What is y'alls favorite thing/moment about surfing? Every time I try to describe the emotions and feelings I have when I surf to other people, well, I end up sounding like an idiot haha. I just can't get over it though. It's changed my life and I want others to experince it too because it has definitely humbled and changed me for the better. To start this out, my favorite moment is when you are paddling for a wave. Nothing, and I mean nothing else is on your mind in the entire world except making that wave. I've come to realize what a powerful moment that is in this f'd up world we live in. I dunno. maybe i sound like an idiot but whatever, I'm a happy surfing idiot. Cheers guys and may the ocean keep you and guide you.
When I'm explaining surfing to non-surfers, I tell them that the unique thing about surfing is that when you're riding a wave, you are moving along something that itself is also moving. There are very few things in this world that you can say that about. Probably my favorite thing about surfing is when you go into a time warp. I don't know who else feels this way, but when I'm on a good wave, time slows down for me. I am hyperaware, and capable of remarkable things. Then when it is over time speeds back up to normal, and I replay in my mind what just happened, I'm thinking "wow, that was really awesome."
capt jack, I have a similar favorite feeling. I call it being in the zone, where time, crowds, cold/hot, everything just turns off and the only thing you know is top and bottom. Many times on a good wave (especially really steep, fast waves) I will kick out and go "man, I bet that was fun" but really, I only remember the drop or a turn and the rest just happened. Rasta said it best in his "i surf because" interview. he said I surf because I cannot explain surfing, and I think that's incredible.
Ditto....it's kinda analogous (sp) to getting your sea legs. Nothing better than falling asleep after a long days session, a belly full of grub, some advil and closing your eyes and actually feeling random parts of rides. Mind Rides... When explaining it to guy friends who never surfed, I remark - It's better than getting laid! (of course somedays I'm not the great at either! LOL)
watching the wave pitch right in front of you and the strange serenity of being in the tube.. nothing in the world like it edit: funny how you can surf for 4 hours, get countless waves and only remember a few seconds of it
That's EXACTLY what happens to me... I call it a "zen moment." It doesn't happen every wave... or even every session. But sometimes I'll be paddling back out and can't even remember the wave I just had. I think during those Zen Moments, all the multiple planes of reality that criss-cross the universe intersect and you become one with everything and disappear. Or maybe I just did too much acid back in the 80s...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFY4ZFvwf78 rasta here, gives the best explanation of surfing i ever heard.
Man, that's how I got hooked on surfing. I literally remember the first time i ever made a turn and got a ride down the line. I remember how the sun was, the people around me, the temp of the water, and the absolute peace and serenity i felt jammin' down the line. you shoulda seen the smile on my face after I did it haha
Gnar, thank you. this just further adds to why he is one of my favorite surfers. If y;all ever get the chance, check out the movie still filthy cuz that's where like half of his surf clips came from in that video. I want to make my own alaia board dammit haha
I like how rasta said he drinks a little bit of the water evey time he goes out. I do the same thing only usually it's not on purpose and sometimes it's a lot of water.
It's hard for me to explain what I love about surfing, I just love every aspect of it. From frothing while suiting up in parking lot to the paddle out, and then the actual wave riding. I love that completely exhausted, satisfied feeling after a session, recalling the best waves/turns in my head on the drive home. Then almost as soon as I get out of the water I'm already thinking about my next session. I just can't get enough...
I remember when I was young, maybe 14, I was sponging the shore break and just got done chugging a fruit punch capri sun. I headed back in and the first wave I caught I wiped out and drank a whole **** ton of water and puked blood red. All the people around looked at me like I was going to die. It was pretty funny.. I think the thing that I like best about surfing is that it feels like it shouldn't be happening. You shouldn't be allowed to stand on water or be able to be in the water when it is 36 degrees. The initial feeling of surfing and the feeling of being in the water with snow on the ground is just bizaare, and I enjoy that bizaare feeling. It makes every day stand out from the ordinary.
There's a good line in "The Search for Captain Zero" that sums it up for me pretty well. In waiting for a wave, in sitting out there between sets, bad thoughts, obsessive thoughts, will surface, but while actually riding, while standing up and searching for that rhythm, no matter how awful the day I'm having, my mind is clean and clear and blank and therefore content. I have never, not ever, had a conscious thought, good, bad or indifferent, while in the act of riding a wave. Some days I really need that vacuum, that purity. - Alan Weisbecker (surfer, author of Cosmic Banditos and In Search of Captain Zero, nomad)
Let me add this to my own comment above. While you can find that "vacuum, that purity" in other pursuits like meditation or playing music or whatever, the thing about surfing for me is the direct, pure connection to something so much larger than ourselves. The wave is generated from energy from some distant storm, travels hundreds, maybe thousands of miles and then, at the last second of its life before it explodes and that energy is returned back to the universe, you jump into that explosion and stand there, using all your senses and everything you've practiced for so many years, dreamed about so many nights and you just get in that spot feel it. I spent a long time sitting in church pews in my life and never felt a damn thing. This works.
[video=youtube;4uwtqRBE4Kk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uwtqRBE4Kk[/video] When I was young I surfed for some of the same reasons as Andy. Espicicially after I caught my first wave, I remember it clear as day. After that I was hooked instanly just like what Andy said. RIP A.I.
my favorite things has to be the pure enjoyment i get when i either surf a knee high wave or oh wave i just always have the biggest smile on my face. and it seems like im always happy when i always get a surf session in for a day and when i dont surf for a day or two im always cranky or not wanting to do anything.
Hell yea to all of these great posts. I'm getting stoked for tomorrows session just looking at these. I'm glad i found a place where I can express myself to others that feel the same way. that AI clips is heartbreaking especially when you think about his kid and his brother stepping up. Life is short. Do what you love and don't do anything else. Peace and see ya in the water. YEWWWWWW!! haha
Yea buddy. The thing about surfing for me, I just want to do it all the time, and I can't get sick of it. And it looks like its gonna be ridable all weekend, with jets and helos flying overhead, not many guys can experience that
After I get out of the water I feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders or kinda like I just let out a huge amount of tension building up from the everyday norm we call life. Triming up and getting perched on the nose and just standin out there for about 70 yards or so then doing a bottom turn and the long paddle back to the line up make me feel like I just did something thats never been done before or I have acomplished some great task. Its weird but most people wont understand it unless they surf
