Want to learn to get barreled? Surf until you get barreled. Photo: Will H-S
I’m extraordinarily average at surfing. It’s kind of depressing really–I surf nearly every day, and I should be much better than I am, but I am not. So it goes, as He says. But I have stopped trying to get better at surfing. And now I am getting better at surfing. Weird.
For a long time, I actively tried to improve. Surfing became more like practicing surfing than actually surfing, which was stupid. It became frustrating, because I couldn’t do what I was trying to do, and I am usually pretty stuck on doing what I want because I am selfish and stubborn, and god damn it, I am a man with my own free will and I am smarter than this stupid piece of foam and if it would just do what it’s supposed to do like it’s supposed to then everything would be ok and I could finally do this FUCKING FLOATER. Or something like that.
Surfing sucks sometimes, but only if you’re concentrating on doing new things. That is to say, at least, concentrating solely on doing new things, instead of just letting them happen. That sounds very new-age, doesn’t it? But if you’re not getting paid to surf, then why does it matter how “good” you are? It doesn’t. Falling off waves is fun. Riding waves is fun. Simply floating around is fun. Surfing is way more than actually riding a wave. Frustration is not fun.
But learning is fun, as stupid as that sounds to my 15-year-old school-hating self. Learning slowly over the course of time is fun. Learning without trying to learn is not only fun, but incredibly satisfying. One day, after months of not trying, you realize that, quite by accident, you’ve just done something on a surfboard you’d seen someone else do long ago, someone much more talented than you ever thought you would be. And you weren’t even trying! Here’s the rub, though… it takes a long time. Like, a really long time. Years. Someone asked me once when I learned to surf. I’m not sure that one ever learns to surf–it’s an ever-steepening curve with no ceiling. Want to learn to get barreled? Surf until you get barreled.
I did an interview with Gerry Lopez a few months ago, and he said something that I’ve heard him say a thousand times: “The first twenty years of surfing,” he told me, “was just a test to see if I was really interested.” He is a man who stuck with surfing. He moved from Hawaii to Oregon, where the waves are certainly not as good. But he still surfs, and he still has just as much fun. And you know what? He’s probably still learning new things on those shitty, windy, cold Oregon days in the water. Things he could never learn at Pipeline.
Of course, there are people that find competing fun. The ones that love to win probably think this is stupid. And it is, to them. But if you’re not having fun surfing and you’re not getting paid to do it, then why are you doing it? For the sake of clogged lineups everywhere, if you’re a miserable asshole because you perceive yourself as a shitty surfer, then just get the fuck out of the water, please.
To the others, the ones with no competitive fire, but want to surf better, just keep surfing. Don’t TRY and learn new things, just surf until they happen. They will,eventually. And you will have fun on the way. Because no one gives a shit if you’re good at surfing or not… so you may as well have fun doing it.
