In my opinion the best part of surfing is charging. Being that person who walks that fine line between stupidity and bliss. For anyone whos surfed solid 10-12+ surf, seeing that mountain of water slowly creepin in along the horizon. Trying to drop in as late as possible, hoping that u can make the drop to maybe the BEST BARREL OF YOUR LIFE! Or just maybe u **** up, maybe it closes out, and to feel the power of mother nature. Shes a beast that wont let u out of her grasp until she's done with you. And if ur lucky u can catch your breath before another wave smashes into u. That feeling of being Submissive to the earth is a one of a kind feeling, the BEST to me!!!!
Transcendence. Time slows, reactions speed. Man, you're out there for hours and if you get a really sweet one, later, no matter where I am, I close my eyes and can ride that wave again and again. Until i just HAVE to go back and get another one. And the stories, the travels, smell of wax, even ding repair - it's all good.
this sounds like a conversation i'd have with my friends at 4am after a night raging, then getting sentimental
So many things are great about surfing. But i like how once i get out into the lineup and on a wave nothing else in the world matters. its an escape from reality, just you your board your bros and the waves. Everyone shares that same stoke no matter if your getting barreled or watching your friend boost an air everyone is enjoying themself and nothing else seems to matter. when i get in the water i forget about everything and just live iin the moment on the wave loving life.
Agreed man life is short, you need to cherish every moment with you family and friends and enjoy your time in the water like its your last. That AI vid is every sad but inspirational and gets me pumped to surf. Can what to snag some fun ones this weekend.
Love it when you're out there with a few friends and you know the next wave is yours. You're sitting there, waiting, then the bump comes into view and you hear everyone hooting. Snap around and even though everyone's still screaming, it all goes silent the second that wave is underneath you and you're digging like your life depends on it. Then you get that magical feeling, YES I'm in. Pop to your feet and you're cruising down the line, all this chaos going on around you, but you're so tuned in you don't notice. Few seconds later it's done, and you sit there for a second, take it all in. The ocean then welcomes you back with the next set detonating on your skull. Yewww love it.
it seems quite a few of us have a very similar feeling. when your riding a wave everything else just stops, except for you your board and the wave. then when its over and you try to recall it, it seems like a totally different experience. i think people have trouble explaining it because you can't even recall the feeling completely unless you're actually doing it. being on a wave almost gives me super powers because i'm just that more alert and agile, and i know half the stuff i do when i'm surfing i cant do on land. i always try to recall the sound of the wave while surfing, but i can never remember it (except for the sound of the angry puerto rican local i accidentally dropped in once. ill never forget that..). its a weird feeling not knowing what something you just did 2 minutes ago sounded like. maybe thats just me, but i think that shows how surfing is so much different than anything else you'll ever do. thanks for this link, i always thought of rasta as being some sort of "soul surfer" brand for his sponsors to sell, but that video was legit
the moment right after you paddle like hell to catch a wave, when the board plains out, and you know you caught it. that wave is yours and only yours. it traveled hundreds of miles just for you.
to explain the beauty of surfing is like to explain a beautiful sun set to a blind man.. where would you start ? how can you explain a color? you just cant, its something you have to experience for your self. ... a little perspective too, ever realize how much goes on to create a wave? the sun, the moon and our earth all come into play.. no wave is the same, each ride is literally a once in a lifetime expeirence..over and over again..
when you see the waves pumping ,putting on your leash and running into the ocean and paddling out is the best feeling ever
Yeah, surfing is crazy in the way it unfolds. Its the strangest thing after you get one of the best rides of your life... its like it "just happened" and you are trying to piece together the memory of the last 30 seconds so you can savor it, but its like you are just reacting the whole time... So on my way back out to the lineup, I have had times where I am grinning from ear to ear, laughing outloud just completely stoked... but the memory of those moments already starts slipping away... Its like you almost have to remind yourself of how awesome that was because you are already focused on more waves... Sometimes you just have to paddle back out, sit in the lineup and soak in the moments that just unfolded... Like, wow, I was deep in that barrel and I made it out... Or man, I just landed that air... Whatever the case may be... those are the moments I love... just sitting on your board, after you have done something amazing... Then I really drink in the beauty of what we are doing... The shoreline looks better, the sky looks clearer... that is my zen moment.... You just feel so happy that you have dedicated your life to this stuff to live out moments that are over in 15 seconds..... And it makes it all worth it... The simplest way I put it to people, is that I have had thousands of surf sessions, and EVERY time i have ever gotten out of the water, I feel like I am better off.... No matter how crappy the surf was, or if you blow a few waves or whatever, I have never once regretted being out there.... When you get out of the ocean, you are ALWAYS better off then when you entered... and as long as that holds true, we will always be back...
