The Four Things Smart Surfers Do

Do you vomit at the notion that "the best surfer is the one having the most fun"?

I sometimes feel like my verbal sculpture focuses too heavily on the negative aspects of life. I’m not a bitter or unhappy guy, far from it, though I’m aware I often come across that way.

So, in the future, I’m going to make more of an effort to write something positive. Not every day, of course. I think it’s important to point out stupid shit, focusing solely on the positive becomes an empty headed circle jerk.

In that vein, as a follow up to yesterday’s Dumb Things That Surfers Do, here’s four things that smart surfers do.

Learn about board design

You don’t need to get too deep into it. Unless you’re actually trying to build your own boards there’s no real reason to know anything about the relationship between rocker and fin cant or agonize over how far from your rail to set those quad trailers. The whole point of finding a good shaper is divesting yourself of the need for that knowledge.

Too many surfers make their purchases based off knowledge wrung from marketing materials, by and large bullshit. There’s no such thing as a “true” all around board. It’ll work great in some conditions, terrible in others. Or it’ll kind of suck all the time. Pick your poison.

But, still, you need to know what’s possible. A vague grasp of how planing surfaces work, an intuitive understanding of the give and take relationship of board design. Every time you improve one aspect, you’re hurting another. Always.

Too many surfers make their purchases based off knowledge wrung from marketing materials, by and large bullshit. There’s no such thing as a “true” all around board. It’ll work great in some conditions, terrible in others. Or it’ll kind of suck all the time. Pick your poison.

Once you know what’s going on you’ll be able to make more informed purchases, and you’ll never run the risk of asking for (this is an exact quote), “…a board that works in two-foot Waikiki AND twenty foot Waimea.”

That guy was an idiot, and he got really offended when I laughed at him.

Look beneath the surface

It’s surprising how many surfers spend their lives playing around on the surface of the water, without ever really considering what lies beneath.

There’s a whole ‘nother world. Reef and fishes and plants. Beautiful and impressive and, often, tasty things, just waiting to be experienced.

It’ll make your surfing better, every iota of information about the ocean you internalize will help build that waterman package I think we all like to pretend to aspire toward.

And it’s fun, really fun. Grab a speargun, or just a mask and snorkel, toss on some fins and go for a cruise. It’ll make flat days something you don’t just deal with, but actually look forward to.

Try hard

“The best surfer is the one having the most fun.”

Yeah, learning to stand up and get in trim is plenty fun, but being able to lay every ounce of strength into an oncoming sections feels fucking sublime.

My god, how I loathe that trite little quote. It’s just empty pap spewed by the type who somehow surfs regularly for decades without developing a high level of skill, repeated by beginner barneys looking to justify dropping in on the guys sitting twenty yards deeper.

Surfing gives as much as it takes, and it repays every drop of blood sweat and tears you put into it.

Yeah, learning to stand up and get in trim is plenty fun, but being able to lay every ounce of strength into an oncoming sections feels fucking sublime.

Take a break

Until this morning I’d forgotten Dale Webster existed.

Decades ago I read about him in Surfer, an interesting fellow blessed, or cursed, with the single minded determination to paddle out every single day, no matter the conditions, and ride three waves to the beach. It seemed like an awesome goal to my young mind, at the time surfing was my be-all-and-end-all.

Then I grew up, and realized there’s more to life.

Riding a wave may be among the greatest things on earth, but a life solely focused on any single pursuit runs the danger of becoming shallow and empty.

There’s a big awesome world out there, full of adventure and struggle and experiences you’ll never enjoy if you don’t occasionally leave the boards at home. A life that revolves around surfing is little more than self indulgent navel gazing, you’ll never truly live if you don’t lift your head and look around.