(albeit slightly off topic).
When you miss really good surf:
-
How does it effect you?
-
How do you handle it?
Swaylock
1.) What’s “really good”? To me, “really good” surf is CLEAN surf, anywhere from knee high to overhead…When I miss that, I’m bummed, and my wife says I’m “Grumpy” if it goes for more than a week… I know my personal llimits and don’t surf much when it’s “big”. My limit for “fun” is about 3’ overhead.
2.) Go to the garage and work on a board.
I get very “dry and bitter” when I miss good surf, and don’t handle it well at all, I’ve been known to quit jobs and skip christmas dinners for surf. If I’m on my way to surf (usually a very narrow window of good conditions here) and someone is driving slow in the fast lane, it results in agressive driving, with me shouting out the window phrases such as “You’re costing me waves!!!”
In the interest of public safety and my own sanity,I should sell my car, by a bike with a board rack and move closer to the beach.
-
i’m jealous …of the people who scored it [ because good surf here happens maybe twice a year ?]
-
not well…vow to be there ‘next time’
…to make up for ALL the years of sitting on the beach , photographing OTHERS having a great surf …
If Ive missed a great surf…
1/ I just reminisce about all the great surf i have had,
I hope the guys who got it, had a ball.
2/ And then I go downstairs and give the cat an absolute flogging.
Just kidding, I love cats.
Couldnt eat a whole one on my own tho…
spuuut-lee
Hated to leave So. Cal. early this AM with a nice west swell predicted for the next couple days. Would a stayed, …but got tickets for Pearl Jam and U2…Supposed to be 12-16 foot north shore tomorrow…
Roger
I skate or snowboard…or cry
Looks like I will be missing any good surf for the next 3or 4 weeks. On wednesday last week I was surfing two foot onshore slop. I needed to get wet. It was low tide and I try to be aware of the chance of injury in small surf. Mainly hitting the bottom. In my case I did’nt hit the bottom, but, I had just finished a wave and I started to fall of and my right foot hit the bottom and my left stayed on the board. I ended up with a grade 1 Medial ligament strain in my left knee. Doh!!! No point in getting angry or brooding over it. I need to focus on recovery now.platty.
When I miss a really good surf, I:
- Call my dad (he’s 86) and ask him where he paddled out when he was my age and go there and think about how rough it must have been with those boards, paraffin wax, no wetsuits, half-hour surfs and wool trunks………….
- Call my son (he’s 21) and ask him where he paddled out and how it was and how bad the wipe-outs/rip current/crowds were…………….
- Call my wife and listen to her how I didn’t finish her board, take out the trash, wash out my wetsuit, walk the dogs, call my dad, call my kid……….
- Remember my last wave and how I was still able to paddle out and take a wipe-out/rip current/crowds and how I have a great blank to finish and my wetsuit is still wet from my last surf, and I have great dogs, great parents, great family & friends &
- Swaylocks………………………………
Even if i miss bad surf i cry.
every morning at 5:00am I run out the door grab a board and surf before anyone is awake. then i go surf in the afternoon too. everyday.
That virtually wipes out the chances of missing good surf.
I get a little bummed of course… It usually makes me a little more aware of what’s going on… I got a little laxed the other day and went to an out of the way place and got average waves. All signs were pointing to un-crowded perfect surf at a certain spot but I kinda blew it off… Heard about it later and then saw pictures of it firing as good as it gets with hardly anyone there… Just gotta be more on it and not get laxed…
i get hell cranky
give everyone a hard time
threaten to quit job
yell
swear
remember what it was that made me miss it so I plan better next time.
well right now i’m out until at least february with an inguinal hernia. haven’t been able to surf because of it for the past month and a 1/2.
there’s been some pretty consistent (and damn good) surf for the past weeks and i’ve missed it every time. it’s really sucked. been pretty depressed, really frustrated. i gotta stop checking the surf report.
florida, and in general the east coast, really isn’t the best place to be for a surfer - at least not for me. a lot of inconsistent swell, really flat summers, mediocre beachbreaks, no pointbreaks. i’ve come down to the conclusion that if im not surfing, i’m really incomplete and unsatisfied.
the girlfriend doesn’t know it right now, but as soon as i’m finished with this 6-year stint in college, i’m outta here to someplace else with more consistent quality surf. if im missing a surf, i’m just not fulfilled.
I used to get those endorphine jitters…
but now I just don’t care anymore cause it’s always going to happen
always does (you know, man you should’ve been here yesterday)
There’s always going to be an “epic” day that you missed especially if your working 60 hours or more a week and spending 3 hours a day in traffic when you only live 15+ miles away from downtown.
I used to believe I was like aquaman and needed to be in the water to stay alive. Felt more comfortable sitting or swimming out in the ocean all by myself amongst the sharks than walking around on land and actually I had a hard time walking. Most hardcore surfers can’t walk on land either without doing some form of the chicken/pengiun walk (chest out arms back bowlegged waddle) or the surfer flip flop glide.
One solution for me is to surf all day long 6-8 hours straight or more 3-4 sessions in a row different boards each time and as many days as I can when there’s a good well until the rash under my arms and butt forces me out of the salt water in pain…
Since we grew up on the beach all we did as kids was surf eat and nap all day long squeezing in chores in between. When you surf all day long all year long you can actually get tired of it believe it or not… So you start experimenting or doing other things in the water.
The second solution is to paddle out no matter what like Dale and just have fun even if it’s to catch a single wave and go in. Sometimes just paddling around for exercise or surfing the shore break is all one needs to get refreshed again.
When I was an surfer abandoned in cold rainy seattle for something called higher education. You’d snort some cold salt water up your nose and roll around on the carpeted floor in the dorm lounge to mimic the effect of a good wipe out… That’s what the desperate folk do hundreds of miles from the ocean… I’m old enough to admit doing that as well as riding my Bahne flex skateboard on the basketball court in the cold seattle drizzle in my ski jacket pulling Bert slides for effect.
i just die a little bit inside…works like a charm
Come on, surf is not all that there is to life…
There are waves, too…
I can deal with missing really good surf once in a while. I’ve surfed many waves over many years. If I missed one… I hope one of you guys got it.
The best surfer is the one with the biggest smile.
Very Important Answers:
-
I get very quiet, and my nose swells up and my teeth move about…
-
Then, I start to use sarcasm – you know, all the tricks: dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and satire…
-
anger
-
if no-one ELSE to do , then , self-flagellation . That usually works for me, anyway