What would it take?
Three days ago, I asked the horrifying question, Will You Be An Intermediate Surfer Forever? Being…okay… at something you love more than anything is a barren and mediocre terrain, a bleak horizon to ponder.
And yet we persist with surfing despite never getting better until we hit oldish age and start going backwards.
But what happens when you think, fuck this, and you quit surfing?
Throughout my life I’ve marvelled at people, some who’d once been very good surfers, giving up surfing in entirety.
Boards gone. Beach vacations swapped for examinations of the cultural history of eastern European cities; weekends spent decamped at cafes and art galleries, or parked in front of the television “binge watching” docu-soaps. Hair yellow to brown. Body type triangle to pear.
Have you ever thought about quitting?
I thought about it once when I persisted with a surfboard shaper, who despite universally adoring press, delivered custom surfboard after custom surfboard that made me turn pale every time I went surfing. Oh they were treacherous! I didn’t just want to quit surfing, I wanted to quit life.
I didn’t, of course. I’m happy enough as is, a naive optimist.
But those who do drop the microphone, so to speak?
Do you think it’s a sudden event: a bad surf, a bad heat?
Or is it the aggregation of a thousand things: the bile of an argument, a surfboard that refuses to work, a wide stance that won’t narrow, a long spell of uninspiring waves, a surf trip that goes to the dogs, a wife or husband that stares daggers when you go for a surf and leave ‘em with the screeching kid?
And what would it take for you to give the game away, for good?
Commenting on the Grit?
As a peak? Hardly.
You walked into that one.
Seriously though, I met quite a few in your boat while I was in the UK……fcuking hell I thought, in almost every case.
If you like surfing that much , move somewhere there are waves.
Everyone happier.
A very good point. Chazz?
I replied to this then deleted it. See below.
Missing swells hurts. It especially hurts if your mates didn’t miss said swells.
As well as every cunt on Instagram.
Pictures can lie. And also Insta has been shown to be the most depressing out of all the social networks to spend time on. Especially when randoms are scoring pumping waves.
why delete that long reply?
Felt like I’d already over-shared publicly. Didn’t like feeling like it was necessary to justify my choices.
fairy nuff…..I had a nice long reply all ready to go…..which might have led to an interesting exchange. Maybe save it for in person.
Well exactly. Feel free to mail me. Derek and Chas have my address.
Just want to say thanks to the whole comments section for this great and very non-meta conversation.
Injury will fuck you up on this one.
Agreed, being a fuck wit is universal.
If I gave up surfing I’d have nothing to complain about
Yep tell me about it. Even when you do get a wave the plague of new comers will fail to paddle out of the way into the impact zone, and destroy any oppurtunity to do a decent turn in the best section. They expect you to surf around them. Basic etiquette of priority and respect for the long time locals is a thing of the past. With a lot of these euros and south americans in the line up there is this perceived belief in equal entitlement and egalitarianism in the surf. Even beginner’s think they have equal rights to long time locals. When this belief becomes the norm at a surf break chaos in the surf ensures. Look at snapper, manly, bondi etc. Unfortunately or fortunately pending your perceptions surfing works best with a hierarchy.
I have found that the young gentlemen and ladies at Bondi are more than accommodating when I paddle around them and scream: “Back inside Long Bay tomorrow, FUCK YOUSE CUNTS, next wave’s mine!” You do need a certain kind of leathery lived a hard life look and a bit of foam on the lips always helps.
I’m trying that next good swell at Granite.
I’m in a board crisis right now that might lead to my demise. Anything inspiring out there?
Assymetrical eggs with the new Kohole Andino FCSII fin system. Try one while wearing Prizms and it’ll give you a totally new perspective.
Thanks Bleach. That worked
I’m with you. I’ve sold two boards this week to make way and I have no idea what to get. It would help if I had a shop to go to where I could actually see boards. Trying to make decisions purely online is a minefield. I’ve had a couple of shiters that way.
At this rate it’s who’s doing the best marketing, in which case I’m going to end up with an overpriced Firewire/Slater and be embarrassed every time I pull it out. I might turn again to my BG nurtured Mayhem bias, but that didn’t go well with the two boards I’ve just punted…
Spray paint it, one colour
it will end up looking like this
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
How far from boards you’ve liked in the past were the two you just sold?
