Black line drawing of a curling wave flowing into the script words 'into the sea', a fine line lettering tattoo design on a white background.

Wave swirl with 'into the sea' script

Fine line · Black and grey · Flash

The design pairs a single fine black line that curls into a breaking wave with the words 'into the sea' in flowing cursive script. The linework is even and continuous, with the wave's tail leading into the first letters of the phrase. It is shown in solid black on a plain white background with no shading or colour.

Fine line Lettering Wave Sea Script

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Nan never said goodbye at the harbour wall. She stood with her cardigan buttoned wrong and flicked her hand at the water, the way you'd shoo a gull off a bag of chips, and said, "Go on, then. Into the sea." I was eleven and took it for a dare.

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That August the swell came in long and green, the sort that stands up tall before it breaks. Dad had the boat out with Uncle Ray and I was meant to be bailing, but I kept watching the waves at Pennance Cove bend over themselves, the lip hanging like a question. Each one had the same shape: a curl tight as a fist, then a thin flat tail running out along the sand. I drew it on the back of a tide table in biro so I wouldn't lose it.

That evening I walked down the cove alone with the tide table folded in my pocket. The sea was grey and busy with light. I waded out past the rocks, the cold climbing my shins, and waited for a set to build. When the big one rose I turned my back on it, the way Nan had taught me to at the baths, and let it lift me. For a few seconds the whole sea was a single line running towards the shore.

When I came up spluttering in the shallows, Nan was standing on the wall with her cardigan done up properly for once. She lifted her hand and flicked it at the water, shooing me in. I finally understood it had never been a dare. It was only the same wave, coming back to fetch me.