surfers over 50

General Discussion
1

I see a lot of gray hair in the lineup these days.

Since getting (back) into surfing at the tender young age of 54, I'm finding being a grem again at my age is a challenge.  Of course, I've got many years of surfing behind me, but after a 23 year layoff, its taking a little time to regain my sea legs, and my confidence in the lineup!

I've never been a longboarder, but maybe its time to make the transition?  I love surfing my 6'8", but don't get many waves.  And my pop-up is slower than it used to be.

I'd love to know what other surfers over age 50 are doing regarding the challenges of surfing while ageing.  Stuff like conditioning, board selection, etc. etc.

I just discovered, and told my daughter to buy me the video "Surfing for Life", about older guys who surf.

This picture is of me saying "hurry up and take the picture, I can't suck it in for much longer" hahaha.

100_2148

2

I disagree.  I am 53 and my quiver includes pretty much everything from 5’10", 6’2", 6’3", 6’5", 6’7", 7’0", 7’2’, 7’4", 7’6", 7’10" on up to a 9’8" gun.  Although I have a couple longboards in my garage I only ride them on rare occasions (knee high surf etc).   I surf with a lot of guys as old as me or older, and they still ride all kinds of boards in all kinds (and sizes) of surf, including big waves.   Get more exercise, surf more often, lose a few pounds of flab  - unless you have bum joints or a bad back eventually you can ride pretty much what you want… maybe not pipeline or mavericks but most waves anyway.  That’s my 2cents worth, I’m sure someone will have another opinon…

3

I'm not 50, will be 40 in 2 weeks, but still like to hear what is said on threads such as these; my first thoughts are 23 years is a long time, surf surf and surf some more, surf as often as you can...aroebic activity to keep the weight in check...walk run bike swim, whatever, just keep moving and try to do it 3x a week...I consistently fail at my own advice though

the board you are holding in the photo looks like a good board, plenty volume and size, wide tailed...beautiful board actually

I still do not agree nor think that you are pidgeon holed to the "longboard only"...now 64 might put you there... (ok I'm baiting the crowd)

let 'er rip!

 

 

4

I’m 58 and the longest board I have is an 8’6" California gun.  My daily driver is a 6’2" fish.  The best way to stay in surfing shape is to surf.  I really notice a regression if I’m out only once a week.  Mostly stiffness which affects popping up. 

Eat less, exercise more.  You can’t imagine the difference losing 10 pounds will do ya.  Being roughly the same weight you were in high school is good for more than your surfing…

That said, surfing is about exercising and having fun.  If it takes a longboard to work for you, ride a longboard.

5

Imagine if you lived on the East Coast, where it can be flat for weeks at a time, and swells usually only last a day or two. On top of that, imagine you’re looking at 50 years old just around the corner!

I’m 46, and started a regular exercise regimen about 8 years ago just to maintain my level of surfing. I stuck with it, and seem to be doing OK. I ride all kinds of boards, and get plenty of waves on them. So… add a longboard to your quiver, for sure… just because they’re fun! But commit yourself to improving your conditioning, and you’ll be happier, healther, and stay in the game longer. That’s my plan. How long, who knows…

6

I’m coming up on 53 and both of my daily drivers are under 6ft, but then again I pack a lot of volume into my boards.  The advantage to shorter boards is that you can more readily duck dive them than the same volume in a longer length - more leverage.  The disadvantage is that a shorter board requires a better eye , better positioning, and better timing; there’s less room for error.  Fortunately,  the physical decline that comes with getting older doesn’t have that much effect on your wave judgement or timing.

I think that might be where you’re at right now - after a long hiatus you haven’t yet recovered or refined your wave judgement and timing.  A longer length might help you compensate for that.  I would also think that you might find paddling a lighter board a fair bit easier, too.  On your board if you routinely have to make more than 5-8 strokes to get into a wave the weight of that board might be cutting into your wave count.     

As for boards, I use different boards for different conditions and I pay a lot of attention to rockers (in particular) in relation to the waves I’m anticipating.  I almost always bring two boards with me so as to have a choice.  I don’t always get it right but I almost never get it completely wrong.   I usually aim for “just barely enough”.  

Beyond that I think that once you identify what you need for float the rest comes down to paddling technique and using your more limited amounts of energy wisely.   For paddling it’s all about the long smooth stroke and resisting the urge to short stroke.  For energy conservation it’s about being smart.  

