One day we were sitting on the rocks off First Point, watching the women’s pro longboarding heats, checking out our friend’s competition for the quarter final. I can’t remember all the surfers in that heat, but what I do remember is at one point one of the women getting a nice wave and the announcer calling that wave and referencing the woman surfing as “the surfer in blue”. As in,

And that was a great wave for the surfer in blue!

My very astute and observant friend (let’s call him Mark) leaned across to me and explained,

So that ‘surfer in blue’ is the current women’s world longboarding champion, Jen Smith. There is no way Harley would ever get called ‘the surfer in blue’ in any heat, semi or final. That’s shit.

He was right. That surfer in blue was the then world champion, Jen Smith*. And he’s also right that it was shit that the commentator had no idea who she was. We listened to hear what happened next. What happened next was a fair bit of silence over the mic and then a return to commentating with the name ‘Jen Smith’ flying from his lips. I have a feeling Mark wasn’t the only one who was shocked by his lack of knowledge.

You know the kind of surf I’m talking about, right?

Well, I had forgotten just how wonderful that get-home-and-stand-in-the-kitchen-in-my-swimmers-gushing-to-mum-and-then-collapsing-into-the-shower-after-a-perfect-surf feeling is!! It’s heaven.

And there was dinner waiting for my tired, happy body after that shower too, by the way.

Per-fec-tion.

The Tag Line: Carveboard is THE original board with adjustable air pneumatic tires to control speed & grip. It carves harder than any board on the street. When the surf snow sucks…

Secondly, this board is designed for riding hills or bombing down moderately sized slopes … not flitting around flat streets and sidewalks, or a mode of transport from class to class on campus. Designed to replicate the motion and movement of surfing through a long rolling wave or a powdery snowboard session down your favorite mountain, the Carveboard uses its massive dual axles and over-sized tires to bring surf and snowboard to life on pavement. You will need anywhere from a slight incline to a moderate hill to get the full effect! After all, as in real life, when the waves are head high or the trails are blues or better (not the bunny hills!), that’s when the FUN begins.

This is a lean, mean carving machine! The similarity between the carving on the Carveboard and carving on a surf board is such that you will feel ocean spray in your face. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating, BUT you can ride this board in a steady gentle manner, flowing into turns and still having the feel of surf style progress or take it to the limit and find yourself a nice stretch of tarmac and you can go rail to rail as long as your legs will stand it!

Let’s put it this way: it’s not a longboard skateboard designed for a leisurely cruise down the street, nor is it a performance bombing machine designed to scream you down the steepest of paved streets in San Francisco.  No. This is a machine built entirely for (wait for it) … CARVING. It simulates the graceful and powerful carves you would do while surfing or snowboarding … period.

WHAT & WHY: So why buy this massive, one-purpose board in the first place? When the waves are small, when your surfing needs a boost of grace and style, or when the snow is nowhere to be found … the Carveboard will fill your need! Even in the deepest of carves and the tightest of turns, the Carveboard replicates carving on land like no other board out there.

It will be surprising for new riders to see how hard you can really push the board and not have it spin out. Imagine large rail to rail carves – tight turns, and fast rail switches. Going from rail to rail on the virtually flat you can tune up your pumping techniques and in those crazy annoying high pressure spots when the surf is flat, you can keep your muscles toned and ready to go when the swell returns by regularly using the Carveboard.

Additionally, the wheels allowed me to adjust the air pressure depending on the hills I was riding or how fast I wanted to go —  higher tire pressure results in a faster ride, while lower tire pressure provides more traction for intense carving, and serves to regulate the speed on steeper grades.

The VERDICT: IF you have a surfer in your life, and you want them to feel that same stoke when the waves are good even when the oceans are flat, then the Carveboard will get them as close to the same feeling of carving on their surfboard on flat and waveless days.

…

I was not that person today. I take that back. I showed the other side of that person today on one wave in particular.

I dropped in on someone. Blatantly. Unapologetically (which is a lie because I apologized to him later even though I wasn’t earnest when I did so.)

One of my friends chastised me for doing so. I paddled up to her later and told her what led to such egregious behavior on my part.

There is one guy in the home break crew for whom I have no respect. I flat out dislike him. I am civil to him. He has no idea that I can’t stand him. There’s no need to share that sentiment with him since I only see him in the water. For years, he’s taken my waves. He’d see me paddling for one, paddle right next to me and just go. Being the polite person that I am, as well as one who’d prefer not to imagine the physical aftermath of a collision in the water, I would always pull back.

No.

Not today.

It was a left. The shoulder was heading right for me. He paddled and popped up, going left. I then paddled and popped up. All I saw out of the corner of my eye was him crashing and burning.

Good.

When I explained our history to the friend who’d chastised me, she said, “Oh. Karma.”

Yes. Karma. That was payback, James Brown style.

Who’s your mommy now?

