Quitting Surfing?

It's kinda like giving up chicks... If you switch for dudes one day, you were never really in to chicks

 

I can see slowing down for another sport but not Quitting! I am in similar situation right now. I have always been into 3 sports or activities, Surfing,skiing, and Mountain biking. This as worked well for me for the last 25 yrs along with running and working out I always had something to do. This summer I decided to try another sport. I wanted to give it a chance so I devoted the summer to it and basically decided to give up the crowds of summer and didnt get on my mtb but twice. Now it Dec. I am so hooked on my new sport that it is getting n my way of surf. I used to try to go once a week no matter.. year rounf I do live over an hr from the ocean. My new sport I do 4-6x's a week and its 10 mins from my house and is not weather dependant, its always there and the comaraderie is also greater than surfing. Even tough I have met and some cool guys in the water over the last few yrs surfing weekdays mostly..Those days where crowds and agro guys can ruin your session. Anyway my point is after 25yrs of always dreaming and living about waves now I dont care if its flat for a few weeks. I am in better shape than ever so getting on my board is not an issue of age or being out of shape. I still plan on my 3 surf trips a year and ill surf my brains out for those weeks. And hopefully tommorrow there is still some surf left and ill get on it.. But Quitting never!!!!!I still hope when I retire i will finially be able to live someone where I can surf every day....

 

I can see quitting for something better... like kiting. If I had the money, that's probably what I'd do... kitesurf, like, 90% of the time, and only surf when it's calm and glassy. But I wouldn't consider kayaking "better" than surfing. That, I just don't get. I agree... malarkey. I think there's some other reason...

Personally... and I've said this here before... what my final days of surfing will be like is something I struggle with. I don't know when the day will come, and I don't know how I'll feel, that first time I go down to the beach, see big, heavy, bombing surf, and say to myself for the first time in my life, "I can't do it."

What will that feel like? Will I feel tourtured? Or at peace with it? Will I genuinely NOT want to surf, or will my heart say yes and my body say no? I don't know when that day will come, and I don't know what it will feel like. But I do know, for sure, that one day I will just not go surfing, for the first time.

 

Funny this was mentioned...im the kind of guy who longs for the past, a little excessively. Lately, it has really been bothering me that the stoke i had as a grom just doesnt seem to be there anymore. I remember watching the vids, and just being amped to go out in the water...and that spark just isnt there...how do we get that back? For me im quite different, i compete in strongman and highland games..and am in the 400lb range, but i do shock people when they see me surfing, i can surf well...But it seems the size has become a pain for the surfing lifestyle. If its not getting the equipment, its being out on the small day and just not being able to get into the waves. I remember as a kid i loved those small days, i could get up on a ripple. Ive been debating losing weight since i was probably 275lbs(12,13 yrs ago), but its just tough, because things would not be the same for me strength wise, its even hard(For me personally to to stay around 375lbs)...being in the strength world, and being in the surfing world. Honestly, i dont eat a ton...i would probably surprise a lot of people at what i ate...like i said its been hard for me mentally as well, because i came from the surf, skate, snowboard scene. Its like two things you enjoy on the opposite sides of the spectrum. I just hope i can get that stoke back that i had when i was a kid....i actually sit a lot and just think about being 15, and being out in huntington beach ca going to surf and seeing that june gloom fog, and just longing for that period in my life.

 

I fell out for a couple years due to military service and school, but after a 7 year break I got back on 8 years ago an haven't looked back. If it's not burned into your soul then you can leave it. When I wasn't surfing I thought about it everyday.

 

wait, whhat? dudes clearly beat as **** and i sure a hell would not invite him to catch barrells with me in his kayak, cause thats straight lame

 

gaff, even though that story is heartwrenching, i wanna grow up to be that guy because then you can honestly say to yourself that you didn't quit, no matter what happened. Then you can get your kids or another grom just as stoked as you and pass it on. Personally, i get just as stoked watching other people as i do when i surf myself. Hopefully I get the chance one day. now if you will excuse me, i'm gonna go get barrelled here in VB. Man i wish i was hatteras....

 

stop surfing for a while and flat out quitting (for another sport or not) are 2 different things…so stop saying i quit for a year. no you stopped and started again….like i said
if you quit surfing you were never into it in the first place

 

This guys sounds like super tool.