I don’t do a lot of paddling for position, I usually don’t hang out in the middle of the baitball and I don’t paddle for a wave unless I think I have a decent shot at getting it.   When I’m on I get about the same number of waves that I would get on a bigger board.   I could probably score more waves more consistently on bigger boards but at this point I don’t consider more to be better than better.  I make up for my declining rate of waves-per-hour by staying out.  My average session is about 2 hours.  Because of that I watch the tides and time my sessions accordingly.  

 

I think the bottom line is that my approach to surfing is a lot more mentally involved than it was when I was younger.  

7

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8

I'm 55 and have been surfing over 40 years.  I started on an airmat and moved on to longboards, then shortboards AND longboards (never gave those up) AND bodysurfing AND bellyboards AND airmats... shortboards are about the only thing I left behind.

Some of my favorite surfing memories are all about the glide and you just don't get that having to pump a shortboard simply to stay in the wave. 

I watch plenty of people (young and old - but all on boards too short) struggle to catch waves and often not make the waves they catch.

For an older guy just getting back in to it, I can think of any number of reasons to have a longboard in the quiver.

Each to his own.  Ride what you like.  Ride what works for you.  There's plenty of choices in equipment and lots of different kinds of waves.

 

 

9

Funny this thread comes up today

My Birthday! Im 51 now

I resorted to a longboard at about 38 or 40 yrs old

I used to kneeboard when I was a kid then at 30 got a 7' something board and worked realy hard to get a few waves in the crowds of good surfers

then I went to an 8'6" mini log and that helped a lot

then I ordered a 9'8" longboard and after 2 go outs my surfing was now fun!!

100% improvement ,,,, confidence 100% 

10

I’m not quite 50, but pretty close.  A little over 10 years ago I had a spinal injury that kept me out of the water for about three years.  It’s not like riding a bicycle, you can forget!  It took quite a while to get back. 

Just keep pushing.  Nothing extreme, just each time you go surfing, try a little something extra.  Go for that late take-off that you really don’t think you’ll make.  You just might. 

After a long wave at a point break, don’t run back up the beach, but instead paddle back against the current. 

After your session is just about over and your arms feel like rubber, rather than calling it a day, Paddle along the beach for twenty minutes.  Nothing too hard, just push a little past what’s comfortable.  Personally, I think the best way to end a day of surfing is paddling along the beach as the sky turns from orange to purple.

 

11

Thanks all for the responses.  I kinda mis-worded my original post, I went back and edited it.  I meant that I have been kinda stubbornly avoiding a longboard, when the truth is I'm not getting the waves I'd like on my short board, and so was curious how age affected other people's board choice.

12

Hope you’re all staying stoked and getting a few waves now and then!

13

[quote="$1"]   Eat less, exercise more.  You can't imagine the difference losing 10 pounds will do ya.  Being roughly the same weight you were in high school is good for more than your surfing... [/quote]

So...got any tips on weight loss?  I lost 15 lbs. right away, doing just what you said (eat less exercise more).  Now I'm at a plateau.  To get back to my high school weight, I'd still need to drop another 20!

14

[quote="$1"]

Funny this thread comes up today

My Birthday! Im 51 now

I resorted to a longboard at about 38 or 40 yrs old

I used to kneeboard when I was a kid then at 30 got a 7' something board and worked realy hard to get a few waves in the crowds of good surfers

then I went to an 8'6" mini log and that helped a lot

then I ordered a 9'8" longboard and after 2 go outs my surfing was now fun!!

100% improvement ,,,, confidence 100% 

[/quote]

Thanks Ken, that comment "worked realy hard to get a few waves in the crowds of good surfers" parallels my circumstances.  It actually helped me to recognize why my board isn't working as well as I had imagined.  If my favorite spots were as uncrowded as I remember them being 23 years ago, this board I have would probably be working just fine for me.

The biggest factor I didn't mention is that my usual surf spots are generally always pretty crowded.  Meaning paddling into the pack of younger, aggressive surfers, to get a few waves, is pretty much mandatory.  That takes a certain level of confidence, and maybe even aggression, which I don't have.  I've never been a "charger", but especially now that I'm re-learning.  But I hate sitting passively and not getting any waves.  So I've been thinking about how best to address that with my next board.

Also, conditioning: I live several hours from the beach now.  So whereas I used to get out 3-8 times a week, now I can only get out about maybe 3 times a month, often on weekends or holidays.  So I can see that my board choice didn't fully address my current needs, since it was based on shapes I used to ride comfortably as a younger man in different circumstances.

15

First off, happy birthday, Ken.

