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Surf Journalist (pictured) in training. Photo: The singular Pat Stacy @patstacyfilm

Surf Journalist decides to test fitness gains gifted from ballet, prison, and paddle into dream southern California combo swell an almost-unimaginable twice in one day!

A man, reborn.

I’m in love, I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it! Oh who could have ever guessed that a sleek, black strap wrapping my left wrist, directly above my Nixon Supremacy watch, would change my entire life? Make me a better husband, father, writer, friend, surfer?

WHOOP.

The most beautiful sound I have ever heard.

WHOOP.

All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word.

My personal transformation, crawling out of a morass of mental and physical inertia, began exactly one month ago for it was then that I admitted there was a problem, that I was a sedentary blob forever destined to be lightly below average, to have a lightly below average cutback, down carve, lip tap unless I did something about it. Unless I took action and was forced to measure my progress every waking, and sleeping, hour.

WHOOP.

Say it loud and there’s music playing.

WHOOP.

Say it soft and it’s almost like praying.

I first needed to reach a baseline of general fitness so began running and watched my strain levels rise, my stamina grow.

I next needed to build muscle so reached out to my famous bank robbing cousin, currently serving time in Oregon, for “prison bod” tips and watched my strain levels rise, my shoulders bulge.

A detour to Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch proved I was on the righteous path but needed more flexibility, dexterity. The fates responded by casting me as Mother Ginger in the famed Nutcracker ballet and I watched my strain levels rise, feet become nimble, as I attempted not to step on young Bon Bons hiding under the folds of my skirt.

Twelve days, out of October’s twenty-nine (so far), that my strain surged north of ten.

A fitness bonanza.

An aggressive slaying of personal mediocrity.

And then, like that, a gorgeous combination swell laced into Southern California. Water warm, air warmer, waves plentiful and peaky. Head high. Running across the various reefs and sandbars.

Was I ready?

I purposed to surf an almost-unimaginable twice in one day discover.

Paddling out in the morning, I felt strong, not winded, and sets stacking up out the back did not cause bile to rise for I knew that I could punch through them with my new convict arms. Oh, punch through I did and I caught waves very easily too, opening shoulders on turns, feeling reborn.

Paddling out in the afternoon, I felt sore but good sore, and did not falter on my pop-ups but was quick and clean and brave with enough energy to smirk at longboarders I zipped past on my Channel Islands Mid. Lightly spraying them.

A new man.

Afterward, heart beating healthy and proud, I checked my WHOOP application to see if I had kissed John John Florence levels of excellence.

The surfing, itself, still did not register as an “activity.”

More work to do, gains to see.

But would you like to join me on this journey? Buy your own WHOOP here and receive a fifteen percent discount if you use the code BEACHGRIT at checkout.

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38 Comments
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avi

867 word claim

Tame Wildcard

You’re still irritating as fuck,whoop whoop

Travis Edgar

GeeChasChrist…ripping brahh!

Ade Riley

I really have to debate the legitimacy of a so called “scientific” study into the feeding habits of sharks that fails to allow for the specific regional dietary and nutrionary intake of the local “prey” meat in question.
For examples see The Malibu Artist on that there YouTube. His footage of juvenile great white sharks blatantly avoiding eating prime Yank surfer meat is obvious proof of said sharks dislike of high cholesterol Mcdonalds type “beef” fed, pissy beer marinated, red necked surfer meat.
The proof in the pudding is obviously the higher number of attacks in Australia where the local surfer meat is much more likely to be partly sun dried, and raised on a diet of pissy beer marinated real kangaroo meat with a subtle hint of shark attracting eucalyptus juice infused zinc sun block and righteous xenophobia. And South Africa where the entire surfer population is raised on pissy beer marinated, apartheid segregated bush meat.
Every proper shark theorist worth their salt knows white sharks in particularl like a very slight hint of eucalyp tang and/or blatant racism in their diet, just like their not closely related land lubbing koala cousins. Or is that bull sharks? Oh never mind…..we don’t get them here in Blighty anyway as the beer’s too strong, so who really cares?

Dim Sim

Second last day of the campaign period. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

ptsdsurfer

Chas is the Benjamin Button of surfing. Spending his early years as a surfer to then have a personal transformation into a VAL.

Chas Smith

It’s a beautiful life!

Rich Marx

You can tell this promotion is a resounding success because the code doesn’t work and it’s been running foe weeks https://uploads.disquscdn.c…

Gino

Video has to be out there. Surely Stab has a copy

Gil Gunderson

Yeah yeah yeah Chas, it looks great next to your Nixon Supremacy… Buuuuut, how would it look next to myyyyy Omega Seamaster Diver?

Chas Smith

You win, damn it.

Chas Smith

It was on purpose! Art!

James Bickerton

Breaking the rule through under indexing in education is known commonly as ignorance ….
Breaking the rule knowingly , to smash down the walls of grammar to let the words breathe is called …. Style ?

AI (for ever) .

I intend to purchase a whoop ( using the 20% saving with the code INERTIA) than attach it to the next shark I catch and release.

But before that it’s going on the family cat!

This is the next level chas , embrace it!

Picard Madeoff

You could buy a few extras and put them on covid patients entering the emergency room

Tomas' silky smooth arms

The dullness of daily life continues…

Huckleberry

Whoop there it ain’t .

Sit down to pee

Since this whoop thing started I’ve probably gone from checking Beachgrot once a day to almost forgetting it exists.

Chas Smith

Well guess who’s missing out.

surfmom

Username checks out…

Manuka

The caption of the photo could/should be “Surf Journalist (pictured) in training, dodging the barrel.”

Also, fuck Whoop!

Chas Smith

It doesn’t barrel there. Do you even Surf Ranch?

Manuka

I haven’t and to be sincere, I would probably dodge the barrel myself.
Anyway, all i wanted to say is, fuck Whoop!

Beef & Beer

But can you sing a catchy tune about ‘smoking these meats, meat like a brisket’, as Zucc does in the video that John’s Knees posted on the last article with the Zucc n Kai foiling game ?

P.S.
Catchy tunes about ‘smoking these meats, meat like a brisket’, are more impressive than paddling out to glide along some headhigh combers…

Chas Smith

Let the WHOOP strain meter decide.

astro

It’d be funny af if it registered more than your surfing ……

Chas Smith

Is that morass offering a better discount than your BG?

Derek Hynd's Missing Fins

Oh, you’ve sold us on the virtues of Whooping. We’re now going for lowest bidder options and biding our time until purchase with best possible surf adjacent website codes. Wait until Ashton is offering 25% with code FACESLAP over at Stab.

Chas Smith

He wouldn’t dare.

Derek Hynd's Missing Fins

Slater prostitutes his idiocy for all to see in public internet settings. Why not Ashton too? BG certainly doesn’t have the monopoly. Plus Ashton has surfed Pipe with Derek Ho.

@surfads

I’ve got an Underground Surf mail in coupon

Firelipe Torpedo

I know your words are cheap but at this point I wonder how much whoop must be paying you to pen this much dribble

Chas Smith

I don’t understand. This is artvertorial.

Lemon Next to the Pie

And here’s pure art while Whooping.

https://www.youtube.com/wat…

Mahdi

WHOOP WHOOP!!

Picard Madeoff

Hey if Laird can peddle a stinky cologne and Jacob Szekely can peddle mangina cream why not peddle the Whoop?

JohnsKnees

The whoops are nice and all but where is the latest footage from your trip to the wave pool?

We all know how the last trip went….

Waxingfitzgibbous

Footage of Chas being Mother Ginger is probably better viewing


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