I love when the sun makes everything glow, including the water... I love that "oh Sh*t" moment when you dont know if you're gonna make it out past the set wave.... I love making the section connection that extends the wave length... I love coming over the dune in anticipation when you hear the ocean first..... I love it when I'm out at dinner with non-surfers after a great session, my head tilts down, and my sinuses spill out all over the table....(the look on their faces is priceless) I love shopping for a new surfboard..... these are a few of my favorite things.....
raindrops on roses..... i agree that one cannot explain this to anyone who hasn't done it. they have no context for the experience. there are elements of this that are too entirely personal. you are out with friends or in a lineup of strangers, but you are all alone once you strike for that oncoming swell. your own abilities, skills and habits, good and bad, are pitted against the anomalies of that particular break, that particular condition, that particular wave, which no one else will experience, even if they are on the same wave. it is why the wide variety of contrasting personalities and beliefs and philosophies exemplified on this forum all end up in the lineup.....the wave serves each differently, and rewards/punishes each to their own context, to the extent that it is, in essence, indescribable. all one can do is give them a general taste, an essence, a ghost of this, but eventually, they will have to experience their own experience for themselves.
Wow! Maybe I should move to Cali....I just read your post to my wife and she is putty in my hands....thanks sponge!
Great post! Yes for me catching that tube and being inside her..time stands still. Mother oceans womb if you will. The whole vibe of getting out there and part of a great energy and bringing that stoke back to your friends or students or coworkers. Sleeping incredibly well after a good long session. Stronger libido. drinking the fountain of youth. Hanging with my surf friends and catching lots of waves and doing lots of maneuvers and not even remebering wht you just did. Helping a new surf student catch her first wave and then improving and screaming with delight. Its such a zen thing. I think I could go on but we all understand the importance of surfing and being a surfer.
I look at it like an addiction; the feeling I get from getting a good ride is like no other feeling I have ever felt, the stoke, better than any acid, shrooms i ever took...and during flat spells I fiend for it like I was an addict without my juice. of course, I am not a drug addict, dabbled with psychadelics and smoked some herb some years ago, but during those flat spells, man, i feel like I'm in withdrawal or something...i get miserable and feel empty inside. There is nothing better for me than being out in the water, being one with the ocean and forgetting about all the B.S. on land. I can honestly say that when i walk out of the water I feel completely fulfilled, rejuvinated on the inside(whether it be spiritually or emotionally, not really sure what it is...my soul feels better) and feel completely content and happy....and amped!! There is absolutely no other activity that can give you what surfing gives you. It has humbled me, made me realize what is really important in life, and made me get off my ass and travel. I'm thankful everyday that I have my health and am able to enjoy the gifts the ocean brings us, just wish it would bring us some everyday...lol
Im going to say when Im out there im at peace.No work,no bills,no pressures.I love every aspect of it.I try to take it all in .The sounds of a peeling wave,the smell of the salt water,the energy and power of a swell.Its pretty amazing if you really think about it, heres this wave which has traveled hundreads of miles and you have this board and you are actually able to jump on this board and ride all this moving water with all this energy.Its something thats really hard to decribe to anyone, its something you have to experience.
“There’s tax documents flying everywhere. Screaming babies. Bits of elevator music. Car insurance payments and overdue registration. There’s angry gods, twisted politics, and a letter I’ve been meaning to write, all just whirling around me in the vortex. Receipts and bills. Appointments and deadlines. New Year’s resolutions and childhood traumas. Every last bit of it, lurching overhead, exploding onto the reef, choking on the foamball, anywhere but here. All my problems, all my worries, all my desires. Gone. And one way or another — whether I make it out of that tiny window of light down the line, or get lit up and laid out on the sand — all that matters is that it’s gone for now. This one tiny moment, it lasts for weeks.” -Nathan Myers
