I love it when

And I will say this - the peaks and valleys I’ve gone through with surfing have gotten bigger... mixed in with some of the race against aging issues like tearing my labrums in BOTH shoulders and now knee issues too, the “bigger” being the highs are higher and the lows just really suck bad. But it just makes me work harder and appreciate more when I accomplish something even as simple as getting really steep on a head high wave and not failing - it’s something I’ve admired so much and wished for from far away my whole life. I’m doing a compressed version of a surf life I guess but my wish is to have as much of it as possible and I’m not holding back because I’m falling apart or getting older - that’s just motivation to prove I can.

 

This post is attached to the bassmon post above, which prompted it, in total agreement, a surfer never stops surfing if at all possible, your surfing never dies if there is any way to keep the stoke.
I love it when...
My surfing almost dies, 5 separate times in the last 7 years, but it doesn't die, just goes away for several months and then comes back and i have a great day, get a lot of waves, and i am stoked to surf again. The comeback. It's on!
I love it when...
I could have easily died, 3 sarcoma treatments and major leg, lung and liver surgeries in the past 5 years, and now i once again comeback to the surf and it never dies...i am back. Once again.
I ain't dead yet!
Pure stoke.

 

Hell yeah! That's the attitude!

 

Please refer to my post #64 now with additional edit. Thank you.

 

A few summers ago, I was surfing at Nuns beach in Stone Harbor. It was a small day, maybe chest high on the biggest sets. Basically me, a few other adult surfers, and a bunch of kids.

I saw a guy standing on the beach stretching out before he paddled out. After what seemed like 20 minutes of stretching, he began to paddle out. He was paddling delicately, this and the stretching tipped me off that this was an old dude.

When he made it to the outside, I made a remark about his long stretching, and asked how old he was. He said he was 74! I gave him props for still being out there. It was then that he told me he'd only been surfing for 3 years! His grandkids got him into it at 71. How cool is that?

 

Thanks capt’n. He was my brudda bro not sibling. Sounds like you and your brother are staying tight which is cool.

 

Good stuff man, I never had the chance to share a lineup with my younger brother, I lost him when he was 8, when I was 13. I tried teaching my older brother to surf but he’s a sissy these days, can’t handle the beatings and gets sea sick sitting on a surf boart. Dude use to pick on me when we were younger. Now I’m confident i’d woop him lol Love my bro though.

 

Was it Corky Carroll who said "the best surfer in the water is the one having the most fun"? Whoever it was nailed it.

I'm 59 now, and missed millions of waves, millions, back before I quit being stubborn and got a LB. That was when I was 35. I still take out the shortboard, but it's harder to get the pop up, I need more volume. My point is, you have to adapt. To the wave. To your skills. To the break, and to the level of talent you are sharing (or attempting to share) waves with. When in Rome....

Best to keep the vibe good so all have fun. Usually there is a bad actor to be avoided. Sometimes it can be me LOL. Rarely, but we are all human, sometimes more than others.

The OP has a point. In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. It's nice to be king.

Good treadde, lots of insight and stoke.

 

A majority of the time in the "off season", I'm out there by myself. But during those cold, gray winter seshs, it's nice to have one or two others out there.
One benefit of surfing at an older age (63), it encouraged me to get my affairs more in order: financials, updated designation of beneficiaries, survivorship and their medical care, living trust, etc.