How Has Surfing Changed Your Life?

Ain't that the truth.

Worst is walking the boardwalk or eating somewhere along the beach with family when there's waves.
Can't focus. Wife getting pissed. Constantly stretching neck. "Awe look at that one". Etc. etc.
Would rather be inland not knowing bout what I'm missing.

 

Not me...I surf for the "glamour" of it. After all, I need to keep up my Adonis image somehow.......

 

I don't know about the guys saying everyone surfs now.

Your deffinitly right. But I see it like this. If your actually a surfer, then who cares what your background is. Just dosn't matter. It's the summer guys who bring the board to look cool and sit in the line up not doing anything. Then they get on the beach and are all like "gnarly bro". Then they call themselves surfers. We know there not. They may fool the non surfers. But the real surfers know. They can call themselves whatever they want. When it comes time to paddle out they can't hang

I'm only 27, so I hadn't been around as long as some of you. I'm sure there is deffinitly more surfers now then the 70s and 80s. But if you take all the kooks who call themselves surfers out of the equation, that number get considerably smaller. I'm sure not as small as in back in the day, but much smaller then it may seem

 

Benny don't surf.


Guys, this is a sweet thread and all, but let's not turn into the tumblr of surfing.

 

Right but what we are saying is that surfing, like so many other things has become mainstream, has been bought and sold so many times it's lost its soul. The image of a classic surfer is copied, commercialized and sold like a product. That image is based on a person who retreated to surfing, who gave up on everything else to surf. Surfing for them was never a choice the same way as running out of a burning house is not a choice. It was a reflex that became so ingrained it is part of your daily routine and organically part of who you are. The surf clothing style is based on someone who doesn't give a crap about how they looked, the big baggy shorts were originally cuttoffs and are baggy because they don't bind up but agin it was origally based on function now people were them just to look like a surfer.

Of course there are people today that come to it for the very same reasons but I have a hard time believing everyone I'm seeing on the beach didn't choose surfing as an identity rather than struggling their whole lives and finding when the smoke clears that they are left with one thing, surfing.

 

It helped me learn how to determine if a set wave over shoulder high would close out or not.

[video=youtube;K2XC22031bk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2XC22031bk[/video]

 

It's made me healthier, physically and mentally.

It's taken me to some strange and exotic places around the world.

It's made me feel at peace with surrendering to what I can't control.

It's strengthened my spiritual self.

It's given me an outlet for creativity... and anger.

 

It is my life, sadly.

 

It almost changed my life in a BAD way when I was in the Navy stationed in Guam...I had never surfed before and went with a guy from the Bahamas who didn't know much more than I did. We were 19

I got worked on a reef and had my leg stuck while wave after wave beat the crap out of me...
Board ripped from the leash and I thought I was gonna die..
I didn't die but swore that I would never go surfing again, my whole body was bleeding from all the razor cuts..

Fast forward to 3 years ago, now at 50 yrs old.
My daughter wanted to try her hand at the surf thing.
So, I got her a new board and I bought a used longboard for myself.. It was a bonding thing..

There aren't any coral reefs here on Assateague Island, so I faced the fears that I had and went again..
This time was much different, I fell in Love with it..Not really any good at it, but the workout I get and the stress Relief is like no other sport.
I go as often as I can and only wish that I would have gotten back "In the Saddle" a long time ago..

I surf for the fun and exercise and don't think I will put it down until I am just not physically able to go..
Hardest sport I have ever attempted, but also the most fun by far!!

 

I remember reading that post, and his buddy getting thrown up on the rocks or something like that.

It can be a scary proposition if you don't know what you're doing for sure.
The power of the Ocean is nothing to mess with!

 

I think this is a false equivalency. There are certainly still true surf 'bums' out there, working nights to keep days open for surfing, traveling to follow the swell, etc... and there are certainly people who buy the boards and gear and float around in August and September. But I think you miss the majority of who I see out in the water - people who like surfing as a sport/recreation. I think it can't be reduced to a choice between a surf or die lifestyle or being a total poser.

 

You are wrong; Zippy is right.
You misunderstood the premise of his post, i.e., "surfing as retreat" from life.
Now go out and buy your Van sneakers and Quicksilver hoodies so you can be cool. <grin>

 

Ya, I read your rescue post. Good On Ya, makes you feel good I know!

I had a similar rescue of a whole dang family!! The family was down at Chincoteague for vacation and it was late afternoon.
The Dad had two kids with one boogey board out on the shoal and started getting sucked out with the kids, I happened to be in the water about 75 yards away and they were all screaming for help. I paddled over and by the time I got there the Dad was able to get back on the shoal.

I started back to where I had been and I hear screaming again and it was the Mom with no floatation and out of shape.
She had gone to help the rest of her family and got pulled WAY out past where the Dad and kids were..
I paddled as fast as I could to get to where she was at and was yelling to her to quit trying to fight it and just stay afloat.
I got to her and she had the biggest scared eyes I had ever seen, I swapped places with her and put her on the board while I tried to get out of the rip.. by that time the folks on the beach got the lifeguards with their big boards and they got out to us and she got on their board and we all paddled in..
I think she would have been a goner if I hadn't been surfing that day.
We got to the beach and she gave me a huge hug and the lifeguards and the rangers were all high fiving me..
Felt good to save her, but she had no business in the ocean..

 

Today's society is an incubator for posers. There aren't that many more people actually surfing out there. Next time you're in the water and it's head high or bigger, take a look around. Those are the actual surfers and unless you're at a point, there's probably not that many of you out.

Surfing has changed my life a ton. I grew up just kooking it on summer days at the beach, never really got into it. I headed inland for college, thinking I would rather be a ski bum. I really missed the ocean that first year away. When I got home, I dug my old board out and started going all of the time and got hooked. Now I could never imagine living further than 20 minutes from the coast and except for family and profession, my life revolves around surfing.