How do you mean? How much did I like them compared to other boards? I thought twice about selling one and the other was a custom order that I knew was a pig from the moment I laid eyes on it.
How much diff in outlines, dims, foils, rockers and bottom compared to what you liked in the past?
That’s a little too much for me to process, but they weren’t anything radical if that’s what you mean. To be honest, part of it is probably bad workman syndrome, part of it is keeping engaged in surfing when I’m not getting to go so much, and part of it is panic buying because opportunities to buy new boards might be waning!
what type of wave are you surfing? I probably could recommend something to bring you joy.
A real mix. I like a nice flowy outline, round tail. No quads. Sorted for grovellers and the good days. Looking for something in between, more of a daily.
Combining this and your previous story about bad career choices: by June I’ll probably have put surfing on the back burner for a few years. Because of work.
I put surfing aside a few years ago for different reasons, but then found myself near a real ocean, fell in love again, and renewed marriage vows etc. The only way I’d give it up forever would be if the seas dried up.
Haha
I’ve taken 1 month to a year off of surfing periodically. My time of absence was the combination of many things, but the primary factors were a female interest and downgrade in wave quality. It’s hard to motivate yourself to go surfing in Orange County after years of uncrowded beach break barrels.
You guys are all at it. You don’t know you’re living.
Try maintaining faith in surfing when your nearest waves are minimum 2.5 hrs drive away and a single surf session is pretty much a full day’s commitment.
Try still going surfing when you spend all your time looking at pumping mid-week forecasts and it’s pish all weekend.
Try continuing to surf when the waves only show up when you’ve got a few hours of daylight, and even then you’re stuffed if it’s not Saturday or Sunday.
Try maintaining your faith in surfing when you’ve got a baby in the house and a missus who has no interest in surfing and doesn’t drive so can’t get anywhere without you. (Oh yeah, and she’s epileptic so could have a seizure while you’re at the other end of the country chasing waves and she’s abandoned at home with your infant son and high maintenance dog to look after).
Try leaving the house at 3am, with the sound of arguments and tears ringing in your ears, scraping the ice off the van and hoping that the roads aren’t too bad and that the screaming and shouting you’ve just exchanged won’t be the final memories you’ll have of each other.
Try keeping surfing going when the water is 5 degrees and the air is minus that (at best) and your hands, feet and face are as numb as you try to keep your mind to stave off the guilt.
Try maintaining faith in surfing when your typical weekend is clocking up hundreds of miles, ridiculous fuel bills, hours and hours of driving, and endless grief for being away “surfing”, when in actual fact you’ve battled rips/crowds/gutless, blown out shite all day and barely caught a wave.
Try justifying to yourself and your other half why you choose to drive away from world class MTB trails, snowboarding, and your family at every opportunity, just for the chance of one or two mediocre rides for a few seconds.
Try accepting the inevitability of degrading surfs because you just don’t get the time anymore.
Try shouldering a miserable 4-5hr drive home, feeling like you’re the most selfish and inadequate prick in the world, in the fucking snow.
And try doing most of this solo, with nothing but the weight of your own shirked responsibilities for company.
Try that.
My life could be a shit lot easier if I just chucked it.
Hmm. You had me at world class mountain biking. Buy a good bike and go shred. And I mean, a good bike, not some dumbass Walmart special. Mountain biking on good terrain on a decent bike is really really fun.
I’ve got one, Jen! It cost more than my entire quiver of surfboards! And despite enjoying myself on it fairly regularly, I just can’t seem to love it.
Awwww dammmnnn. That is a bummer. It’d be so much easier if you loved it, right?
And yes, I have ridden bikes that would keep me in really really nice surfboards for like several years. Holy fuck.
Bike geeks >>> surf geeks.
It’s terrifying how much they’ll spend on a wheel.
Fucking wheels, shocks, bearings, stupid wee seals, bits of metal that you didn’t even know had moving parts but apparently need serviced every couple of months to the tune of the price of a new surfboard… It’s outrageous. And it’s so bloody complicated. I spend more time with my bike in bits/in the shop getting fixed than I do riding it – and it’s only 18 months old! Bikes do my head in.
