What Freedom Is

All of you are encouraged to add your unique definitions.

To me - "Freedom" is:

- Surfing glassy lefts at Seaside Cove on a stick composed of volcanic rock or whatever you geologists consider basalt to be.
- Surfing a wave (finally) longer than 10-12 seconds in duration.
- Riding waves semi-consistently to completion of the peel and hopping off the fleeting shoulder still in full control.
- Charging a renowned break for the first time and on a demo stick and pulling off a quality sesh after a solid recon mission studying the break two days prior.
- Being accepted into the lineup of two world-class breaks in the course of a week and not being a kook at either.
- Not being any sort of standout at said breaks, and for not standing out due to kookery.
- Having the luck of two consecutive rental outlets issuing you premium whips at the price of a full-size when they had original mileages of 3 and 153, respectively.
- Bumping the Ultra festival live on XM as the soundtrack of your life for days and miles on end with heavy bass.
- Cruising the scenic, peaceful Route 26 from Portland to Seaside.
- Thinking that centuries have passed since Lewis & Clark first charged these northwest peaks and that minimal fracking and other detriments to nature have changed God's Country.
- The energy and smiles of 6ft blondes of the PacNW/West Coast.
- Not bothering to explain to said towhead phillies the profound position in the strata of surf breaks everywhere that their "touristy surf town" really has. Because they just wouldn't understand.
- Merely witnessing in person the divine lefts of the Point drain on endless replay.
- Ripping pave for 5.5 hours straight at Honeyton on a Saturday night where the town has barricaded in the Main Street area.
- Seeing current film of myself laying waste to pave in Seattle downtown that makes my Carver riding of as late as January look like pure kookery.
- Actually seeing transference of ever-growing Carver skill onto every surf ride and every surf sesh to some noticeable and beneficial level.
- Perpetually having sand on the front seat of your whip and in your ears.
- Duck diving Pacific waves better by the rep.
- Having every sneaker set learn you good just when you thought it was best to try and catch on the inside after the tide change.
- Using a powerful rip to deposit you out back after a ride rather than have it be your enemy.
- Returning home to the streak of spring swell that you called weeks earlier on SI, got scoffed at by the salty brahs, but still proved to be fairly accurate.
- Hearing about impromptu, serendipitous break meetups (the good kind) between SI legends such as mattyb and Doug (unbeknownst to them) then hearing mattyb tell us more how the wave has healed his spirit that was torn in his sacrifice for all of us. Then hearing him give genuine props to Doug on his skillful shotting of barrells that he so humbly would never tell us about.
- Seeing all the good braddahs here reaffirm fellow members subject to shoulder and knee injuries that they WILL be back in the lineup and fully stoked in a matter of months, as we are well aware of our froth and wish for no respectable charger to ever go unfed.
- Having a webernet break to express my stoke to and learn a great deal from many other chargers ripping the balls off of peaks everywhere.

 

"Hey, Janis...great talk."

- Vince Vaughn, Wedding Crashers

 

There are a lot of serious pieces of work on this forum but I gotta say I LOL more at rcarter's one line posts than any others.

Oh yeah babygrand, the stoke wagon makes round trips daily. Just hop on any time you please. It's right outside your door bro. I don't have to be somewhere picturesque to get amped. I'm pretty pumped on the Carver in a 12 degree polar vortex. The rest is just gravy.