How are you planning to live (or currently living) the last chapter of your surfing life?
Taking it as it comes…
Still have 5 surfboards, but live an hour from the beach.
Play tennis 4 days a week, windsurf easily that from March thru Oct., so’s not much left for surfing with work coming into play sometimes…
Problem with surfing around here is that only 35% or so of my drives to the beach equals a surfing session, as so many variables come into play.
That’s how it goes, the alternative can be a lot worse…
giving it
have hundreds surfboards
live a block from the beach
terrestrial sports are verboten
no disposeable income for superfluous ‘gear’
tom blake ended up in minn.
in a high rise?
ahhhhh mat go outts
workink me gams
to the brink of exaustion
nobody out or a couple friends
swimming in over
2’'deep water reefs
"ho ho ho
ana hee hee hee
ana couple o’ tra la las’ thats how we
waste our time away
in the merry ol’
land of oz "
…ambrose…
life under the cover of madness
My wife already knows where I want my ashes scattered at low tide ( I tol’ her she’ll have to haul my ashes one last time)…paddle out over the same place to follow as the tide comes up. She & the kids will follow through, sooner or later 
Izzat what you wanted to know?
Just out of curiosity, how old are you guys? I wonder how old i’ll be when the day will come that I will have to call it quits
Ima two weeks from 57. Started at 13 borrowing logs at OBSF, pre wetsuit.
First board in '66, beavertail top and Birdwell Beach Britches, surfing 5 daze a week till '86…except for one 13 month injury time out.
isn’t john kelley 80 something still surfing and wasn’t peter cole out at sunset into at least his late 60’s? the day i stop surfing is the day i shape every day for the youth and mentor them i will be " that old wierd guy who makes awesome boards. i heard was the first to surf( yet to be named awesome surfspots) and (other yet to be surfed spot) i hear he has boards old than great grand pa!" hopefully i will never come back here, middle of nowhere inland empire. i even told my friends here that after Highschool i will probably never see them again they got pissed i told them that they could visit me but i might only come back 1 time.
Every day is the last chapter of my life. I try to live in the now. Stay fit, try to keep my fun and games going until it’s time to bury my carcass in the side of some hill somewhere. Or, scatter my ashes somewhere. Who cares? I’ll be on the other side of somewhere then. 47 trips around the sun.mike
Don’t care if some old fart surfs till he’s 91, I’d be bored to death!
All that stoke almost always from someone in their 30’s, having surfed all of 10 or so years.
Try having that stoke after surfing 40 odd years.
Besides, it’s time for this old fart to move out of the way of young, up and coming chargers!
57 with 45 in the water. Having more fun than ever. Planning to keep in warm water most of the time. Got quite a few more world class right points to explore. Can’t imagine losing the stoke as long as I am healthy and on appropriate equiptment.
Roger
Hey Lee, Have you really lost the stoke??? I’m 45 and have been surfing over 30 years and I feel like I did when I was 13 and just starting. Totally stoked on surfing. I teach art in a public school so I’m relegated to weekend warrior status (and summers, but last summer sucked bad) but I never miss it. No matter how bad the waves are, if there is at least one other fool out I’m there. Dawn patrol. Usually the first guy out. I made boards in high school and college and then stopped for over twenty years and now I’m back into it with a passion. I ‘m riding the 6’-3" I just made and I’m thinking that on the right wave I’ll pull off a carving 360. I’m still improving. I’m starting to feel comfortable in big waves (or at least the big waves we get around here). And I haven’t been to Indonesia or Jeffrey’s yet.
I’ll short board as long as I’m able (starting doing yoga for longevity). Then I guess I’ll longboard. I used to go to the 'Bu wiht a guy named Howard Daum who was 75 and still cruising. When I can’t paddle anymore I’ll get a sailboat and find some young muscles to grind winches and go surfing that way. And when I die I’ll go to the great point break in the sky…hopefully.
Like an old ad said- If you don’t surf, don’t start. If you surf, never stop.
Well, I can leave a few waves for you too, so you should thank me.
I was sorta a wave hog in my younger years, so getting me out of the water allows more waves for the other surfers, which in turn allows more waves for you.
Some peeps think surfing is a lifestyle.
Some peeps think tiddlywinks is a lifestyle.
Do what you want.
Howzit Lee, After surfing for over 40 years one of my shoulders has finally given out and even after over 6 months of therepy it still doesn’t work and I can’t make the rotations to paddle. Tried to surf lately but it’s a no go witht the shoulder. I don’t think we lose the stoke since I still live to watch the younger guys do their thing and I do judge contests and make boards. The guys that get me are the ones that are still physically able to surf but would rather sit in the parking lot and drink beer and talk about how good they surf or did surf. What I really dread is the fact that I may have to move to Az some day to take over the businesses my brother and I own there since my brother is 67 and keeps trying to get me to move there now. In my will I have set aside $ for the rest of my family to bring my ashes back to Kauai( in case I move) and scatter them at Hanalei and have a big luau for my family and friends at Black Pot. There comes a time in every surfers life when their bodies don’t work as well as they did and then it’s time to reconsider the options. We will always have memories of great sessions and I hope all surfers have had as many as I have. But like you said there comes a time to pass the torch on but the flame in our minds will never go out. Aloha,Kokua
Hey Kokua -
My shoulder’s just done the same …bastard tendonitis … bad enough to stop me raising my arm above shoulder level in my right arm compounded with a Judo injury----separated shoulder (ac joint) in my left arm…I’m told it’ll never heal.
Tried all kinds of therapy…f**k all worked until…
I hit the Gym and started building the muscles between my shoulder blades and swimming backstroke 3X a week.
My surfing days ain’t over yet… I feel my body coming back into tune.
