How Surfing Can Change Your Life Part I
Surfing….is it a lifestyle that can change your life or just one of those inexplicable and seemingly useless things people do just because they ‘can’?
Surfing brings to mind images of bronze suntans, sun bleached locks and, in these days of skin cancer awareness, ubiquitous zinc smeared faces. It’s also synonymous with a carefree lack of responsibility, even a somewhat hedonistic lifestyle.
But, underneath this apparent casual approach to life are some deeper realities because in the words of legendary surf writer Matt Warshaw “Surfing, alone among sports, generates laughter at its very suggestion, and this is because it turns not a skill into an art, but an inexplicable and useless urge into a vital way of life”.
So why does the urge to hop on a flimsy synthetic man made creation and challenge one of Mother Nature’s most unruly, capricious forces engender such passion and loyalty amongst its devotees?
Quite apart from the fresh air, sunshine, water and exercise, for many surfing devotees it’s all to do with getting right back to basics and becoming one with nature. Raw, pure nature, in all its forces, has a habit of reminding us that she doesn’t care who we are or what we are.
Most powerful person in the world or mere mortal, you’ll get exactly the same treatment from her. It’s a profoundly levelling experience and one which makes you understand that, despite thousands of centuries of development as a species, despite being at the top of the food chain, despite being able to exploit just about everything else on this planet for our own ends, when it comes to Mother Nature all that means absolutely nothing. We have no choice but to bow to her on her terms because what Mother Nature giveth, Mother Nature can also taketh away.
Surfers, like few other sports people, ‘get’ this completely. It’s akin to standing in the path of a massive storm and realizing that the storm is going to do what it wants, when it wants, how it wants. Storm chasers are like surfers; the elemental thrill of the ‘chase’, finding that great storm, tracking it, keeping in contact yet staying just out of reach.
Knowing that being able to read it with accuracy and precision is the key to staying safe and possibly even alive. It’s an exhilarating, intoxicating adrenaline fuelled high unaided by chemicals yet just as addictive. And when the split second timing and lightening swift ability to think on your feet and adapt in an instant becomes an instinctive part of you then you truly know you’re at one with forces you understand.
“Surfing indeed was a lifestyle. No, more than that: a life. It deeply influenced every aspect of our existences, from where we lived to the cars we drove to who our friends were to the temperament of a prospective mate it our career goals, if any managed to surface through the turbulence of our single-minded passion for the water. But more than anything, surfing forged our perception of ourselves and of our relationship to the world around us” – Allen C. Weisbecker, The Search for Captain Zero
So how does surfing change your life? Well, for most surfers, surfing IS a lifestyle. Surfing controls pretty much everything you do. Whatever you drive must be able to accommodate surfboards. Where you live needs to be conveniently close to the best surf.
Over time non-surfing friends drift out of your life to become casual acquaintances whilst new solid friendships are made on the waves. Earning a living fits in with the rhythms of the sea and the best times to surf, not the other way around.
How Surfing Can Change Your Life Part I.
Article/Property ID Number 4925
Andrew Makarik
to@welovecostarica.comAndrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.
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