Wisdom is totally where you find it!
Do you think surfing has lost some of its merry now that Dane Reynolds has disappeared from the stage? Do you miss those goofy, but quietly profound, post-heat interviews, Dane’s honesty wrapped up in a comforter of aw shucks?
Conversely, are you at an existential crossroads?
Dane Reynolds, who is almost thirty one years old, is known for his “go for broke” style of surfing, as well as turning down a 300-grand a month contract.
Dane is also capable of a luminosity of thought unequalled among surfing’s barbarians. Here are 10 quotes (taken from interviews with Chas Smith and Morgan Maassen) which, if followed, will make your life immensely more enjoyable.
Let’s dip our fingers into his soup.
1. “Thinking of holding back is blowing it more than pushing your hardest and falling.”
Interpretation: We all do it. Draw the same lines on waves. Fall off on the same air attempts. Same steps. Same everything. Everything is half-assed. What does it matter if we made the wave. One violent little huck will give you more pleasure than a hundred lip taps.
2. “I hate watching movies. There have been three movies I’ve ever enjoyed. Movies kind of creep me out. They take too much commitment.”
Interpretation: In our beds, in our hotel rooms, on planes, we squander our precious hours on pointless reels. If you’re going to watch a movie, make it count.
3. “I don’t need perfect reef breaks.”
Interpretation: That whole hang-up about getting good waves? Screw it. Forget the tides. Forget the swell events. Drive to your favourite spot. Board in car. Ride whatever. Name reefs are so… jock!
4. “I’ve gotten to where I am because, fuck, in high school I was obsessed with it and obsessed with improving.”
Interpretation: Do you really want to be good at surfing? Or is it something you… think… you want to be? If you want it, it’s there. But it takes time and all of your mind. Obsess. Obsess. Obsess. And you’ll get good.
5. “I want to be positive and have hope, but a lot of shit I see bugs me.”
Interpretation: Trump, Hillary, and a race war warmed up by a liberal media and frightened, over-armed cops. Dear god, you give us Obama then… this?
6. “Shit, I don’t really like cities.”
Interpretation: Yeah, it’s chic to dig on the New York vibe but after a week you’re crying to get to a beach.
7. “I’ve always been about aesthetic, something that generally looks or feels good, or has a good vibe to it, but I’m pretty sick of shit that looks cool but has no substance.”
Interpretation: Lose the soul arch.
8. “I don’t even think of surfing as tricks, it’s just one motion.”
Interpretation: It’s a holistic thing. Compartmentalise when you’re learning the pieces, then bring it all home.
9. “Once you get to a certain level of surfing, it’s your art. So it’s undeniable to say Gabriel Medina is amazing at progressive surfing but it also doesn’t really resonate with me.”
Interpretation: It ain’t all about points.
10. “Big-wave surfing’s not relatable to me. It’s like playing chicken.”
Interpretation: What’s the fun in dying? And surfing’s about fun… right?
SAMPLER from Marine Layer on Vimeo.
When I saw this article I was thinking ‘I’m going to comment how much I hate Dane Reynolds’. Now I realise I hate the hype about the guy. I am now Dane Neutral.
dane hasnt done shit in a while, no one cares anymore. napkins needs to show more cleavage
I hope Dane saved all his money so he can surf on film and gab forever. He’s an individual in a sea of conformists.
Best Dane quote from Marine Layer Productions:
“this was back when michael crawley was running the show at quiksilver. he bought me some coachella tickets and i was like ‘ohhh great ok so i guess we’re going to coachella’ and granted we had fun, saw some bands play from 1/2 mile away and cooked in the beer garden, watched lots of kids on drugs acting a fool, and australians!
australians love drugs and music festivals and dressing like native americans. i swear it was 2/3rd’s Australians”
When you spend your entire high school career doing nothing but surfing, I guess you write things like “2/3rd’s”
Good lord man.
It’s quotes like these that make me hate Dane. He’s so desperately cool that even when he gets free tickets to a music show, he’s like yeah fuck that why would I like music?
When someone is wearing the “uniform” of the non-conformist, it’s still a uniform. This cunt has nothing original to say, shut your hipster piehole and surf for us, monkey.
“I’m pretty sick of shit that looks cool but has no substance.”
Dripping with irony…
Also, people that don’t like movies are mental. This guy is probably the worst to be around, antsier than a meth-head running low.
Burnsy would you like to be my friend? ‘Cause I came here to share those exact two viewpoints.
The world tour is honestly really, really boring. watching pro’s live their dream while we get fat and weak in our sad office cubicles, eagerly awaiting the 1ft onshore waves in the weekend that we share with the biggest fuckwhits on the planet, other surfers. At least in Germany we are lucky enough to have the river waves, great people, and nice sausage
im coming to your country during Oktoberfest and going to get raging drunk and knife some refugees! wanna join me?
Dane…I know I kinda called you a dick once (or something you said/did was dick-ish…I honestly forget) but anytime you are in NY and want to escape to the beach you are more than welcome to visit me in Long Beach.
He’s happily married so you’re out of luck JH.
While I do have a monster man-crush on Dane I can assure you that my offer is purely platonic. Between my wife and the two dogs the bed is already crowded. I’d also like see how many kids I can get to fall off of their bikes and skateboards as they ride by the house when he yells at them from the deck and they realize who it is. I’m sure I can get half of their fathers to crash also!
I’ve talked to a couple of WSL tour pros, they say they love Dane’s surfing, They say that all the Tour people stop and wonder and learn from Dane’s videos. And he’s such a nice and real person when you meet him.
But, as Freddy Pattachia said, he would not succeed on the tour only because he’s not an athlete.
I like what Dane said once, the tour is all about surfing in control, but I like the beauty of not being in control.
Just a different viewpoint.
Lame. Kelly is a 43 year old man competing against 20 year olds and yet dane sounds more jaded.
Forty four! Forty five in Feb! Is he the most fabulous man on earth?
No.
I’m Dane’s age and I’m a cunt too.
Ahh…but you’re my favorite cunt.
I reckon I’m just trying to “make it my art” so I can parse out the other true cunts by the time I’m forty.