“too old” / unfit
too ‘busy’ / distracted
injured / maimed / out of it [zonked all the time]
moved inland
couldn’t compete with the crowds
people are “too aggro” where you surf
wife / family / boss / job / peers [etc] " won’t let you " ?
other interests / different priorities / "lost interest " [?!]
9 . ? "other " ??
just curious …
cheers
ben
Funny you brought this up. I broke my little toe 5 days ago and my wife scolded me for surfing yesterday. 3 days dry and I was starting to lose it. Tiny waves beat being dry any day.
It got too sunny.
at 11:00 the uv is too xtreme
and I was tired
and I was hungry
and tomorrow it wa s gonna be better.
I couldnt even carry my board a block to my house.
another time it was because I had a bad infected cut.
sometimes it is because it is getting too dark to see.
haven’t had to stop in a long time because it is too cold.
or because my mom is calling me in to go to dinner.
once I stopped to concentrate on building a new store space.
C - Man told me one time .thtere is a time not to surf…
stopping surfing?
morey asked one time if that included flying your hand out the car window?
I AM ALWAYS SURFING…
some people only surf on a stand up 9’6’'… whazat ? sorfing?
some people go surfing
others are surfing.
those that stop surfing
maybe never were
they were just affecting
““SURFING””
stop breathing thats easier.
…ambrose…
and miss the next set?
or next wind change?
excuses bout not surfing
more likely
lack of perception about alternative forms
stuck in a narrow interpretation
of whad iz zurphink…!
"stop breathing that’s easier. "
… GOLD !
THAT gets my vote for the sways quote of the year !
cheers !
ben
At one point in time I spent a surfless year in the UK, working in London. It’s everything you’ve read only more of a hole…
Anyway, there I was on my first time off, standing watching a famous break called Porthleven, small but perfect. I was too rooted from months of clubbing and you-know-what…
There and then I vowed never to stray far from the Ocean, ever…
Josh
6 then 5, then 4… Heh heh. Only temporarily though.
Surfed out.
I stopped boardsurfing because the beach is 10 miles away and my board was too big to take with my bike. I started matsurfing and bodysurfing though 
…like I buddy of mine says, “you can’t MAKE it happen.”
Sometimes you’re head’s just not in the game. Sometimes you shuffle your schedule, put off the kids, abandon your projects, disappear…
…and when you paddle out, all you can think about is what you should have been doing… and how it affected somebody else… or your marriage… or your relationship with your kid… or your co-workers…so you could go get a few waves
…because surfing is such a selfish pursuit…such a powerful drug… that, in some ways, surf spots become like crack houses…because it’s more addictive than junk…
And then you go home… or go to work… and have to look somebody in the eye…and then you pay.
All things in moderation.
They all made fun of me. They laughed at my bright red US Coast Guard wetsuit, and my crash helmet. Then they said my 15 ft board was too big, and made out of wood.
Ran me out of the water for 20 years.
But I showed them, I put a GPS on my board. Now I’m the fastest surfer on the planet. Look whos laughing now.
I stopped for 2 weeks because mt shoulder was so tight i couldnt move it above horizontal without pain. No big deal, it was more of a worry thing than a pain thing. Did some stretches my physio told me to do, and its much better. Still doesnt feel 100%, but its mainly discomfort, not pain, and if i paddle like ’ “turtle”, it doesnt feel funny. I Will check it out again soon, but i’ll go to a physio that specialises in swimmers/surfers.
I agree with Ambrose. Here ya go chipper we’ll see what the peanut gallery has to say. 
http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=1096519&an=0&page=0#Post1096519
Stopped for 2 year when I built my house. It was super physical work (ferrocement), did it by myself with some help from the wife. Couldn’t afford any injuries… Had enough from construction. And had to finish house before my wife left me. We were living in a tent and she was starting to get pissed. My 6 month project took 2 years. See pic under shaping for living thread.
Here ya go chipper we’ll see what the peanut gallery has to say
Well, I see surfermagforum hasn’t had any fresh air in the last few years…ignorance and arrogance loud and clear!
Nothing has made me stop …yet. Some things have forced some time outs. I ignored a nagging injury and kept surfing until I wound up so crippled I spent weeks with a neck brace and excruciating pain…I learned a lesson there…I hope…
Something I would ad to the original list which I thought about coming home this afternoon: losing friends to surf with. Others quit, drift off, move, and get the same life-bogging situations as the rest of us. I can remember lots of memorable sessions that were memorable not for the surf but for the fun in the water and on the beach. Yeah, you could say “a crowded break is full of potential friends” but I would counter with “paddle out and feel the love”.
stopped for two years after college—because they drafted my ass! basic training, warrant officersch/chopper school then off to wonderful SE asia where i discovered that a couple of bottles of good booze and the air force pukes would bring a surfboard from Oz in the belly of a B-52 and you could surf almost every in the China sea! not great but it was wet and some days were great…
Afterward, i swore NEVER to life outside of tide water, and i haven’t !!! i surf more now at 60 than i did at 22----wife says that i get weird if i don’t get wet in the ocean(actually she said ‘weirder’)
Stuck in Wagga Wagga for 3 years
so desperate wanted to believe there really was a 3am wave on the Murrumbidgee.
other than that stuffed up my back - that took me out for months, well a year really - now back stronger than ever thanks to yoga and chiro quakery!
Mother Ocean do not forsake me again!!
Hey Chippppeeeeeee, I was going to tell you I stopped surfing because I ran out of ocean or went home or back to work or something lame but then read Ambrose’ eloquent-as-always analysis of the bigger deal. I now realise that the best surfing I do is while I’m not actually in the water, it’s when I’m in my garage making stuff and dreaming about being a half decent surfer on some pristine desserted piece of ocean.
I’m off to get my wetty on for a session in the garage, I may even put some beach boys on the stereo…WHOOOAAAHH NO!
I am just at the begining of a six month stint out of the water due to having two intervertebral discs replaced with artificial ones.
Already starting to freak out and its only been three weeks. Even with the injury i still managed to get out there for around 40-60 minutes at a time.
Watching surf movies is not such a good idea.
Coming up to summer I am not looking forward to those 30+ degree days with a nw blowing and a cracking east swell ripping down the point.
As i look at the map this morning it looks as though Thursday may be 6 ft and offshore. Might have to brush up on my Photograghy skills.
Daren.
Nicely put, as always Ambrose. That will make me smile at work tomorrow driving between appointments with my hand outa the window in the pissing down rain and murky shite fog that is old England. Cheers, I need all the smiles I can muster at work at the minute.
I did exactly the same as Speedneedle…
Time in London, party party… 10 months no surf.
Makes you appreciate surfing a lot more!!
And guess what? Thats how I started shaping!!
I was going insane, needed something involving surfing. But what is there in London?
So, I got a blank and glass sent up from HomeBlown in Cornwall, shaped it on a picnic table in the back yard.
Crazy place to do your first board, i’d never even seen it someone shape, it was all a guess.
Turned out great.
Now I’ll never be away from the water again, and i’m obsessed with shaping.
Kit