This January and early February, California was graced with some solid surf and fabulous conditions up and down the coast. While where I live in SoCal had some big swell and waves, we get nothing like what hits Central and NorCal. The premier Big Wave Spot in that zone is Mavericks. It is a giant, cold water wave that has assorted other hazards like big sharks and gnarly rocks on the inside. The following YouTube video link will connect you to a film of an incredible wipeout by one of the world’s best BIG wave riders, South African Grant “Twiggy” Baker. Even with all his years of experience and expertise, he chose a wave that surprised him and he paid the price. Fortunately, Twiggy came out of it relatively unscathed. This was in large part thanks to the water safety patrol rescue team. Without them, the outcome might have been way different. Check it out. Cheers!
NoCo Crew Fantasy Surfing League
Quite awhile ago, when Surfer Magazine started the Fantasy Surfing website, a good friend and I signed up and began competing against each other. It was (and still is) good fun. Plus, it forced us to pay closer attention to each althele’s performances on the professional surfing tour. Which coincidentally, started broadcasting the contests live online at that time. Hmmmm…how serendipitous, eh?
Bipolar = Creativity?
Is there a connection between bipolar mental states and super creative individuals?
*super creative as evidenced in the visual, performing (including sports), linguistic (spoken & written), auditory/music arts…as well as mathematics, the sciences, technological and business innovators. Basically anyone whose gifts transcend the norm and help transform what is thought of as possible.
I was reflecting on Andy Irons and bipolar states of mind… For those of you unfamiliar with AI, as he is know in the surf world…which, by the way, many (if not most) long time surfers familiar with professional surfing will immediately recognize his initials as much as his name. That should be one major clue about how profound his impact on modern surfing was.
Anyway, here was a regular guy from Kauai, an outer island in the Hawaiian chain, who rose to the top of the professional surfing world not once but three times. Andy Irons didn’t make it just as a pure competitor but also as a tremendously gifted and fearless performance based athlete. His competitive successes were combined with relentlessly hard charging and creative “free” surfing which consistently raised the bar of what one was capable of accomplishing on a wave.
Check out this clip of him surfing Indonesia.
Go On a Surf Trip!
Does your surfing feel stagnant? Are you less than enthusiastic about paddling out at your local beachie? Well, there is one sure way to restoke that fire…GO ON A SURF TRIP!!!
Yeah, there’s always a reason not to go. Work, family, school, short on money, out of shape…or a combination of some or all of those reasons. Then there’s always the classic, “I’ll go someday.” Guess what, someday will never come unless you get off your butt and do something about it. It’s way too easy to stick with the comfortable…and then complain about it.
5 ways to keep Surfing into your Sixties.
Face it, we’re all going there. I’m about to hit 63.
Here are 5 things I’ve learned that have helped keep me in the water. Hopefully these can help you too.
GET IN SHAPE
First and foremost: Get in shape or at least better shape. If you can’t catch waves or stand up on them, you aren’t going to be surfing. It is amazing how easy it is to get out of shape AND how much longer it takes to get back into shape as age creeps up. Surfing requires a lot of different muscle groups as well as wave recognition skills.
Continue reading “5 ways to keep Surfing into your Sixties.”