I'm stuck at school most of the time these days and I only get out a few times a year instead of the a few times a week I used to and it got me thinking..... What is the longest you have gone without surfing since you started?
In the early days, months and even up to a year. In the last 5 years, I probably haven't gone much longer than two weeks. Since moving a year ago, the longest is probably 4, maybe 5 days.
Probably 2.5 years. That will NEVER happen again! Got married, wife didn't like the beach unless we were going down to party. Got divorced, got back to the beach and I have never been happier! I told my current woman, if I want to go surfing, I am going! She is very cool with it.
The longest for me was probably a year and during that time it was only a few surfs a year for about 3 years in a row. So weird because it felt like I was away for a lifetime and when I came back to it full time so much had changed and I was no longer considered part of the community that I grew up in. It felt exactly going back to your high school after graduating, everything looks the same but its just different, and you feel invisible. It wasnt until i moved south to an entirely new area that I worked my way back into the local pecking order.
Yeah man, it took hard work and making enough money to make it happen. I was a broke nugga for quite some time and had to bust my ass for many years to make my way to the coast. There was a time where I couldn't afford the gas money to make it happen. But once I was able to make the drive religiously every week I got so addicted that I had to move, because I was torturing myself.
Once I started "officially" surfing I've gotten out at least once a month for 5 years and 4 months... Now it's kind of obsessive, compulsive... Most trips are two or more days with multiple sessions, but once I traveled 4 hours in February to surf 1/2 hour with the flu. Trying to not miss any months until I get permanently situated at the beach, or hopefully beaches.
I think even when I fell of the surfing wagon for a bit back in my first year or two of college, the longest I went was a few months. One day I woke up asked my self "what are you doing? You have these boards, you live on an island. You love to surf. Why are you not surfing?" From that day the longest I went was maybe a week or two. That was like 7 years ago
Somethin like 6 weeks last year cause I was in a boot...then 3 cause I had surgery...other than that up to two weeks because of lack of swell and busy, avg I'd say is 4-7 days tops, unless it's flat
went for about a 5 year stretch once. During that time, I surfed the sporadic few days a year, but I was so out of shape, my reflexes and performance were way off.
was it selling dope to kids disguised as a nun? (see if anybody gets that movie ref). Just came off a year and half burnout vacation. Ultra stoked now.
For four years I lived in Michigan and only surfed over Christmas and Easter breaks. And if it was flat... guess what.
I'll add that I took up mountain biking and I couldn't help but "surf" the trails in my mind as I rode. Believe it or not, it was a very similar feeling... picking your line, checking your speed, feeling the forces at work under your body... Similar, but not the same.
about 2 years while on active duty. I joined the Marines b/c all they're an amphibious force and all their bases are warm water coastal, but the joke was on me, because my infantry unit battalion got assigned to undergo about 2 years worth of extreme cold weather/mountain warfare training..not a lot of surf here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Warfare_Training_Center
Thanks for your service, Dave. Got a son now in phase two of Ranger school. The "Mountain Phase" but that's just three weeks of hell in Georgia, not two years away from Hopefully get to surf with him after graduation over Thanksgiving. Hopefully graduates the day before Veteran's Day.
The question sent me back to the log I've been keeping over the last 3+ years, which is in a spreadsheet. So I was easily able to determine it was 72 days. Additionally, with a few clicks and calculations, FWIW, generated the chart below (yeah I know, uber geeky), but it reminded me of the winter of 2015 where we were constantly shoveling out of snow, and I think I got a bad flu that season, thus the larger gaps in seshes. The review also reminded me of some of the good run of waves we've has, as well as "life events" that hindered getting wet. All in all, fortunate to live w/in ~25 minutes of waves. P.S. I second cbs thx to Dave for his service & sacrifice.