Count seven, then go, said the older man at Playa La Paz

I stood in the shallows at Playa La Paz one Saturday morning for twenty minutes, unable to decide when to go in. An older man with a board under his arm said, count seven, then go. He stayed next to me for my first six waves and said nothing after except, bien. I came out and realised I had stopped being afraid of the water. I count seven now at every beach. Some beaches have bigger waves. Some have smaller. The number is always seven.