Next, I'll really be looking forward to what SammyA has to say on this. SOB has five years on me and is in far better shape and always has been, dammit. However -

I'm 55, I live in the Northeast US. I'm blue collar, which keeps me away from gyms. Injuries come more often now and the healing takes longer. And life has more things in it now.And lastly, working in the surf biz until a couple of years ago kinda soured me on surfing and surfers.

Started out on long logs...and hated it. If all I could do was longboard, I'd give it up happily. Went to paipos, then kneeboards, which required good waves, and never looked back except to gloat.

But, a few things.

It's a lot easier to stay in shape than to get back into shape. Don't be dumb, don't overdo it, as you'll hurt yourself and it takes longer to come back after 50, if in fact you do come back from an injury.

Here, we have a rather nifty sandbar kind of wave. When it's good, it's very very good and when it's bad it sucks. And summer is crowds, winter is damned cold. Spring and fall are nice.

But - the way you surf crap waves is very different from how you do the good ones. And mentally shifting gears for me just doesn't happen. Never did. The cheezy days screw you up for the good ones. So, I only go out on the challenging days, with some punch to 'em. When I can't do that, it's time to give it up. Rather than grovelling garbage days just to get in the water.

Instead, I have a 7'0" I keep for cheezy days. With a spinning reel and ya know, I like live bait. Rather than floundering and grovelling in the knee-biters, I'll go chase fish. Instead of having forgettable slop, I can have supper.

It's supposed to be fun, not work. If your ego is tied up with being the best in the water, you're gonna have to be surfing alone eventually.

And it's way too late to think about doing the pro tour. So pick your days, pick your spots, pick your waves. That is one of the really sweet things about getting a bit older: you have the skill to pick the best waves and the patience to wait for them.

doc...

 

16

I´m 50 now;

I have a 6´0" (kneeboard); a 8´0", quad, and 2 longboards, 9´2" and 9´6"

I still want a mid gun an another performance longboard;

Each time I surf is about 3 hours continuos, with no big problems, but I traine a lot, and principally I lost weight (about 30 pounds)

that was what I needed to get easily in shape in the board..

17

I just turned 36, but will chime in anyway because I just got back in the water this last August following a 5-7 year period of pretty much not surfing.  I started surfing at age 13 and went hard at it until college.  At 20 years old I had radical shoulder/back surgery to remove a large tumor.  I was left with a fairly full range of motion but compromised paddling strength.  I had been shortboarding up to that time, but living far from the water, I was not particularly proficient.  Longboards allowed me to enjoy my time out a lot more and get many more waves.

This past August I started out again on my longboards.  I was in pretty poor physical condition, having worked a desk job for 10 years and getting little exercise.  I was getting maybe 5-7 waves per session and missing lots of waves I paddled for that I should have gotten.  But after a month of sessions twice a week, I noticed a lot of improvement. 

Lucky to live closer to the surf now, and after two months of consistent sessions, I began to feel very proficient on the longboard.  My wave count quadrupled, I rarely missed waves, and was having a great time.  Where I had before felt exerted after a session in the surf, I now had plenty of energy.  I went from a 9'8" log to a 9'2" HP longboard and felt that was still a lot of board.  So I made the jump to a 6'10" Fish type board.

The first few sessions on it, I got waves, but missed too many, felt exhausted and discouraged. But after about a month I started to really have fun on it. I went to a 6'4" Fish after that and it felt microscopic to me -- for about 2-3 sessions.  Then it started clicking and I got lots of waves on it.

Lately I shaped myself my a 6'4" HP quad and needed a session to get used to it as well - but the second day out in head-high surf, I had the time of my life.

So my point, like the others above, is that conditioning has to do with a lot more than age.  Getting out as much as possible is critical, and if that doesn't work, exercise however you can between sessions.  I do a lot of hiking now, light weights, etc to stay sharp during busy workweeks or when it's raining. 

Finally, try to stay away from the real crowded breaks if you aren't surfing a lot.  It's just an exercise in frustration.  I spent a lot of days riding closeouts at uncrowded beachbreaks with the smaller boards to work on my paddling and timing, and heck, just getting to my feet.  20 terrible waves are a lot better for getting your reflexes dialed than waiting hours for a few waves with tons of people dropping in right and left.

After this fairly intensive program for me, I am happy to say that I'm surfing better now than I was at age 18!  I want to move down a bit more in board size before hitting the plateau, but my paddling strength is miles ahead of where it was six months ago. 

 

PS - I have tons of grey hair so I am qualified to post in this thread :-)

18

around the same age a Keith and probably get 1/3 to 1/4 of the water as the rest of the hardcore guys here but I still prefer to ride the shortest board that I can paddle.