Between my ex and me we had 30K worth bikes in the garage. My truck cost me 1500 bucks. Priorities!
Velominati.
Importance in order:
1. The Bike
2. The Car
3. The Girlfriend
For reals, you can spend a lot of money on bikes in a hurry. You don’t have to go off the deep end to have fun mountain biking, but you do have to buy a decent bike, which is not trivial at all.
I do work in the bike media and I have literally walked out of my house wearing $1k in clothing, helmet, sunglasses, shoes. That is… wild. You can have a lot of fun surfing with $1k. Like really fancy carbon fins are still only $100ish.
I rode mtb & bmx ritually for 10+ years from a pre teen, and I am way better at it than surfing, but I don’t care? I hardly ever ride my bike because I go surfing, and fuck I am mediocre!! But I love surfing, and I like biking, that’s the difference. I’ll go for a ride and be stoked… for an hour, and then go back to the surf report.
Mountainbike kooks are more insufferable than fuckin surfers, but at least they can’t get in the way as much
The problem with the MTB guys is that they’re not just wankers, generally they’re rich wankers. And within that subset you get a special kind of cunt, with a special needs esque lack of self awareness.
You have to be coined! Look at the fuckin bikes, 10k and the rest for a trailbike that won’t shit itself.
Say 13years ago when I started, full sus was either shit, fuckin heavy or both, so I was justified in having a singlespeed hardtail to ride everything I could throw myself at, and it was affordable. Now rich cunts can have a trailbike that jumps well, pedals well, and descends well, so they can be shit and still get by. Add that to the Troy Lee everything, branded and geared up the wazoo, fuck that. 15k later and you go for a gondola assisted ride.
Sounds cheesy, but I prefer normal clothes + helmet, and my jump bike… until I hit the braking bumps these useless cunts make because they can’t corner.
So I guess I prefer going over the falls at the local river mouth…
Dirt jump bikes are really fun and you should not apologize for riding that thing.
Also, the best part of mountain biking is that you can wear normal clothing to do it. I mean, that’s what I do 😉
Love my jump bike. Never get to ride it though. Between bike park and trail riding here its jsut too hard to find the time. Next summer!
Bike shorts and any old tshirt for me. Its crazy seeing people in their full TLD pajama suit who can barely ride A-Line.
Oh noes too much mountain biking! 😀
BC is a wonderland. You are lucky to live there.
no bike, no trail, or however cool you think your bike thing is…it will never compare to surfing. and if you think it does, then you were never that good of a surfer in the first place, or didn’t travel the world in search of waves.
I live about a mile from the coast so that I can surf. So you needn’t talk down to me like I have no idea that surfing is fun.
But if the choice is world class mountain biking that’s near your house or wind-shit surf that’s a long, sketchy pain in the ass drive away, Idk, I think that one gets a bit harder to answer in my opinion.
Sounds like either YVR or Bend OR but you didnt mention river surfing so probs not Bend.
Im in the same boat. Tofino is a solid 6 hours maybe more, with a 100 ferry each way and about the same on gas. Seaside in Oregon about 8 hours but gas is cheaper and no relying on ferry schedules. I haven’t even bought a wetsuit and ive been here 10 years. Fuck that noise. 3 surf trips to the island to surf mediorce waves is the same price as a flight to mexico, so i do that instead.
Spend the rest of my time snowboarding and mountain biking which are both great fun.
You know it Jimmie. Much easier in the dreech to tan weed and go skate (or MTB)
You in Vancouver?
All you guys think that Canada is the only cold place in the world, eh?
No I was hoping it wasn’t Seattle, because here if you don’t surf well I don’t know you, and I’d rather not have to read your posts as coming from a posing kook.
“if you don’t surf well I don’t know you” might be the wankiest thing I’ve ever read on the internet.
There’s only a handful of people who surf well up here, and so we know each other. Except Matt Warshaw – supposedly that guy lives here but no regular in the water could pick him out in a, or of the, line up – either he’s pushing a soft top in the soup or dude doesn’t surf here. Your description sounded like you live in Seattle – we got Mecca-level MTB and snowboarding – but I couldn’t place you. Because we all know each other.
