Session 4087B: Surfing For Life

This is the second session for the day. Went to the Jetty for the late late afternoon surfing. Katy joined me. This S. swell has not been working well in our area. The local buoy was definitely showing the period of like 17 to 18 seconds with 4-5 ft. We did get sets, but they were all closed out too. I guess it will require a bit more westerly angle. It is still quite a challenge to understand the art of surf forecasting.

 

One of the things that I have been experimenting is "Taking off no matter what." Because some good surfers seem to do. So instead of backing off I just try, and I have been able to do a little better. The key seems to be to hold down the tail really really and really hard. This is what Bill Morris writes about The Tail:

 

"Your board also has a tail that you don’t know about. As a wave gets very steep, and it looks like you’re going to just fall down the face, you can lean back on that tail and it will gouge down the wave face, gently landing you and shooting your forward with great velocity. You have a tail you can swing from, Surf Monkey. "  from http://www.watertrader.co.uk

 

I got up a lot more on this type of situation (what happens often afterwards is that the wave crumbles up and no more surfing), but good people can pick a rail line and also get the speed so can still dash to left or right and continue on. So that seems to be a key in doing well with beach breaks, and the Fish should be perfect for it besides the penalty for a failure is much less than doing it on a long board (which can make the board fly off).

When I got home, "Surfing for Life" (http://www.surfingforlife.com/)  has arrived from NetFlix so we decided to watch the program after the dinner.

The film was independently produced by David Brown and Roy Earnest and there are surfers that in 80's and 90's (in 2001).

 

The movie is about healthy and happy aging, which all of us are experiencing every moment. It was produced locally in the Bay Area and David Brown still teaches video documentary making class in Brisbane.

 

I am really glad I watched it, because the movie was shot really nicely in Hawai'i and the stories they were telling to the camera were funny, right-on as for the surfing itself, and really teach us how we should really keep stoked as we all get older. Many of the surfers were doing it for 30-40 years and in their younger days, they were surfing 25 ft waves in the North Shores of Oahu even before anybody knew about surfing in such big waves. Of course leashless and with one of these long long wood plank boards. Truly amazing! Many of them also made a lot of impact on surfing community such as preserving the beaches from over developments, and inventing catamaran boats etc.

 

As with many of the things I agree with, after watching it, you will get the message that you got to keep stoked and live in the moment. Looked like all of the surfers do, and that unites all of us.

 

All of the surfers looked very healthy, sharp, and happy. It is a very happy story about aging and the life each one of us got.

 

Big thumbs up on this movie.