What surfing means to me . . .

SJB is that you?

 

I would say that pretty much sums it up. I mean I am a body boarder but I have the same feeling. The sounds you hear when you first drop in on the wave.. It's a great thing, it's enjoyment at it's best.

 

My mind is like a bad neighborhood. I get mugged every time I go in there.
Surfing is liquid medication...

Yea man, sometimes I feel like surfing is the only thing I have left. Without it I'd self destruct for sure. I've found that surfing and climbing help to slow down time. Every half of a second matters. Above all, surfing helps create the context to think about my thinking in a more meaningful way as my thoughts are more positive than they would be otherwise.

 

SJB... I never reply to these threads but you struck a nerve. I have been around the water for all of my 41 years. Surfed, fished, bodyboard and piss bombs in the sand when their was no surf. I took a hiatus for about 20 years in the surf but this year surfed through the winter (shortboard not longboard) and was born again. My aunt from Santa Monica and devoted Catholic told me about her tenant whom she tried to convert. He said, "Every time I paddle out, I go to church." I am now a member of the Church of Phil. I have been on both sides of the law and always had the surf. It never judges. Cheers.

 

I enjoyed reading your post SJB. My journey with the ocean began nearly 40 years ago surf fishing with my grandfather and fishing off the rocks. I'd tire of fishing and the tangled or snagged lines so I'd bodysurf. Eventually as a teenager, I bought a boogie board because I didn't have enough for a surfboard. I had conjured an ideal of a surf lifestyle largely influenced by the Beach Boys and felt as if if was living it everytime I entered the ocean.
The transition to surfing has been more of an odyssey for me away from a canned archetype. Realizing I wasn't getting any younger, I decided to finally buy a board in my late 30's and learn. What I discovered was life. this pursuit of skill and understanding and the Spirit of Aloha is worth passing to my kids and has developed into a passion that keeps me balanced. According to legendary surfer Doc Paskowitz, in his book Surfing and Helath, one of the 5 pillars of health is recreation. Recreation is re-creation. Everytime I go, I am new.

 

Cheers and bravo to this thread. Growing up in Pennsylvania, I played ice hockey and a LOT of it too. At age 18 got my real first taste of surfing. Around 22, I had turned the page on hockey and began living and working around the water and have since been completely immersed in surfing and the ocean. It's changed my life. I am truly blessed and thankful for all the friends and memories that I have now.

 

This post should have "the wind beneath my wings" song being played while reading it...ha!

 

Started surfing at 6 or 7 on my older brothers 7 foot single fin o'Neil. Took a break for about ten years after highschool. Started back about 5 years ago. Am 35 now and do it as often as I can. Love it. Like being a kid again. I am on a 7 foot triple fin now. Funny how things come full circle. Nice thread!

 

What surfing means to me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga-qd5FYUjA

ha

No, I like to surf. It's very fun and I have no worries whilst doing it

 

Riding Water

Rachel Carson begins her book The Edge of the Sea “Like the sea itself, the shore fascinates us who return to it,” That’s where we came from and some of us feel a sense of belonging in Her presence. I remember my mother saying that even when I was a toddler if I was near water, I was in it. I fish, kayak, windsurf, even stood up on a surfboard once. Water has been my profession for some 30 years, as a hydrogeologist, and my salvation all my life.
From fishing for brookies in mountain streams to riding waves on various contraptions in the ocean, my life has centered around being on or near water and doing what I have to do to get back on the water.

AND I make $500,000 a year, own 2 beach houses without furniture, am better than just about everyone else, would never consider wearing a leash, don’t owe nobody nothing, hate bennies, Guido’s, everyone from NY (include all ethnic groups), and do not want to pay any taxes but receive all the public services I want!

 

I agree.
Sometimes we all feel the need to get sentimental.

 

Alright John Boy.....I'll bite.....here's my soul on the table.

Let's start by saying, I am an actual vaginal american.....I'm a girl.

In February 2011, I was sold a dream by a surfer boy. I don't know why he sold the dream to me, I was already giving him some......but anywho, I was told "I want to teach you to surf and sail." "Let's go kiteboarding" and things of that nature. Boy (Eddie) said, I'm leaving for 3 weeks, but when I get back we are going to do these things. Boy stopped calling.....matter of fact boy (who I was friends with for 4 years prior) never called again. It took weeks to confirm, but no he's not dead. I don't know why he chose to disappear WITHOUT A WORD and it broke my heart.....I didn't see it coming. But eff 'em.....I was sold a dream and I didn't need him to make it come true.