An admirable attempt at a pull-back, but discrediting Warshaw doesn’t do you any favours!
Who’s pulling back? Now I know you’re Matt Warshaw. If I run into you at your pilates class or whatever you do up here for exercise I’d say hi except for having no idea what you look like.
Absolutely not! I’m not fit to lace Warshaw’s boots.
Not terribly familiar, but I think Pilates is generally done barefoot Matt.
Where on fucking earth do you live? Yeah, I’d quit too. England somewhere? Canada? Antartica?
Chazz is in Scotland I tink.
“Fuck’n A.” You good? Being serious.. Several of your paragraphs stare me back in my mirror. Spent the better part of a decade getting into a car driving two plus hours to another state to be closer or better angle to low pressure system energy. Leaving behind a young family. Had to be self employed, paragraphs 2,3,4,6, and 7 lived them all! You will never get the time back we spend away from our kids. True regrets can grow stronger. Chuck it..
I wish I’d known chucking it was an option!
But seriously, I’m gaining perspective daily as my kid grows up.
Fuck you’ve just made me really grateful that I made the call to move to Australia.
“I thought about it once when I persisted with a surfboard shaper, who despite universally adoring press, delivered custom surfboard after custom surfboard that made me turn pale every time I went surfing. Oh they were treacherous! I didn’t just want to quit surfing, I wanted to quit life.”
From the Bible of the Advanced Surfer:
Know thyself and thine battlefield lest ye be stricken by your own sword.
Do not rely solely on the word of common men who carry wooden swords. Know these men and stand next to them in training so that ye might know who to stand next to in battle.
And of these men who choose a sword smith, do they know thy strengths and weaknesses if ye don’t know thine own.
If a sword smith delivers a blade that is dull or breaks and causes thy to run, is it his fault or yourn if ye pick up the same sword agin hoping alike for some hidden strength from the power of his witches.
Do not be quick blame the sword smith even while many others have killed multitudes with the blades of his craft. For it’s not the power from witches but by the placement and even strength of thine feet and hands which makes the sword sing.
Surely you shall die on the field from choosing the wrong sword since its not the smith that pushes on with your blade..
If ye righteously kills with a sword and such sword should break from the killing, do not hastenly look for another sword smith who many say the witches he lies with have stronger magic. Consider your conquests and the power you feel from what thy know and has been given you prior. It is often better to grow they strength with thy own sword smith lest ye suffer the trials of another man.
If ye no longer feel the power of thy sword smith and his witches, do not tarry too far from the sword thy know. But find a smith who can create from a likened kind and whose witches know the song which can make ye dance even yet possible to a faster tune.
Applause..
Yep. Surfed with a bloke for a week while touring as a roadie, he was sound guy for the support band. Says to me he can make a board which will suit my style and abilities better than the one I’m riding, (which I quite like). After a year or two, decide to take a chance on him. Almost 30 years later, still get my boards from him. Always feel like the best boards from the get go.
I personally revel in my own mediocrity by being one of those twats on alternative boards which smooth over the oh-so-obvious flaws. Before that I can’t tell you how many times I’ve screamed under water. If I could of burnt it all out to sea I would of done.
Sometimes life just gets in the way.
I didn’t so much quit as get sidetracked and lost. I certainly regret those years of lost waves and evaporated skills but there ain’t much to do about it ‘cept own it.
I did other stuff instead and it makes me appreciate my sessions even more now.
See, quitting is the rule, maintaining the line the exception.
Thats the thing about surfing myths: they mistake the exception for the rule.
Probably the crowd issue is what makes a lot of people give up. surfing with 100 people on a shitty sydney close out consistently pre n post work isnt very fun. I find myself coming in more pissed than happy. Still some stupid addiction resides and i journey on in vain.
Maybe city surfing is like heroin and you keep chasing those magic sessions but in reality your just feeding a futile addiction.
