrong.
Anyway, I was called Howdy at first, I guess because that's how I used to greet people, being a friendly and gregarious type mostly.
So Howdy it was for a couple of years, and all was good in the world.
I started working at Port Renfrew for BCFP in the Fall of 1976, which started a longtime love-hate affair with the road between JR and Renfrew, which was still 16 miles of gravel back then. I drove it a lot chasing surf after work.
It's ironic that even though I lived in JR for 12 years more or less, guys who lived in Victoria got more surf than I did during winter because obviously I worked all day and it was dark when I got off.
So, I often arrived at the Point after another hair-raising drive and I know I often used the phrase, "Geeze, I really humped my butt to get here before dark," or variations of that usage of the word, and it's my belief that Howdy just evolved over to Hump due to my use of the word a lot.
BUT......there is another story out there about a certain incident at the Point on a big day involving someone having to walk home with a wet-suit full of .........................well, I think you know where I'm going now.
And there is someone who believes that THAT incident, with that certain surfer walking down the road with a big lump in his wet-suit led to the melding of Howdy and Lump which gave us Hump.
He may be correct, but I'm more of the belief that it evolved because I used the word hump a lot.
The "dump a lump" incident did happen, and there is a legitimate reason for that too.
Having been born with Nail Patella Syndrome, I also have a mild version of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, one of the accompanying blessings of NPS.
In that incident we had the perfect combination of me having eaten a huge dinner the night before followed by copious quantities of beer with the crew in the JR pub, a short and restless sleep as the surf was very good and building so half the crew had stayed the night, followed by a hastily thrown together large greasy breakfast.
I had my usual morning dump, suited up and walked down to the Point.
It was very good and there were some big sets with 8'-10' faces showing up regularly and everyone was waiting on them.
I caught an in-between wave and was paddling back out when the urge to poop became much more insistent than I would have liked, so I turned around and proned in on the next bit of whitewater.
It was a bit of a scramble getting out of my wet-suit in time and thankfully the door to the outhouse wasn't locked so I made it ok and released a rather large and wonderfully malodorous load on top of some other recent contributions from others who were there.
The stench would have gagged a maggot, but I'd made it ok and now had had two good dumps within an hour so felt good to go back out.
I paddled back out just in time to find myself in good position for the next set, which was barreling along towards us way outside the river-mouth.
We all started paddling for position when I was stricken with a horrible case of cramps and spastic sphincter in about as short a time as it took to type this. I fought as hard as I could and actually got control for a short time, enough time to paddle into one of the waves with the idea of getting to shore as fast as possible again, but, I ate it just after taking off and got worked pretty good in the process.
Between trying to not drown or get hit by my board, I had to let other considerations go, so let it go I did.
Picture being rag-dolled while crapping yourself.
I, until that time, had no real appreciation for how much poop one skinny human body can hold at once.
It's considerable, believe me.
After trying to discretely ease my way past some spectators, hoping no smell was escaping the confines of my wet-suit, I simply walked home, got into the shower and worked my way out of the suit as I washed it out. No big deal really.
So that's the incident that one of the old guys claims is when and how the name Hump came to be.
Maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong, doesn't matter too much really.
It's all good.
My now ex-wife never called me Hump as she came into my life long after surfing had left, but all of the old guys from the '70's and '80's who were JR regulars called me Hump.
And that’s how Hump came to be.
A tale not from the Tyee Pool.
Take care.
Surfers are famous for both bequeathing and receiving nicknames, so here's the story of how I may have acquired mine, which was Hump.
It all started off innocently enough.
I became a surfer in 1973 and moved to Jordan River in 1975, where naturally enough I met all the regulars of the day plus most of the visitors who passed through.
Like most groups of regulars who hang together and who spent countless hours milling around waiting for the wind to die or the swell to show or something to happen, individuals acquired nicknames.
So, when I arrived there was Datsun Dave, The Old Man, JVD, Whip, The Baron, Mystic Max, Smeggy, Mona, aka The Belly, Horny Bob, aka Pygmy, aka The Horned Rodent, aka Pig-eyes, (and probably a couple more I've forgotten).
