Why do you surf

same thing I told my dad when I got busted smoking pot as a teenager, "it makes me feel good"

 

I joined my surfing league a couple years ago because the kickball and hopscotch leagues were full.

 

I actually don't

 

To meet women.

 

I did a few bird calls to the crew of pelicans that got the set wave the other day. I was paddling for it but was too far inside, and they came in out of nowhere, swooping low and in single file, and they surfed the slipstream down the line. I gave them a couple of loud squawks as a salute to their wave mastery.

I have not yet engaged in any conversations with seagulls, except to shoo them away from my bait or my sandwich. They are as bad as pigeons.

 

Oh, once I got bit by a loon while swimming down the beach, and after I shook him off my hand, I flipped him a bird and told him **** you! People were standing on the beach pointing and laughing, and I had a bill mark on my hand for a week.

 

I surf because your mom has the morning shift at Volcanic Eruptions and i have nothing better to do.

 

Whenever I surf with a crowd I notice I operate at a much different frequency then when I surf a quiet reef with a handful of surfers and when I surf alone. The mystique is still there on those days, but on the busy beachbreak days it feels more like a sport.. like mountainbiking or something.

What most people dont realize where I live is that it doesnt have to be ~a spot~ for you to be able to surf it. Ill take a short section over a shallow reef and break a fin over surfing with the beach crowd any day. There are still waves I have not discovered in my area.. and there will always be new places to find. To me part of the fun is figuring out the spot and surfing it all the way through the tide to really get a feel for it.

And then eventually that wave disappears. The sand shifts after a big storm and it transforms and its gone. Theres something beautiful and different about that. You dont get it in other sports..

Seagulls call me a kook when they fly by sometimes.

Being a kook has become too easy.. what with velcro socks and spicoli and all. But if you want a real challenge try being Roy Stuart for a day.

Mainstream? Imagine in 10 years. Waterproof Ipods and soccer moms. You wait..

 

I once clapped for a dolphin after he jumped out of the water, like I was at sea world.

Speaking of seagulls. When you step onto the beach in winter, covered head to toe in rubber- I swear the seagulls look at you like your crazy.

 

Honestly, there is no place I'd rather be on a cold winter day. I can't wait to sit in empty NJ lineups with my best buds, waiting for head high chocolatey water caves.

Plain and simple, I surf because I'm addicted to it.

 

I once got the clap from a dolphin at sea world.

 

I surf so I don't have to feel guilty about wearing board shorts.

Seriously though, I surf because I love action sports and I live close to the ocean. Going a bit further, I love action sports because I can always get better at them, and I don't have to rely on anyone but myself.

 

I surf because everybody I hate doesn't. When I paddle out it is 100% guranteed my boss, inlaws, co-workers, loser neighbor, etc..... won't be out with me. 100% peace.

Oh yeah, it's fun too.

 

i might be the only serious one here but i surf to keep me sane. between all of the crap and responsibility i have at home after my dad bailed and my mom lost her job, the only thing i do for myself is surf. I surf because out of all the other BS in my life, i can walk away from it all and forget it and be happy. besides music, its the only other thing i truly lose myself in. I'm lucky that i live 5 minutes biking from my spots i surf. I thank higher powers for that everyday. this morning's session was thigh high but it was still great. why? its because I surf.

we ride something we have no control over no matter how hard we try. We take on mother nature no matter what the conditions are. Nothing else in the entire universe matters when we are on a wave. We do it because we straight up love it.

Only a surfer knows the feeling of getting barreled.
Only a surfer knows.

This quote literally gave me goosebumps the first time i saw it and i wholeheartedly believe in it. This is from Bustin' Down the Door credits.

"Deep inside the barrel i became in tune with my inner self, nothing else matters, the hard wind and spit shooting past me from behind, my hand dragging along the wall, the light shines ahead. My long hair carried by the wind. My feet are in perfect placement on the board.

As I lean forward I start speeding up getting faster and faster as the barrel starts to close. I crouch down until my legs start to burn and then i pull out to the whole lineup cheering. My body tingles with joy and happiness. That was the day I became a man."

 

It "ma ma ma makes me happy"

Seagulls? I always speak to them in their own language.

Seriously, more and more people do it because they are so cool. I'm such a loser, I go out to avoid crowds and not be seen by them. Now that you all know my life sucks because I try to avoid places like First Street on a crowded summer day when there is a wave elsewhere.

Let the rant continue and here I go...

I won't ever truly understand what surfing is until I go to the beach with a brand new board and have my mom take 4,782 pics of my holding a board next to a pier with a sunset behind me with a smirk that says "I am way cooler than you because I surf" not realizing that there are actually no waves (and I mean that literally, like not even knee high).

Hey VA Beach! Guess what?! There are no waves here! None, nada zilch...ever! You should all quit. I am currently accepting surf gear donations. I will be rockin a 9 foot shortboard. You can't miss me. Your dearly departed gear will find a new home, my home.

Fun activities to do now that you've quit...

1. Learning seagull
2. Coercing the said seagulls into a feast. You will feed them bread laced with xanax. They will be lazy and easy to catch or better yet, join them!
3. Driving a go-kart on the beach. I didn't see any restrictions regarding those.
4. Targeting dolphins while hitting golf balls in the ocean. A Seinfeld moment is in your future.
5. Start a T-shirt company. ISn't that what everyone does at the beach?

 

sounds like killakeil found the crackhouse on 24th street, you know the 2br with 6 range rovers in the front yard.

 

What else is there to do when there's waves?

 

I started a T-shirt company called Aquadelic. Our motto is: "Take a Liquid Trip". Never made alot of money but I have a lot of cool T shirts. I put the logo on my homemade boards. I'll get around to posting a quiver shot soon.

I surf because it is an obsession, a release, and a great way to go through life, constantly pissed due to lack of swell, or totally surprised to find good waves, or very stoked to feel the ride, and the beauty of the ocean, and the kindness of my comrades, and the amusement of the kooks and touristas, and the thrill of travel, and the connection to a tribe of misfits.

 

I couldn't have said this better. I hate seeing pictures of myself surfing. I don't care what I look like. I will drive an hour out of my way to be alone.