Surfing up and down the coast or somewhere remote still has its magic but my daily sessions in Sydney are becoming less and less fulfilling. If it wasnt for those few magic sessions i would probably quit
I’ve seen it happen over and over, surfers quitting because of the crowds. The only reason I keep surfing is because a majority of my sessions are in cold water and many breaks that I access require a backpack and have known great white populations. If it wasn’t for the adventure and just a few of us in the water I’d probably quit.
I use to have a well shaped 8’2″ gun that I stored at my parents home after my last trip to a destination one would use or need a board like that in your quiver. Few years later after moving back my father said take this to your house. That board haunted me every time I opened the garage, called me names. Like “pussy bitch!” It was bad.. I don’t know how many New Years back, but my family and I ended up in San Francisco timing a descent largish swell over holiday. Met a close friend at the Sloat parking area. He happened to be driving a mini van kids seats. You know the type: act is together, confident, doesn’t need to talk about his performance. Solid man.. We pulled in and Chris walks up to rental ignoring the spray blowing two plus stories off the tops of each peak. Chris says “I got an 8’6″ and a new 7’6″ which one do you want?” Being a southern gentlemen I asked him his preference and paused. Chris “8’6!” Ok.. Introduces me to an 80’s ex pro’s best friend also driving mini van who pulls out 9′ “Widow Maker” and we are off. I will cut to chase: reached line up first, caught a few waves, and finally made a wrong move snapped his board in two pieces. Made long swim to beach. Classic Chris he laughs and lets me know I owe him a board. Vacation over back to the grind open garage reached up to for my 8’2″ and lovenly packed that board in a box shipped it to Chris. For a winter or two the board was his go to..
Nice.
I bought a 9 foot Brewer Sunset gun shaped by Owl off a down on his luck crackhead on the side of the road on dark in the Kammies car park, for a fifty spot. Owl was there and confirmed ownership of the board. Carted that thing all round world, sans board bag. Never got a scratch on it.
That board made surfing Sunset, not easy, but joyous……….close to cheating.
Drove across the country with it strapped to the roof of a HG panelvan with a lady and a cattledog. She sat up bolt upright one night not long after and dropped dead.
Got the board back from Maggie River and it sits under the house, still good to go when the point is fifteen feet.
Dell, is everything OK? It’s like the reading the book of Job around here these days.
hopefully the cattledog is still healthy
Always bloody wanted one of them. I know they’re ten a penny in Aus but they’re like hen’s teeth over here. I was on a waiting list for a pup for 2 years before I gave up and got a Staff instead. Damn good decision that turned out to be, right enough.
Cattledogs rock Chazz, rock
this one was an absolute cunt of a thing.
We picked up a kelpie/cattle/staffy from the Noosa rspca. Had never seen water and wouldn’t even touch the wet sand when we took her to the beach the first few times. Loves it now. Can’t take her when I go surfing unless someone else comes to hang on the beach because she howls like a banshee from hell until I come in. The first and only time I tried, had to pretend she wasn’t mine. Apart from that, a tops dog.
everywhere we went this dog would bite someone…and fuck off. Spent hours wandering through the bush looking for it.
Had a dog stolen in Sydney. After searching the pounds for a month or two, ended up getting a bully-X that was due to be put down just before moving back to Queensland. Beautiful dog with people but any animal/bird was life threatened. Would attack puppies. Not just growl and warn, but fully go for the kill. When we got to Lennox, hopped out to stretch our legs. The dog took off heading North towards 7 Mile. Couldn’t keep up, so ended up driving up to the lake/caravan park to head him off at the pass. Every beach he got free at was the same, would just take off running. God help any animal in his path. Ended up taking him to the pound in Brisbane…
My Staff will run in and out of the water but there’s fuck all chance of him going out of his depth. Fair play though, the chunky wee bastard isn’t built for swimming. He’d sink like a stone. I do enjoy watching him run full pelt into the deep pools left at low tide when he thinks they’re shallow!
Hey can I borrow the Brewer next time I’m heading out to Jurassic park?
Duttzy had it for years. It lives here now.
Jamie O’Brien write a book?
Fuckknuckle over zealous, catch every wave I want as I can, longboarders have aggravated my soul enough to make me wanna’ buy a gun, and end their surfing! Whew, thanks for being a vent forum, I am in the right place, right?