So March 18th, 2011 I was pushed into my first white water by another boy, whom will have my respect for life...and though I had no success I found myself stoked.....I wasn't expecting it. I spent the next 3 days in a row in the ocean, simply learning to survive. On the 3rd day, I tried to paddle out in what I now know to be awful conditions...at the time I was too green to know any better. As I tried my best to get out in 3-4 foot sea, at 5 seconds, with strong on shore winds something happened. My broken heart realized that Eddie didn't matter....actually I realized that nothing but what I was doing mattered. There was nothing but me, the waves, the wind, and the board. If I wanted, I had to do it. No one can give it to you, no one can take it from you. You can't buy it....you can't sell it. And all of a sudden I wanted it more than anything I had ever desired before. I raised my fist to the heavens and scream "FUK Eddie!" It was all LT Dan style.

I never made it out that day, actually I don't think I made it 40 feet off the shore that day, but something had changed.....inside I was different. I got in the water feeling broken by someone else, I got out more complete in myself than I had even been....I dare say I was reborn. This is a picture of that moment.....

I've tried to explain it to others but words fail me.....

This is the best I have managed to describe it so far......A lot of people surf for sport, but I’m not good enough to call it sport. To me it’s more of a spiritual experience. Anything that involves one ass kicking after another interrupted by perfect moments of grace, feels more like a religious experience than a hobby or sport. But a 1000 wipe outs is worth it all in that spilt second when everything comes together; when somehow some way I did just the right thing at the right time and I find myself riding down the line...and though it’s just for a moment, for that moment nothing else matters.

And just an FYI, it's been a year and 3 months now.....I moved from inland to the beach, I have spent hundreds if not a thousand hours in the water since. I've wiped-out and eaten shyt thousands if not tens of thousand of time since.....but now I found myself dialed in. I've become more than a girl with a broken heart, more than just a surfer, I am now a more complete me.....and even if I wanted to, I could never go back.

 

AND I make $500,000 a year, own 2 beach houses without furniture, am better than just about everyone else, would never consider wearing a leash, don’t owe nobody nothing, hate bennies, Guido’s, everyone from NY (include all ethnic groups), and do not want to pay any taxes but receive all the public services I want![/QUOTE]

A true patriot!!

 

I could'nt have said it any better myself. I feel the same way when Im out in the water. I don't think you sound like anything but a surfer when you say this and anyone who is'nt a surfer just won't get it.

 

I usually just read this crap after checking the report but I thought I would contribute.

Surfing for me:

The best way to start the day. Surfing is my therapist. My best friend. My lover. My arch nemesis. The only thing that i'm getting out of my warm bed for at 530am. The reason that I have zero sick or vacation time on the books. The reason that my passport is full of stamps. I live in flip flops and man tanks. I have 7 or 8 surfboards and still fiend for more. I'll probably get skin cancer and/or attacked by a shark but I don't care. I surf in the winter and my beard freezes. Sometimes I have to sit in my car and wait out the frost bite so that I can feel the pedals and drive home. I have based my life around this damn hobby and I have not a single regret. Even if stuck on this pitiful coast, I'll get waves until I'm in the ground.

 

vaya con olas

i live in aloha shirts and flipflops, even at work. i surf all year round and a vacation spot requires a break, even a crappy one. i only get up prior to 1030 am for this (and anyone who knows me is shocked when they find out i am on the beach at 8 am after a 1-1.5 hour drive). i've dragged many non-surfers into the water to learn, even just to sponge...my kids, friends, "friends," my kids' friends...to feel the pull, the pickup when the wave takes over and the ride begins (yeah, i'm that guy too, momma...but not your guy). i've had 2 cancerous lesions removed from my face and too many to count from my back. i hate being cold and i can't see for sh!t. i wear glasses and a hat and a wetsuit when everyone is in shorts... but i am out there. any time i can. i will never be great, but it's not about me being better than YOU...it's about me being better than i was, one wave, one fall, one small triumph at a time.

 

Your last sentence gave me chill bumps......deep and well said my friend.....I feel you from the inside out. Mad respect!