what level are you?

Nice! very inspiring

 

Once At Matapalo I was being reamed by a 4 wave monster set, I was thinking I never had any bidniz being on a surfboard at all.

 

"So we all agree Occy is an expert surfer? He was when he was poster boy and Aussie wonderkid. Then he got fat and quit the tour. Was he still an expert? Then he got fit and became a national hero and living legend. Is he more of an expert?"

He did not look like one in the Legends heat against Curren last year...relatively speaking. I mean, I remember thinking he looked like me...slower then earlier years etc. I still think he is though just from a relative standpoint. He still surfs very well. I think you answered your own question....there needs to be one more category (Legendary). I think you're spot on with your analysis. Just because Slater is not the same caliber as 15 years ago (may be debatable)...does not change his expertise.

 

I would say yes and no. I grew up only surfing shortboards (we would heckle LBers) but over the years I have surfed all kinds of boards and I think it made me a better all around surfer. The fact your 50 and still charging a shortboard is commendable...I hope I am, good on ya!

 

I saw it written like this, elsewhere, in regards to differences within the tribe...I like this...

"we're all emotionally and developmentally stunted by conventional standards. It is a foundation for us to relate."



we're grown ups playing in the water on foam.

 

This sounds like Miki Dora, maybe. Wisdom.

 

That place is tiger shark central - spooky water.

 

no but i might as well have for all the fun i had.

 

The yoga lady on YouTube always tells me to strive for a beginners' mind.

 

maybe cause you eschewed the air game you DIDN'T tweak your knee/ankle or worse therefore you
are still surfing.

 

so uhhhhhhhhh who are we comparing ourselves to?

im seeing a lot of talk about airs and shyt,airs dont make u an expert.

so heres my input.

I consider anyone expert,who can take off on any wave any size at any break.im not talking about moves,carves,barrels,etc,just making the wave.people don't think too much on that matter but that is what would qualify someone as an expert,somebody who can paddle into straight closeouts and stick the drop.those are experts.

pretty sure theres no Kelly slaters on here,and he is the expert.someone like dion agius id consider him advanced,not expert.just because u can boost in 4 ft waves doesn't mean your an expert.i guess im kind of an air hater btw,im sure u people are seeing this lol.airs have degraded surfing imo.

airs are not hard at all!!!its hard to land them,depending on the conditions,but just boosting off a section is a no brainer,doesn't take much talent.the only 3 people that impress me with airs is jjf,slater,and matt meola.they aren't doing air reverses like the billion other kooks they are creating their own.

ok barrels.experts.slater,tom curren,and bobby.yea bobby murdaferkas.in one of the opening scenes on one of the old ...lost vids,u see tom packing a barrel with a 20+ft face,section after section,almost impossible to come out of and he does.thats expert material.i include bobby Martinez,if u ever seen footage of him surfing mexico in 4x overhead conditions doing carves that throw spray that can make a helicopter turn on his wipers.

im guessing most of us are intermediates.its fun progressing,if u start off on the top and theres no room for improvement wtf is the point of surfing?

 

Beginner. No problem paddling out, reading waves, catching waves, terrible pop up, take drop in under 5' waves, bottom turn left or right, great stamina. I probably surf as well as you would if you had my body and started at age 60

 

Fair to middlin. Intermediate. Geezer division. 56 yrs old.

 

Right on Betty....To an expert, I'm a kook, to a kook I'm semi-ok....I've been having fun at it for 35 years and really don't care what anyone thinks....lol.

 

I like this.

 

I think DPSUP, Mattyinvb, and yourself have given some of the better responses in this thread. As this thread has matured a bit I'd like to take a second shot at this.

I don't ever think I can ever really achieve expert status. I feel that is a tier reserved for exceptionally talented surfers. Those of us who are "next level" surfers. There can really only ever be a small handful of experts at any given spot unless we're talking 5 star spots like the famous breaks where at any given time there are 20+ sponsored and well-recognized surfers. Unless you've really been into the whole upper level proving grounds scene, I would say you're not "expert" unless you're that one guy who basically has mastered a single spot.

Now, judging on the criteria that both you and DPSUP and Matty posted, I'd probably downgrade myself a bit. Granted, I still feel like I can comfortably sit in the zone for 7footers, my technical ability is still rough and will always be improving. I don't regularly attempt "air maneuvers", unless the wave is absolutely telling me to go for it. Beach breaks have made me try them more. I prefer rail to rail surfing and power maneuvers. Big roundhouse cutbacks, gauging off the top hacks, laid down bottom turns and the like. That kind of surfing makes me feel good.

I'm proficient in most smaller craft. Mid lengths from 6'5 to 8'0 are also a favorite tier of boards for me to ride. Longer craft is where I have the least experience, especially the finer aspects of longboarding. I would say I'm an intermediate LBer, fairly advanced SBer that could use a month of surfing non-stop to refine my style further. Definitely gotten some tubes. Still waiting on that "holy shart I can't believe I'm this deep barrel." Intermediate barrel rider. I crave more experience here.

As for being able to read unknown line-ups, I feel like my dad has imparted a lot of knowledge to me in this aspect. How to feel out a spot. What to look for. Watching the wave for a while before paddling out. Looking for the local guys who rip and watching what they do. Their approach. A lot can be said about a surfer by their ability to identify and translate what others are doing into information you can use for yourself.

 

I'm intermediate, I think... i may enter my first contest this weekend. A softtop contest, essentially a king of the kooks contest. Then the judges can determine which karate belt my surfing warrants.

Some may classify me as an aggro kook, because I am a strong paddler, but not super skilled. I am a decent surfer, and I get lots of waves, but blow probably 30% on my first big turn attempt. But when I put my head down and start paddling, i don't miss the wave, just maybe the turn. I ride lots of weird boards which may contribute to my kookiness, but also helps me in lots of ways.

For instance, last weekend my buddy and I kept swapping boards on some waist high glassy BOMBS. We took out a 5'9'' retro fish and an 8'6'' mini-log. It was crazy how much riding the fish first helped me find the right center of gravity on the log to help my cross-stepping game, and when I switched back to the fish, I was able to get into a more critical section of the wave to get some nice schwacks, even though it was pretty small.

Shortboards are fun and all, but as an east coaster, I tend to spend much more money on my bigger floatier shapes that I can ride all the time versus a shortboard I would only choose to take out a few times a year. I would rather catch more waves on a floatier board and blow a few turns (because of all the volume in the rail/nose) and have people think I am a kook for riding a groveler, than have people think I am a kook for missing waves because I am riding a board that is too small for me to ride in little waves.

If I was just 6 inches shorter, or if I hadn't torn both my ACL's by 23, I would probably be a much better surfer. All things considered, I hold my own, which is a humble way to say, I dominate.

 

Beginner... I tell people all the time that I suck. Some of my skate friends think I rip just because I surf as much as I can. But rip I do not. I have never made it out of a proper shack and I can't carve a wave up.

I don't think I'll feel 'intermediate' until I can do those things regularly, and perhaps more importantly, handle whatever my local can throw at me. There's still a couple of days a year I just sit home and say 'no thanks.'

I would call myself competent. But according to Riles McMartin, I'm intermediate. Thanks Riles!


P.S. I can surf in an 8 second period just as well as I can in a 9 second ... SHAKA

 

i fit the profile.

 

to me there is a huge difference between WANTING to ride a log versus HAVING to