A moment of silence for the Surf God. Photo: Brooks Sterling
How can a crisis turn into a positive thing to committed surfers? I’ll try to explain.
I live in a small country where surfing started to be a trend not long ago. Aside from the capital and two well-known surf regions (one known for staging one event of the ASP world tour), the rest of the country is still pretty far from the surf radar. That doesn’t mean, however, that there are no good waves. In fact, the surf is great and really consistent. The reason why you will find my country a surf paradise, where you can surf perfect waves with just a few locals, is because the main characteristic of native surfers is laziness. They prefer to hear how great the surf was early in the morning, instead of waking up in the dawn. Moreover, lunch break here is sacred. That means if you manage your schedule to surf at this time, you are pretty likely to score empty perfection.
If that sounds like a nice picture for those who like to sacrifice sleep, work, or lunch hours for a good surf session, I have to tell you that in the last few years, we’ve gained an ally. THE CRISIS! Economic crisis is perfect for someone like me, living and surfing in places far from main urban centers. Nowadays, it gets too expensive to travel a couple of hundred kilometers to surf. It just doesn’t make sense to do anymore. As a natural consequence of the surf market explosion all over the world, even my home was invaded by the surf circus. We’ve hosted a 6-star WQS, which was promoted by surf vampires who actually don’t even surf anymore. Indeed, it seems that they forgot the main reason why they do it; they forgot surfing is essentially about pure joy and happiness. Surfing is not a sport nor is it a recreational or economic activity. Surfing – and when I say surfing, I am talking about all the ways you can ride a wave – is a vehicle to enlighten you on a daily basis by doing what we love most.
Fortunately, the blessed crisis has put its hands on it, and with the corrupt councils going bankrupt, there is no more money for surf clowns anymore.
So now we are surfing and experiencing what the old surfers used to tell us. The crisis has brought us the ancient and pure feeling of surfing!
Surf God, bless the crisis!
