Those dazzling back muscles, the geo-lessons, the ability to… wait!
There’s more to surfing than just flying to shore. All that paddling, all that waiting, all that travel. It enriches you in ways you’ve long forgotten.
1. That back!
Most people in the gym call them lats, traps and tri’s. We just call it paddling. Be thankful for the form surfing has given you. You don’t even feel obligated to to the Jersey Shore with your dome frozen with L.A. Looks gel and pumping that fist!
2. Reactions from civilians
Ever been at a party and listened to the part of the conversation where hobbies come into play? The bland reactions to tennis and skiing are exasperated. Like Hamlet did when he showed his uncle “The Mousetrap,” watch the eyebrows raise and the heads veer slightly to the right as they ask you for details of your biggest waves and how you braved the locals in El Salvador with a cervesa in one hand and a machete in the other.
3. Geo-political knowledge
Your geography teacher never thought you would amount to this and you may not realize it while you’re mesmerized by a world map looking for surf-able coastlines. However, as you memorize main and back roads in back countries, you’re filling your brain with culture and knowledge. All of a sudden, you meet someone from South Africa and they can’t believe you’re an American who knows the difference between the N1 and Naz.
4. Patience
Waiting for the waves is like someone in cell block C waiting for the Parole Board to stamp their papers. Patience. Patience. Patience. This comes into life waaaaayyyyy more than you think and realize when checking Surfline.
5. Appreciation
Ernest Hemingway would have lavish meals with all of his friends at round tables and they would sit at the table for hours, eating slowly and drinking Sangria. He even wrote a book called A Moveable Feast. Which has nothing to do about eating. But it does teach us to respect, love and to savor the things that are fleeting and fickle in our lives.
Like when wind, water and time allow us to have that perfect day of surf.
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thanks brah……
This dude should write more for this site. Makes supervising eighth grade study hall go by way faster.
Good article
Hey Giancarlo great article! Makes me want to take up surfing. You forgot 6. Chicks dig surfer dudes haha
cool article…. well written…. almost as if a teacher wrote it
Wow! I’ve never gone surfing, but definitely want to now! Thanks for the inspiration!
This article nails it! I surfed just once in Hawaii and loved it although spend I most of my ‘free’ time more like Hemingway-feasting with friends.
Great article, and well written! 🏄
Great read. This makes me want to pick up a board again.
He gets it. Mahalo for sharing, brah
thank you… it means a lot to me coming from Hawaii…
6. Tan: Who has time to sit around in a tanning bed? For surfers, bronzed skin is just part of what we do.
7. A crappy immune system: UK scientists are asking surfers to provide rectal swabs to help find out the effects of marine pollution on human health.Tests have shown water may contain antibiotic-resistant bacteria.http://http://www.bbc.com/news/scienc…
8. The power of observation: If you didn’t surf would know anything about how your local climate works? What about noticing the wind switch, or the pressure dropping?
9. An ‘healthy’ obsession: What are you going to drink beer and watch football?
10. Friends: Nothing like your surf crew. You might not even like the person in a different context, but there’s no better way to forge a friendship than roasting weenies over a fire sleeping together in the sand dunes.
Cool article