 

around my late 20s/early 30s I basically quit wearing clothes from surf shops, quit watching surf videos, quit reading surf mags, still surf just as much though

 

I think he couldn't have been that into it. I stopped for about 8 years and got right back into it. I didn't have any boards before but now I have 3. Don't plan on stopping until my knees go out.

 

Nailed it!

 

This is an interesting subject… I must say that I have told my wife in the past, that if I was put into a certain situation, based on my own spitefulness, I may take a stand and “Quit surfing”. I was vastly overreacting, but the long story short is that for a brief time, we tossed around the idea of starting a family back in Baltimore after a 10 years stint in San Diego… I ran the idea through my head and had a vision of working 70 hours per week, raising kids, having a family and not having the time to run down to OC or whatever. I told my wife 1 of 2 things would happen. I would become a wave solider, dedicated every time waves came, taking off work, waking up at 3 am, whatever it took… or the other option would be to get bitter and angry after living 2 blocks from world class surf for 10 years, where believe it or not its still hard to break away from the wife and family and run down for a couple of hours… So I told my wife, if I was put into a situation, where I was repeatedly getting skunked and missing surf, I may get to the point where I would literally never surf again… Im talking about going to the beach on family vacation, waves going off and I would not even put my toes in… After a few weeks of contemplation, I knew that I would never under any circumstances be able to do that… I knew that I would do what many others do, which is make sacrifices and make it happen. My heart and soul would never let me go through with hatred and bitterness of never surfing… So after these conversations, my wife and I agreed on how important it is, no matter where we move or where we begin a new chapter, that it is VERY important to be in a place that will at least give me an opportunity to sneak down to the beach when its working, and spend the rest of the 90% of the time grinding at work and with family… That’s where im at now and couldn’t be happier… but the thought of having my waves taken from me, and put into other peoples time frames and only allowing me to go surf when it was convenient for the rest of the world would have lead me to just flat out quiting… never could have done it, but I certainly ran the what ifs through my head… And the thing about surfing to me is that its mine. No one elses. Its mine. Its about me and the ocean and when the world gets in the way and you have to start playing by the universes rules, I would feel like it was already stolen from me.

 

like many other stories. I kinda felt like I quit. Surfed year round since i was a teenager till about 30 years old. marriage 4 kids, worked hard in a new career. family sold house at the beach. but career has worked out very well and i built a house block from the beach 2 years ago and I have been back in the water. Best part is I'm now al surfing with my kids! The cycle continues.

 

Just looking for some wisdom or advice
i'm only 17, im from Baltimore, and I love surfing and im not all that good, but I know that I want to surf the rest of my life and do whatever it takes to become better. My parents are making me go to college and im all for it and I was gonna go to Salisbury but my gpa was just short! so im probably heading to towson next fall. I was wondering if going to Towson, getting my degree in education or becoming a business major would be a good idea if I moved to Salisbury or OC some day, would I be able to find work? I want a good job and to make good money like my brother, but i also want to surf! what is an ideal path for someone in position to take?

 

I am a Towson Grad... Sucks to be that far landlocked, but its a good school and there is a Towson Surf Club to this day that carpools out to OC and VB when its good... Just get with like minded people and get your education.

 

Its a personal preference. But that guy probably couldn't surf. i know i won't chose surfing over kayaking. He maybe closer to rivers? but i read on what some other people are staying about losing the stroke for surf. I find myself something not so stroke but that probably cause cold weather and ****ty waves. but i do get stroke when its breaking big and clean. If i could live in warm weather were the surf is always ripping. I'd never work and be homeless. My farther still surfs and hes 57. doesn't get to go out all the time work and not in the best of shape but he still goes out one in a while. but thinking back when i first started with all my brothers and my friends was a good time. It was all about getting high and getting a good rides. Gotta love that ****.

 

I can sort of understand quitting a sport... I quit rock climbing after I discovered whitewater kayaking, and I kinda stopped kayaking as much when I learned to surf haha. But Rock climbing is a lot of standing around and watching people climb and cleaning gear off the wall. Whitewater scared the **** out of me which is why I love it so much, same thing with surfing and bustin big air tricks on a snowboard. It's non stop action. I just don't get how you can be good at surfing then want to quit. I'm not a GREAT surfer... but I can surf well enough and it's one of the sickest feelings I've ever felt. I don't know how anyone could ever get enough of it.

 

surfing is a beautiful art and my passion, life would suck without it