What’s the longest time you’ve ever gone without surfing a wave?
For nearly four months at a time, three school terms a year, for four years in a row , [1975, 76, 77, 78] while going to high school in the country.
[Skateboarding kept me only semi-sane] . Been playing ‘catch up’ ever since . Or, as Jay Adams would say , "I’ve been on summer vacation for 27 years " [if not my whole life , actually , come to think of it! Those four years away were the darkest years of my surfing life …but it’s [mostly] all good now!]
ben
15 years
One 10 month sentence while healing a compound leg fracuture. Almost six month sentence on the Gulf coast of Florida. No hurricanes that summer/fall. Mike
20 years… while I was raising a family. started up again 2 years ago…
???
you and oneula didn’t catch even ONE wave for 15 and 20 YEARS ???
well Daz , that explains almost EVERYTHING in your case !! hehe
Oneula however seems to have maintained without appearing on a different planet …well done Bernie !! [I bet you’re playing catchup too now eh ?]
ben
Can’t recall exactly, but I’ve not surfed for a couple of years a few times now. I always seem to slip in a surf trip every now and then, and I find the time out gives me new energy.
I remember surfing much more than I remember not surfing, so the breaks never seem that long.
Then, each time I get back to the beach, I expect everyone to be ripping on everything, which of course they are not. So I still manage to get a few good waves and have fun.
The detours I’ve taken allowed me to do things I didn’t do when all I did was surf. There are lots of other fun things to do out there in the big wide world, but absolutely nothing compares to surfing.
Well chip the story goes like this…
I was an absolute surf rat who lived right on the beach until I went away to college in the early 70’s.
when I left for the cold northwest I only had 1 pair of long pants outside of my Kamehameha ROTC khakis that’s how much time I spent in the water.
As a dumb freshman I was so desparate I hitched a ride to seaside oregon in snowy December with people I didn’t even know.
Almost drowned trying to surf on a borrowed stubby board made for california with a 1/2" rope tied around my leg attached to a hole in the fin in cold black foamy log infested murky waters.
Had an ice cream headache for days and caught a cold after riding home to seattle on a greyhound with my wetsuit under my clothes and flunked my first Newtonian Physics final the following monday.
Gave it all up that weekend and skated around a bit until I discovered the absolute joy of snow skiing…
Yea it was a long time
I guess I missed alot that happened to surfing between 1973 and 1990
Three straight years. 84’ - 87’, while I was in the Army.
Three years while living in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
Before I left (to teach drafting and construction at a vocational school) I was like, “Well, I’m only 75 miles from the beach…I could go surf on weekends.” What I didn’t realise was it took over four, tortuous hours of dusty, dirt road to get there and it made you so tired you usually ended up with malaria for your efforts. Not only that, I learned the stretch of ocean off West Africa is known as the “doldrums” for lack of wind and waves. When ever I did make it to the beach I was greeted by 1 foot shorepound… which I reveled in.
I ended up having surf withdrawals- I’d dream every night I was going to go surfing but the sun set too soon, or my friends lingered too long, or I couldn’t find a trail down the cliff. Something always happened in my dream that prevented me from going surfing. I even had a dream in which I didn’t have a surfboard so I carefully crafted one out of sand on the beach and then a wave came and washed it away.
I vowed I’d never live far from the surf again.
I went just about 11 months without getting on a wave…I was older and definitely into a mental transition trip…could you really “surf life” like a wave? I still went by the beach but I didn’t take equipment with me or during stormy months the water quality was poor and I couldn’t risk it at the time. I remember just making the drive between Ventura and Santa Barbara and thinking about a rather lot of people I knew who had never even been to Santa Barbara, or who lived much closer but never went to the beach in Ventura…not surfers but a lot of guys who fished and did other water things…I parked along one stretch one summer morning and there were about 3 or 4 dorky young boys with bodyboards, mom reading on the beach, and I could hear the kids in the water over the passing cars right next to me…having the time of their young lives right then and there…I was in a different part of the big circle to be sure but still riding…
Quote:
The detours I’ve taken allowed me to do things I didn’t do when all I did was surf. There are lots of other fun things to do out there in the big wide world, but absolutely nothing compares to surfing
There are a million other things to do, adventures to have, horizons to explore. To reduce one’s life merely to surfing and the surf world only is to miss half the magic of living…the other half still seems to be surfing, however. I’ve looked hard and can’t find anything that remotely satisfies that aspect of the human experience for me. I fully realize that for others snow sports, fishing, boating, music, art, and other things fill the same bill. They just don’t do it for me.
Probably 3 weeks at the most. That’s from starting when I was 10 until now (34)…
When ever and what ever, it was too long. But how 'bout you Parker? Mr. J. Skriver mentioned he hadn’t seen you in the water in a very long time… Peace. I hope the new pad is OK. I left you a mess. but haven’t heard back. I’ll try the shop again soon. Got stuff for my “gun.” Taylor
3 years while attending univiersity in Tampa, Florida. Only about 30 miles from the beach, but the waves in Clearwater weren’t too consistent. And the 1 hour drive seemed not worth it. I went a few times, during storms, but never got it good. Skateboarding helped keep me sane, but just barely.
Actually, I’ve never surfed a day in my life. I just like posing on this website, and telling lies. Actually, I’ve never even made a surfboard, or watched anybody make a surfboard. I’ve learned everything about surfing from my room and my beloved computer… But, I bet I could surf, but then I’d have to leave my beloved computer for a day.
Ok so I’ve come clean, I’m glad I got that off my chest.
Resinhead the poser.
13 months! while touring beautiful southeast asia and wearing a funny green hat-during the late 1960’s—swore i would never live outside of tidewater again-----and i haven’t !
Quote:
Actually, I’ve never surfed a day in my life. I just like posing on this website, and telling lies. Actually, I’ve never even made a surfboard, or watched anybody make a surfboard. I’ve learned everything about surfing from my room and my beloved computer… But, I bet I could surf, but then I’d have to leave my beloved computer for a day.
Ok so I’ve come clean, I’m glad I got that off my chest.
Resinhead the poser.
hahaha …
that’s great mate !! [WHAT is a ‘surfboard’ , by the way?]
and … is “pickleweed” something to smoke regularly, I wonder ? hehe
ben
Don’t make me release my pet squid on you, you wouldn’t like him when he’s mad.
I lost about a year of surfing at age 22 in 1991-2 thanks to a motorcycle accident and the ensuing operation and physical rehabilitation, a brief move to portland and then a move to Japan. But once i was fully recovered and allowed to swim and figured out where the hell the waves were there, I had some boards shipped over to me I was back at it and the most I’ve missed since is a few month long stretches when i was exhiled inland for two years (2002-2004) but no more than a week when I’ve been living on the coast (since 1986 minus those two years).
I’ve been a lucky guy.
"Don’t make me release my pet squid on you, you wouldn’t like him/ her when she’s mad "
…her and my 5" longer prawn could really do some damage together !!