When is a surfer no longer a surfer?

[RickyG]

(Been thinking about this one for ages; was going to add to 'surfing is good thread' felt it's worth a topic)

Once you've become hooked, are you a surfer (in some sense) for ever? How long can you go without a surf but still think of yourself as a surfer?

I tend to think that if circumstances take you away from the ocean and surfing you can still retain some link to it - like driving past a sloped grass embankment and imagining it as a clean, unbroken wave or walking through a pedestrian tunnell and imagining getting barrelled, or even posting on this forum

Over the past few years I've found my surfing time getting eaten away more and more (job, kids, geography, never-ending home reno's, etc) and think I'd be better off just accepting reality rather than getting the sh!ts at not being able to get into the water. But I just can't seem to do it - surfing is good and I need it!!!

[dammit__01]

A surfer is no longer a surfer once they have thrown in the towel. Once they have come to realise, 'I will never surf again'. Happened to my old man a year or two ago due to lots of different circumstances.

[fong]

nice thread....my own view ( well..u gonna get it even if u don't want it )

your no longer a surfer.....the MOMENT U LEAVE THE WATER

the moment u get out surf...u cease being a surfer....u are joe average cillvian again

don't matter if u surf twice a day for 6 hrs...or once a year 4 one...the moment u get out/it's over till u get back in

[Kunji]

Never give up RickyG! Id rather be pissed off missing the surf than knowing that i have consciously given up. You cant quit. Thats it, you're in for life.

[Spoon]

When you stop looking at the weather and thinking, "It's offshore!" or "the southerly's hit etc.

[ric_vidal]

...the moment u get out/it's over till u get back in

Disagree donkey wolloper what about when the sea decides to exit your nose orifices try explaining that in cocktail conversation.

[2nd Reef]

and I'm of the thinking that if you can stand and look at any body of water (beaches of course, lakes, harbours, even rivers) and other requisite geographical contributors (headlands, reefs, tombolos etc) and not automatically make a subconcious assessment of how it might go in this swell and that wind, then you are no longer a surfer.

Bang on Ron.

Same goes for looking at aerial maps or photos of coastline, any coastline, and wondering about the possibilities.

[Freestyler]

Never give up, "Rally against the dark!"
Once a surfer always a surfer, even when it comes time to shuffle off to the nursing home, just hope its on a headland so you can mind surf from your wheelchair.
In the meantime remember life is cyclical, sometimes responsibilities get in the way of stuff, but the time to surf will return -- as long as you don't give up.

[Nick Carroll]

I reckon it's all about how far in you go. I know people who surfed for a while and seemed pretty keen, but then at some point just stopped. Saw one of 'em walking along the shoreline with his kids on Sunday, he wasn't even looking at the waves. This is a guy who paddled out on all the great days of our youth, days I still remember in an eye blink....but it's as if it never happened for him.

[2nd Reef]

I can remember seeing an old bit of graffiti that read;

"If you dont surf now you never did"

[sean--]

When you stop looking at the weather and thinking, "It's offshore!" or "the southerly's hit etc.

I reckon you got it there Spoon. When you stop thinking about it.

[oldman]

Good topic RickyG

I lost 'the stoke' a few years ago and wonder whether I am still allowed to consider myself a surfer.

But I still get out, once or twice a month until holidays come around. I can't walk by a beach without looking at the form of the headland and the banks. I'm always looking for the path I would take paddling out, using the rips where possible, avoiding the dredging sand banks, then padling down the beach to the break.

A weather chart is always more than a weather chart, it's a surf prediction tool. I'm usually aware of the tides, and never lose track of the lunar phases.

When I see a wave I'm riding it in my mind. When I watch another surfer I'm checking out what they did right, what they did wrong, why they didn't turn there or smack that lip.

I miss the stoke, that primal urge to get out there regardless, the internal need that used to get me jumpy if I couldn't use up some energy out in the briny. But life goes on after the stoke is worn out, and I haven't given up hope that the stoke will return.

And what surprises me more than ever is that when I get out there I can still surf and I can still paddle.

And I still have some memories burned deeply into my brain of waves of such consummate beauty that no photo could do them justice. You just had to be there. I have deeply emotive memories of sharing timeless moments with friends in the water, those surf trips you shared and the coastlines you explored, always thinking about being out there.

And due to the good fortune of living near the ocean there are very few days when I don't see the water, the prevailing swell, the effect of the wind on the surface.

When am I not a surfer?

Conversely, I spend long days in the office, but in my head I am no more an office worker than I am a martian. Go figure.

[2nd Reef]

And the last couple of days of I've been eating my Weet Bix reading John Veage's book Southern Surf. Tonnes of photos of old Cronulla surfers from the late 70's and 80's ripping the place apart and living the lifestyle. B&W shots of the boys drinking on the front wall at the old Northies, Herbie as Dick Bent fronting the Bentnick Family, Gary Hughes charging the reefs in sluggoes and his band playing at the Beaurepaires after party with Peter Drouyn on stage, Occy at around 10 years of age in the corner of a Cronulla Sharks Boardriders photo.

Awesome, timeless photos.

Of the hundreds of faces in the book there are barely a handful that are still around and surfing. Brought back memories of all the guys I used to see out the Alley but never see anymore. Did they move away? Quit surfing? Survive?

[2nd Reef]

Shaun Tomson's Surfer's Code:

I will never turn my back on the ocean.
I will always paddle back out.
I will take the drop with commitment.
I will know that there will always be another wave.
I will realize that all surfers are joined by one ocean.
I will paddle around the impact zone.
I will never fight a rip tide.
I will watch out for other surfers after a big set.
I will pass on my stoke to a non-surfer.
I will ride, and not paddle in to shore.
I will catch a wave every day, even in my mind.
I will honor the sport of kings.

[Freestyler]

Reading various threads here seems like a fair few surfers in their 40s-50s still fit and doing it regularly, so just like rest of society the age barrier is being pushed back in the surfing community, so no excuse for giving up -- in fact lots of inspiration.
Sadly the longer you surf the thinner the crowd of people you know in the water, lots of strangers at my break, people do give up or just move elsewhere.
But whats a buzz is when you travel from your local break and find guys in distant lineups that you grew up surfing with -- faces may be old and wrinkly and heads bald, but you know their style immediately, and its just like the old days surfin with a mate.

[fong]

When am I not a surfer?

. Go figure.

how can u possible b a surfer if your not wet :?

by logical definition a surfer is someone who surfs

not walks on land saying "cowbuga dude how good was that shorey this morning"....thats belonging too the surfer tribe....and pretty much everyone tries buy into that tribe these days

YOU ARE ONLY A SURFER WHILE U ARE IN THE WATER


after that your just along for the ride because u relate too it

how many people do u know dress/look/act like surfers but never surf there part the surfing tribe....BUT THERE NOT SURFERS

P.S IN CONCLUSION YOUR ALL WRONG , and shaunn tompson don't know shit and the springbox are bufflo f.uckers

[2nd Reef]

So its only when in the act that you can be called a surfer?



Can the Rabbitohs be called footy players when off the field?

Come to think of it, can they even be called footy players when they are on it?

[fong]

So its only when in the act that you can be called a surfer?



Can the Rabbitohs be called footy players when off the field?

Come to think of it, can they even be called footy players when they are on it?

ignoring your snide petty remark on the future 2007 premiership winning team

yes exactly.....you are only a footy player...WHEN PLAYING....u are only a surfer when SURFING

how hard is that too comprehend

or wat u end up with people who haven't surf or kicked a ball in years claiming too b

when i leave the water...i cease being a surfer....when i enter it i am