Later names I recall include Nookie, Blanche, Doc, Kiwi, Sombrio Steve, River-mouth Mike and, the generic name for the new South African arrivals at the end of the '70's, the Affies.
As I became accepted by the crew and they realized I wasn't going to go away and that I wasn't all that bad a guy even though I was older than all of them, someone gave me my first nickname.
I honestly don't recall who used it first because there were and are still some very clever and witty guys from that old crew so I don't want to give due to any one of them and be wrong.
Anyway, I was called Howdy at first, I guess because that's how I used to greet people, being a friendly and gregarious type mostly.
So Howdy it was for a couple of years, and all was good in the world.
I started working at Port Renfrew for BCFP in the Fall of 1976, which started a longtime love-hate affair with the road between JR and Renfrew, which was still 16 miles of gravel back then. I drove it a lot chasing surf after work.
It's ironic that even though I lived in JR for 12 years more or less, guys who lived in Victoria got more surf than I did during winter because obviously I worked all day and it was dark when I got off.
So, I often arrived at the Point after another hair-raising drive and I know I often used the phrase, "Geeze, I really humped my butt to get here before dark," or variations of that usage of the word, and it's my belief that Howdy just evolved over to Hump due to my use of the word a lot.
BUT......there is another story out there about a certain incident at the Point on a big day involving someone having to walk home with a wet-suit full of .........................well, I think you know where I'm going now.
And there is someone who believes that THAT incident, with that certain surfer walking down the road with a big lump in his wet-suit led to the melding of Howdy and Lump which gave us Hump.
He may be correct, but I'm more of the belief that it evolved because I used the word hump a lot.
The "dump a lump" incident did happen, and there is a legitimate reason for that too.
Having been born with Nail Patella Syndrome, I also have a mild version of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, one of the accompanying blessings of NPS.
In that incident we had the perfect combination of me having eaten a huge dinner the night before followed by copious quantities of beer with the crew in the JR pub, a short and restless sleep as the surf was very good and building so half the crew had stayed the night, followed by a hastily thrown together large greasy breakfast.
I had my usual morning dump, suited up and walked down to the Point.
It was very good and there were some big sets with 8'-10' faces showing up regularly and everyone was waiting on them.
I caught an in-between wave and was paddling back out when the urge to poop became much more insistent than I would have liked, so I turned around and proned in on the next bit of whitewater.
It was a bit of a scramble getting out of my wet-suit in time and thankfully the door to the outhouse wasn't locked so I made it ok and released a rather large and wonderfully malodorous load on top of some other recent contributions from others who were there.
The stench would have gagged a maggot, but I'd made it ok and now had had two good dumps within an hour so felt good to go back out.
I paddled back out just in time to find myself in good position for the next set, which was barreling along towards us way outside the river-mouth.
We all started paddling for position when I was stricken with a horrible case of cramps and spastic sphincter in about as short a time as it took to type this. I fought as hard as I could and actually got control for a short time, enough time to paddle into one of the waves with the idea of getting to shore as fast as possible again, but, I ate it just after taking off and got worked pretty good in the process.
Between trying to not drown or get hit by my board, I had to let other considerations go, so let it go I did.
Picture being rag-dolled while crapping yourself.
I, until that time, had no real appreciation for how much poop one skinny human body can hold at once.
It's considerable, believe me.
After trying to discretely ease my way past some spectators, hoping no smell was escaping the confines of my wet-suit, I simply walked home, got into the shower and worked my way out of the suit as I washed it out. No big deal really.
So that's the incident that one of the old guys claims is when and how the name Hump came to be.
Maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong, doesn't matter too much really.
It's all good.
My now ex-wife never called me Hump as she came into my life long after surfing had left, but all of the old guys from the '70's and '80's who were JR regulars called me Hump.
And that’s how Hump came to be.
A tale not from the Tyee Pool.
Take care.