[ post by SurfSister from Intruder in the Surf ]

The other week I was driving into town from the highway when I looked up and saw this cloud that looked disarmingly like a dolphin jumping out of the ocean. Now, I’m notoriously suspicious of dolphins (I find all that “smiling” is slightly creepy and I can’t forgive how much they can look like sharks) but I was compelled to stop and record it.

Ok, so I was a moment too late to get it in all its jumping perfection, but you can see what I mean. And that afternoon when I went surfing, the water was slightly murky after all the rain. Not gross, just not clear. I was paddling back out after a wave, when two dolphins jumped out of the water, side by side. They leapt out of the face of the wave and crashed into the water in front of me, speeding under my board and away. It was a very dolphin day that one.

In Noosa there was a dolphin under my board as well. It popped up next to me and then swam away. I didn’t see it again.

I know these experiences are cool, and I do honestly feel lucky that I get to be in the water so close to them. Sometimes I feel guilty though, because I know other folk would get more out of it than me. I just don’t go much for the anthropomorphism nor the spirituality that people attribute to them, so that stuff is wasted on me.

A surfer’s wish this holiday season eh? ‘That’s easy’ you say with a Grinch-like grin! No, dear friends, it is not for a bigger quiver of surfboards or a surf break alone to myself every dawn session (although those things are quite desirable too!). Let’s take a pause from all this holiday gift-giving and tidings for a different perspective.

It has been many years since I have indulged in that childhood tradition of wishing and hoping for all good things to come at christmas time, but the spirit behind it … that of believing in something bigger than myself; of simply just believing in something magical … has never abandoned the little dickens inside of me. And so, this holiday season, with all the hope and every ounce of wishing that I have in me, I look to the powers that be and make a wish. A surfer’s wish!

But this wish has to take the form of a story that happened early one morning while surfing:

Surfing saved my life. The distinguished lady on the surfboard next to me said softly, looking steadily towards the horizon. She didn’t sound dramatic or overly emotional about it, just matter of factly and content.

Is that right? How so? I ask, looking at her momentarily then returning my gaze at the waves steadily forming in the distance.

Downward spiral. she says, as she turns her board around to paddle for the set rolling in at about head high. My life was going into a downward spiral until I discovered surfing, figured out what was important, and learned to focus myself!

I watched her gracefully paddle into the wave and disappear into the crest as it moved further away from me, her voice fading softly as I watch her outstretched hand move across the top of the wave.

I sat there at the line up and bobbed around lost in my thoughts until she paddled back next to me and sat up on her longboard.  We didn’t speak for a while, instead opting to watch the waves roll by, surfers from way outside the lineup gliding past us. She knew I was thinking about what she had said, and she opted to let me absorb it in my own time as she floated next to me rather than speak on.

What is it then? I turned to ask her, with my brows furrowed to show confusion … or at least intelligent questioning.

What is “what”? She knew, but needed for me to speak my thoughts rather than imply my intent.

What is it that is ‘important’ that pulled you out of your spiral?

It depends. It’s different for everyone. But the key is to find out that one important thing and focus yourself on it! And she was off again on another wave. I wondered if this was some sort of psychological tool to allow me time to process the words she carefully released to me. And then again, maybe we were just surfing after all.

I didn’t see her paddle back out to the lineup again after her last wave, guessing that she had caught a wave in to the beach. And I was left there with my thoughts. ‘Surfing saved my life’ she said, and left me with more questions than answers. Perhaps it is better this way … that I don’t exactly know what she meant by that brief conversation. Perhaps I already know the answer.

Surfing saved me too, I would have told her if I had the chance. At a time of personal demoralization and crisis, amidst a failed marriage and a wildly meandering professional and social life … surfing managed to save me as well. In the pit of my own despair during the holiday season, left alone and lonely by a failed marriage and an unrewarding career, I sought freedom from the ocean. Although it is difficult to say why or what, despite being unable to swim or surf, I paddled out into the great blue ocean on a ratty rental board into shoulder high waves. At its worst, I thought, I was tethered to a massive flotation device and would not be missed by anyone in particular.

It was during those first moments of desperate paddling and exhausted gasps for air as I rose through the whitewash remnants of what had been shoulder high waves, I caught clarity. What I would hazard to guess as being quite similar to an alcoholic’s sudden realization of the need to change his habits – that moment of clarity – surfing granted me the ability to think clearly, if only momentarily, to see the folly of my ways.

I made changes to move towards discovering what was important to me: family, friends, and time with those I love, and knowing that my passion for living and life focused on being around those people. I realigned my perspective on how important career and job sacrifices were, how much attention and focus I placed on keeping and maintaining my relationships with those I care for AND those that I have yet to care for. I began to look at time as my salary earned, rather than cash, as I evaluated my daily decisions.  So yeah, to say that surfing also saved me would be an understatement.

So what is this, my surfer’s wish? I wish for those that are lost, momentarily exhausted of their daily grind, disenfranchised … everyone who needs clarity, to discover their own version of surfing … whatever form that may take, and much like the wise surfer lady said find for themselves what is truly important.