But you're right pretty much everyone my age is on a longboard these days so its tough competeing against them and guys 15-20 years younger also riding longboards or others young enough to be my kids or grandkids riding the same size equipment as me.

I find surfing longer boards make me lazy, slower and when it's big they can be a bear to manage paddling out. Duck diving a 6'2" when you get caught inside is a breeze compared to a 9' or 10' longboard. I can't even imaging the pounding the SUP guys take when they get caught inside a breaker. 

I don't catch as many waves as I would with a bigger board to the chagrine of the old timers who think guys like me are fools but when I do get a good one I have a lot more fun and can do alot more on the wave than I can with the 4-6 extra feet of foam in front of me.

Its funny that to some surfing's has become how many waves you can catch in session. I actually have an alarm go off in my head if i think I'm catching too many in respect to those sitting in the lineup with me and I'll back off letting waves go or take my time getting back out.

Sometimes on my shortboard i might get single wave in an entire session because of the crowds. But I'll make the most of it and then just go in and go home. I can always come back later when no one else wants to surf anymore in the hot surf or windy side or on shore conditions.

When we were young and lived right on the beach we surfed all day long when ever we wanted to so surfing really didn't mean that much it was just our play time.

Sometimes you'd just paddle out and just ay down on your board to get a sun tan and get away from doing your chores on land. Didn't even bother at catching a wave or looking towards the shore where you might see your parents trying to flag you to come in to help out.

Surfing is so different now its almost the same as going to the gym for the majority who don't have the benefit of living right on the beach. I find that those who still are blessd to live on the beach and can surf any time they want treat surfing differently that most of the rest in the water.

Also grey is good

BTW

regarding

"Since getting (back) into surfing at the tender young age of 54, I'm finding being a grem again at my age is a challenge.  Of course, I've got many years of surfing behind me, but after a 23 year layoff, its taking a little time to regain my sea legs, and my confidence in the lineup!"

I left surfing the fall of 74' and came back to into it in 1990 when I returned home.

Alot happened in surfing between 1974 and 1990 and I came back a white whale more at home mono skiing whistler powder than swimming in the ocean.

I started off with a custom pale pink (for the mountaineering phrase "think pink")10' Jim Turnbull Country Surfboards bonzer bottomed longboard thruster Ed Searfoss made me and in a couple years worked my way down to a painted white 6' experimental epoxy/EPS channel bottom winged fish, just like in that movie Northshore. Both boards provided me unbelievable surfing memories but it was alot of effort working my way from the 10' down to the 6' and that was 20 years ago. And in the end whether I accept it or not I was still a much better surfer/swimmer at 16-18 than I am now at 53.

But it doesn't mean I'm not having as much fun..

 

19

Hi Guys, not only am I an over 50's surfer but I'm an over 60's surfer as well, my board of choise is a longboard but I also have a 6'4" fish & a 7'6" 70's style single fin. I just like the longboard style surfing & that suits my style. Started surfing at 14 & I think I get more out of it today than in those early days........but 1 thing......wish the crowed was like it was back then !!!!!

Soon to make another Longboard............yeah!!!!!

20

Rather, I meant that I have been kinda stubbornly sticking with shorter boards, and snobbishly avoiding a longboard, when the truth is I'm not getting the waves I'd like on my short board, and so was curious how age affected other people's board choice

I think you kind of suspect a direction that might make you happier when you used the word "snobbishly". Like anything worthwhile surfing is about 100% physical and another 100% mental. What is "surfing" to you? Why?

Figuring out that stuff isn't really tricky. I think whatever it was that grabbed us in the first place is probably still what motivates us. If it was being "world champion" then you are royally screwed when it comes to aging, so hopefully that wasn't it for you. When it comes to equipment you will be happier if you don't think in terms of what is "proper" and what is beneath you, but rather think in terms of what equipment lets you get the most out of the experience. In 2010 pretty much anything goes. You may have to adjust the surf spots you frequent but that is good for us all anyway.

Fitness is interesting. Others pretty much already nailed that one. I started pool swimming 5-6 days a week last year and took off about 17 pounds, but at that point my hips hurt just laying on the sand. Throttled back on swimming to 3-4 days and felt better (all this with surf time too). Let life get in the way this past late fall and winter and put about 7 pounds back on, started swimming more than 2 times a month, and found I pretty much am starting over again. Can't layoff or you really slide back.

When it comes to "longboards"...you don't have to go for a heavy log. There are boards in the 8'-9' range that allow most of the benefits of a longer board while not being unweildy. And if you really don't like something, trade it in or sell it. There are all kinds of transitions in life as well as in surfing.