“Noah benShea is the most stoked non-surfer I know,” says Tomson. Photo: Shaun Tomson/Dan Merk.
Shaun Tomson believes that as surfers, we are uniquely equipped to deal with the ups and downs that life throws at us. And he’s probably right. “At the core of surf for all of us is that feeling of hope,” says Tomson. “You wake up early in the morning and go down to the beach and you never really know what you’re gonna get, but you go anyways, because hopefully you’re gonna get that wave that’s gonna get you stoked.”
In his new book, The Surfer and the Sage, which was just released yesterday, Tomson teams up with poet, philosopher, and fellow Santa Barbara, Calif. resident Noah benShea to bring surfing’s lessons to the wider public, with a focus on the troubling times we’re living in.
The inspiration for the book was twofold Tomson told me over the phone. Since 1977, when Tomson was crowned World Champion, he’s done a lot with his life, including building and selling two clothing brands, working with Patagonia, and serving on the board of directors of the Surfrider Foundation. When the pandemic hit, Tomson was working as a keynote speaker, traveling the world to share what he’s learned from a life enriched by surfing. With the travel part on hold, Tomson took his public speaking virtual, and in an attempt to better connect with his audiences despite the distance, he began his talks by asking each member of the audience to send in a single word describing how they were feeling and, using software, would form a wordcloud and project it to the audience. “Out of the maybe over 100,000 people that I spoke to through COVID, the four most common words I got were stress, anxiety, depression and disconnection,” says Tomson. “I wanted to do something about that.”
Tomson at Pipeline. “Stalling is a bit of a lost art in this hurried and fast paced world,” he says. Photo: Dan Merk.
The second inspiration for the book was a conversation. Tomson and benShea met for lunch in Santa Barbara in 2020, introduced by a mutual friend, and instantly hit things off. “Noah is one of the most stoked non-surfers I’ve ever met,” says Tomson. “We spoke for about five minutes before he said: ‘Hey Shaun, let’s write a book together.’ And that’s how it happened, it happened in like five minutes.”
I’m currently about halfway through the book and loving it so far. It consists of 18 chapters that are connected but can be consumed singularly as well, each using anecdotes from Tomson’s experiences in the water as well as benShea’s philosophical wisdom to draw analogies between surfing and life, mental health, and more. “In surfing there is a balance between isolation and connectivity that is reflective of the dynamic tension of life – the struggle between self and selflessness, between love and loneliness,” Tomson writes.
You can purchase the book on Amazon. Tomson has also announced a local tour taking place over the summer, with the dates and locations below, for those interested in meeting the surf legend and philosophical thinker.
Tour Dates and Locations:
Saturday, June 4 – Tecolote Book Shop, Montecito, Calif.
Wednesday, June 8 – Pages Book Shop, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Thursday, June 9 – Patagonia, Ventura, Calif.
Wednesday, June 15 – Hobie Surf Shop, Laguna Beach, Calif.
Thursday, June 16 – Maritime Museum, Santa Barbara, Calif.
Tuesday, June 21 – Harbour Surfshop, Seal Beach, Calif.
Wednesday, June 22 – Montecito Country Mart, Santa Barbara, Calif.
Friday, June 24 – Ocean Hut, New Jersey