Happy holidays, and good surfing!

…

Your ideas, thoughts, excitement, heart, mind and body all spill out through your fingers, hands and feet. They move out through the things you create and easily become lines, sounds and shapes on a page or a canvas or in the water.

It all makes sense.

And then, some days, it’s not like that at all. You stall, and the lines and shapes are stilted and awkward. Ideas come to nothing, there is no motivation and everything feels heavy and cumbersome and badly drawn. Trying harder and pushing more makes little difference and the only thing you can do is… stop.

Stop fighting and give yourself time to cool or warm, or time or change direction or whatever it is that moves you out of the creative doldrums.

You can stop looking for inspiration and instead allow yourself to just enjoy and feel, and have it sit with you in that moment only – stop trying to find any meaning in it, stop trying to translate it, stop trying to make it say anything.

But it’s good to find meaning and to translate ideas and experiences. And after all, the longer you stop, the more momentum you lose. The creativity begins to curdle inside as it mixes too completely with sadness and boredom so you need to search out points of connection again. Points where things matter and mean something – even if only to you – so you can start yourself up again.

I think about the reef and how the wave forms a bowl over and around it. I know where to sit on my board and wait, taking my bearing from the sucky rock. Sections close fast going right at low tide, better to go left for a while. Take off straight on the fat left, then bottom turn and glide.

At 41 years of age and many years of barely a wave, I’m back in the water on a regular basis. It’s not just the physical enjoyment of surfing that brought me back, the cold water and powerful waves clear my mind. To have ill loved ones is heartbreaking yet they have inspired me to surf, feel more, and to tell this story.

Surfing simply fell out of my life as a consequence of career, family and location. A familiar story.

A longboard is my chosen vessel and the small waves suit it well. The cold water, blackened by the dark reef, fills my senses as much as my nasal passages. Riding waves in the early morning is a highlight but not the only attraction. I like looking back from the line-up to the grassy paddocks above cliffs. The fresh air and crisp autumn light go beautifully with cold sea water and a red-wine headache.

Time to think is available when the swell is at a lull and you’re left bobbing and swirling.

Surfing is a sport largely completed in the moment, in the present tense and there’s no time to think on a wave. There’s a feeling of contentedness and empowerment that comes from the clarity of mind that surfing gives. Later, back in the carpark where you wrestle with a wetsuit that feels like a straight jacket, not even a bracing wind is enough to quell the extraordinary high of surfing.

I’ve always believed that some activities can clear your mind, maybe even heal it. Focus becomes absolute. There is no room for the negative. For some it’s painting, writing or yoga. For others it’s golf, sailing or footy. For me it’s surfing. Plus, I’m so knackered after a surf session that I’m out like a light after …

The white-water reform wave closes in. I paddle hard to gain momentum before the wave-foam cloaks me. Quick to my feet on my nine footer, I stay low for balance, negotiate the rough water and streak out to the wall and gain speed. The water rears up steeply against the reef and I don’s make the section. The close-out lip hits me and sends me onto the rocky seabed. My ass bounces off the reef. Better buy that helmet because next time it might be my noggin.

My mind is clear, I’m content and another bottle of red will be had tonight. This is why I surf.

[by Crockers Folly]

Aside from the physical aspects of the sport, there is a more personal, spiritual side to surfing that is less widely discussed, although some works of popular culture — surfer Dana Brown’s fantastic surf documentary Step Into Liquid and the surf memoir In Search of Captain Zero by longtime surfer Allan C. Weisbecker — have captured this aspect well.

It’s hard to describe the soul of surfing to someone who hasn’t done it, and it feels like a hideous conceit to try to do it when you’re merely a novice. But once the surfing bug bites you and you start thinking of yourself as a “surfer” as opposed to someone who does not surf, there really is no going back to your previous way of life.

When you’re surfing, you’re constantly reminded of something bigger than you, something so huge you really become aware of just how small and insignificant you are. If you don’t believe me, try going nose down and crashing into a shoulder-high breaking wave, caught up in the earth’s biggest washing machine and at the mercy of the ocean until it decides to spit you back to the surface again.

But at the same time as you feel insignificant in the face of force much more powerful than you, you also feel like a part of this amazing whole — part of the wave and the ocean that serves it up and the planet that depends on that ocean to support everything that lives on it. I know that sounds pretty far out, but give surfing a try for awhile and see if you don’t at least catch a glimmer of how this feels.

Lessons learned on the way to becoming a better surfer also are good ones for getting more out of life. Patience is essential, as is the ability to adapt quickly to an ever-changing set of circumstances and the ability to think quickly on your feet (or off them, as is more often the case).

These are all things applicable to life, which, like the ocean, is not always something that cares about your schedule, your plan, your needs and desires. Like the ocean, life does its own thing and expects you will learn to roll with it, because that’s pretty much the only choice you have.

[by Elizabeth Montalbano]