The problem with surfing is the imbalance of shoulder muscle development that occurs…this only happened after i had kids…surfing takes so much time I had to cut back on other forms of training…
I will not go easy into that dark night…I’ll fight against the dying of the light…
even if it means longboarding
I am going to Maui No Ka Oi http://www.integratedmovementmaui.com/
The Anat Baniel Method for the Use of Arms
(Audio CD - 6 lessons)
Overcome shoulder, arm and hand pain, increase flexibility and build strength with six 40-45 minute movement lessons taught by Anat Baniel. Join the many musicians, computer users and others suffering from pain and injuries to their shoulders, arms, wrists and fingers who have found remarkable relief through the Anat Baniel Method and improved their performance. For anyone wishing to improve the use of their arms—combined with a more powerful and flexible back—these Transformational Movement Lessons are a must.
Note: These lessons are more challenging and require first completing the Anat Baniel Method for Healthy Backs and the Anat BanielMethod for Healthy Necks programs.
“[The lessons] freed my shoulders to a greater degree than anything I else I have experienced.”
–Samantha Beers, Yoga Instru
ALOHA Kokua
this is the next chapter of the series I have been working on after a car accident. I don’t have this set of cds yet because I have been doing the neck series and the joint series.
Pm me your address and I’ll send my copy of the joint series …
Overcome joint pain, increase flexibility and build strength with three 40-50 minute movement lessons taught by Anat Baniel. These gentle and remarkably effective Transformational Movement Lessons will help reduce aches and pains in your joints and enhance your vitality and well-being. The lessons are safe for people of all ages including those recovering from surgery or injury…
Ligaments take 6 months to 3 years to heal. I am going to do this again, prolotherapy, I am on my third series of prolotherapy and can’t wait to get it again.
Prolotherapy is also known as nonsurgical ligament reconstruction,
and is a treatment for chronic pain
Prolotherapy is helpful for what conditions?
The treatment is useful for many different types of musculoskeletal pain, including arthritis, back pain, neck pain, fibromyalgia, sports injuries, unresolved whiplash injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic tendonitis, partially torn tendons, ligaments and cartilage, degenerated or herniated discs, TMJ and sciatica.
What is prolotherapy?
First, it is important to understand what the word prolotherapy itself means. “Prolo” is short for proliferation, because the treatment causes the proliferation (growth, formation) of new ligament tissue in areas where it has become weak.
Ligaments are the structural “rubber bands” that hold bones to bones in joints. Ligaments can become weak or injured and may not heal back to their original strength or endurance. This is largely because the blood supply to ligaments is limited, and therefore healing is slow and not always complete. To further complicate this, ligaments also have many nerve endings and therefore the person will feel pain at the areas where the ligaments are damaged or loose.
Tendons are the name given to tissue which connects muscles to bones, and in the same manner tendons may also become injured, and cause pain.
Prolotherapy uses a dextrose (sugar water) solution, which is injected into the ligament or tendon where it attaches to the bone. This causes a localized inflammation in these weak areas which then increases the blood supply and flow of nutrients and stimulates the tissue to repair itself.
Historical review shows that a version of this technique was first used by Hippocrates on soldiers with dislocated, torn shoulder joints. He would stick a hot poker into the joint, and it would then miraculously heal normally. Of course, we don’t use hot pokers today, but the principle is similar—get the body to repair itself, an innate ability that the body has.
How long will it take to complete a course of treatments?
The response to treatment varies from individual to individual, and depends upon one’s healing ability. Some people may only need a few treatments while others may need 10 or more. The average number of treatments is 4-6 for an area treated. The best thing to do is get an evaluation by a trained physician to see if you are an appropriate candidate. Once you begin treatment, your doctor can tell better how you are responding and give you an accurate estimate.
Howzit silverback, The Doctors have come to the conclusion the pain in my shoulder my be neuropathic pain due to my diabetes and there is no fix. I think that the main thing is to be able to deal with the fact you my never surf again ( except in your mind). Some people can’t deal with it and need to realize a life change can be OK. I have to admit I sometimes wonder what life with ever surfing would have been like and all the other things life has to offer. When I think about all the really good surfers that died while still in their prime due to drugs, alcohol or any other reasons it really gets me. The fact that I’m still involved with surfing keeps me stoked on the sport and makes the surf to non-surf transition a lot easier. I have a friend who feels if he doesn’t surf every day he’ll go crazy, the day will come when he can’t and I just hope he will be OK.Aloha,Kokua
get a mat
your legs still work
got six waves this morning
used ta be
useta surf
usta be a wave hog
usta usat usta
frank sinatra said ''live every day
like it will be your last.
and one day you will be right!‘’
ten years isnt the cut off for stoke
nor is twenty nor is fourty
when is the cut off date for an active imaination?
diffrent stokes for different folks
but surfin is the only place
where yoou can piss yourself
and not be socially slighted
an important feature oft
overlooked by non surfing brethren
me and proneman surfedd the smallest
most thrilling surf under the noses of the
knowledgeable elite at wai pa
and I still cherish the memory
and the over the falls stuff job
two days before when I scratched my face,
where you gonna get that kinda
stoke food
at the bench in front of the general store in oroville?
…ambrose…
I started surfin today
and stopped two hours later
my life is betteer
Wow…Ambrose…you say it best!
Seems to me like Leedd’s in denial…
I once lived in London…lovely place and lots to do… but with no sea to play in…just couldn’t hack it
Ambrose is on it as usual. You have to try the mat before you give it up. My shoulders are still good so I can surf but I am already riding my mat probably 50% of the time. What is really great about the mat is that you are essentially learning all over again. So I get the same stoke I had when I was first learning to surf. Plus it can turn a crappy day into a great session. 42 years and counting, Awooo!!