My life is split 70% surfing, 30% everything else. The only thing that’s ever kept me out of the ocean are injuries and inland traveling, which rarely happens. I get A LOT done when I’m unable to surf. I sometimes wonder what life would be like without surfing (probably a triathlete) or if one day I’d stop surfing so much (maybe get into canoe paddling/sailing?); but, I’ve accepted long ago that I’ll be surfing till the day I die. There is nothing more fulfilling than surfing; nothing. Design and construct a building? Who cares. You made 36 million last year? So what, you’re fat. You’re a senator? That’s cool. Nothing beats being a healthy, advanced surfer; nothing.
It’s true, nothing beats being an advanced surfer. That’s why the intermediate plateau is so hard to take!
Say theres 5 million of us ‘intermediate’ surfers around the world. Without any income riding on my ability, I’m quite happy to be able to paddle out and not be the biggest kook in the lineup. Sure I’d like to surf better, but most of the shit hot guys don’t look like they are enjoying their surfing. They look like they only do it because it’s the only thing they are good at.
Intermediate plateau has a fine view.
also true.
I’m still an intermediate and often a beginner when I watch some guys surf. That’s the beauty of surfing: you can always get better and be more stylish.
How is that mid length egg going?
Ha! I ride a board that is the same length as I am tall. Sure it has a bit of foam under my chest, (maybe 3/8″), but apart from that, it is what the kids are riding. There’s plenty of guys my era riding the latest and faddest boards though.
But don’t you want to, just once, ride out of a clean air rev?
Absolutely, but my commitment waned after attempting a backside aria, (somehow, ‘air’ predictive texted to ‘aria’. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve tried a backside aria), few months back and smashed my shin on the rail. Both required repairs.
I used to wonder if I’d ever be an advanced surfer; but, when I was a kid, I was also worried that I’d never learn math. It’s harder to get a black belt in surfing when you didn’t grow up surfing (I grew up bodyboarding the Big Island); but, it’s doable. It does take a lot, but it’s worth it when you find yourself at a pumping point break with a few of your friends. And like anything, there’s as much average days as there are epic days. I think most people can eventually become advanced in their own way; they just have to accept their own personal style, and make it stylish.
true.
well said. but it seems like most of the surfers i know who have quit surfing completely were so good (like former regional pros or top amateurs) that there was nothing more for them to prove or accomplish in the water. Is Bertlemann any less of a surfer when he was touring vs not having had surfed in decades previously? the same reasons why one would consider quitting if you accepted you would never be better than an intermediate surfer applies to a super advanced surfer who no longer gets paid for comps or free surf trips. You’re just a surfer at that point and sometimes one just looks for other things in life or focuses free time on adult responsibilities like kids and family. I take it you are not a father either. I can’t say that seeing your kids accomplish things in sports or academics on weekends is not more fulfilling than me skipping those benchmark events in life to go surfing.
every surfer has their story; I surf because I love the feeling. Who else but a surfer gets to dance with the cosmos? (When you look at it from a scientific perspective, it’s pretty incredible). I kept surfing because I got addicted to barrels, bottom turns, carves, the speed of a pumping point break, taking the drop on a ledging dark blue wave, the rush of big waves, etc. Like anything, the people who stick to certain things are people who truly enjoy it. I don’t have kids yet but I do have two graduate degrees and a day job as a litigator. I didn’t go bonkers and devote my entire life to surfing. One day I’ll have a mortgage and a few kids, but I’ll be self-employed, and be able to surf whenever and wherever the waves are good. I’ve got a lot of surfer friends that have normal lives; the two are not mutually exclusive.
you and I think alike, don’t know where you live but you are welcome in my surf hood any time
Haha, thanks; I live in Hawaii.
you can still do those things with the family and be a surfer, but you gotta have the wife and family that understands how important surfing is to you, if they don’t then you married into the wrong family and became a mangina. If you have to ask to anyone else besides yourself whether or not you can buy another board or go on another trip, or just go out for a quick session after work, then run in the other direction.
Amen brother
Be it sunk-cost fallacy or addiction, either way the answer is no.