A great read at wetsand
A dear friend of mine once told me, “Surfing begins the minute you put the key in the ignition.” And it has taken me many years to realize not only how true this statement is but how easy to forget.
My personal overachiever tendency is to define surfing in terms of how many waves I catch, particularly great waves, and how well I do. I find that when I mentally restrict surfing to those criteria, my opportunities for a sense of joy, freedom, and peace, all the reasons I surf, are narrowed down to a few moments and to a rigid set of circumstances that I cannot totally control. Circumstances such as what the waves are like that day, how many people are out competing for the same waves, the wind, the swell, the tide, my own fatigue or distractibility. My sense joy is held captive by the smallness of my definition of what it means to surf....
Read the rest here
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2 comments:
Great, thoughtful post. I'd even be willing to say surfing, for me, begins with the alarm clock, the filling-of-the-thermos, the checking-of-the-bouys, the padding through the house to make sure those who should be sleeping stay sleeping. Then the keys in the ignition...
spirit of surfing---hummmmm, i remember several times that i've been out with my son and he gets nutty wondering why i'm not chasing waves in the crowd rather than just sitting there watching the rides , birds, clouds etc etc------i'll get one or two waves and go in with a big smile. he's getting older and starting to understand------love, the walrus
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