No one likes to be shoved in a box. It’s a place that controls and seeks your conformity to a stereotype. The box is usually one constructed by the opinions and popular views of others.
On a recent trip to Western Australia’s southern capes, my longboarding companions were looking to get out of the box. You see the box for longboaring is small waves, nose riding, finessing the curl and stepping with style. We constantly see images of perfected feet on noses hanging 10 beautifully, but that is not all there is to riding a longboard.
Some proponents of the longboard art like to push their craft into unfamiliar areas; areas outside of the box. For Nic Jones and Jack Entwhistle, this literally meant surfing the Box in WA. That quick, slabby reef adjacent to Margaret River. This wave has indeed been surfed by longboarders before, but each generation wants to push their own envelope and challenge the preconceived norms placed upon them by popular opinion.
This wave has an element of fear and danger associated with it, and rightly so. I did overhear the boys ringing home to reassure their mums of a safe return. This was just one highlight in a trip to the wilds of western OZ.
This is one of the great privileges of serving as a Chaplain to the surf community I get to experience highlights and share in the low lights always serving and caring for the surfers.
