When is a surfer no longer a surfer?

[ric_vidal]

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?

Well there goes the red rag undies

[oldman]

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

Really fong, you are going soft aren't you.

If you are going to be clinical about it, you are really only a surfer when you are standing up riding a breaking wave.

All that paddling, wetness, getting hammered, kooking around, waiting. That ain't surfing. Even when you are paddling for a wave, really you are only a surfer if and when you have made the drop.

And if it's a pissy windswell with just a drop and then clearing off the shoulder, well how can you be a surfer then.

So you are really only a surfer if you are dominating your line up and only on the best of days and only while you are standing up and riding.

I have seen the fong light.

[SAsurfa]

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

That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard, we are not saying when do you stop surfing an actual wave but when you stop becoming a surfer and that doesn't mean that as soon as you leave the water you are no longer one, if this the case I must have to learn from scratch to standup everytime I go back into the surf as I am just starting as a Surfer again

[Freestyler]

YOU ARE ONLY A SURFER WHILE U ARE IN THE WATER???????

So that means Kelly Slater is not a surfer when he leaves the water, just another dude in a floral shirt eh? Mate I'd love to be just another dude and surf like him and happy if you don't call me a surfer.

[Grooter]

I put off getting the brakes done in my Commodore for two months because every Saturday morning was still worth crawlng out of bed at 7am to go for a surf no matter how crap the conditions.

When I got them fixed the guy said they were all metal on metal and I actually hadn't had them serviced in nearly 3 years.

I still plan weekend activities around the tides. The missus thinks I am going to the market this Saturday morning to get the vegies while she is at her mates getting ready for a wedding. Based on the current forecast - that ain't gonna happen and I'm already forming a very good excuse!

I think the only thing that will stop me being a surfer is father time. I can't imagine being physically able to surf a long board in my 90's.

[RickyG]

I reckon you are on the way to NOT being a surfer when you start making excuses NOT to go for a surf..........

eg: it's too small/big/windy/low tide/high tide gotta work soon/dog ate my homework/lawn needs mowing etc. etc

Good call, I'm ashamed to admit it but I think I've decided not to go in the past 'cause the housework needed to be done - man that's bad

I agree the stoke stays with you by knowing what the tides are, what direction the wind's blowing from, and noticing that filthy little 3'' barrel rippling down the riverbank after a tinnie's cruised past.

[oldman]

I reckon you are on the way to NOT being a surfer when you start making excuses NOT to go for a surf..........

eg: it's too small/big/windy/low tide/high tide gotta work soon/dog ate my homework/lawn needs mowing etc.

A lot of truth in that Ringmaster, but one day you will wake up and wonder how it was that you used to get excited about surfing crowded onshore windblown 2' rubbish, ....... and then you can take the pebble from my hand.

[moreorless]

Maybe the question should be when do you truly become a surfer?

There was a poll here a while ago on how long people had been surfing. From memory there was a big fall-off between the five and 10 year mark, which could have been interpreted people giving it up for one reason or another.

I know from my own experience that most of the guys who began at the same time I did gave it up ages ago, probably in that five to 10 year slot.

Some of these guys were very talented and really lived the life, but were they in the end really surfers? And what's a surfer anyway? I don't really know, though in my own case if I gave it away a fundamental part of my being would just shrivel and die. I'm sure as hell not going to let that happen.

[snakes]

When you stop surfing - Duh!

No need for some big fu(koff philosophical debate about the matter

[Trev]

Fong, your thinking is warped. A surfer is a surfer is a surfer. If he surfs, all sorts of things set his mind off. As many other correspondents to this topic have pointed out, the shape of a headland from the air, even a wake on a river bank from a passing boat will do it for me. Doesn't matter whether the wave is 6" high or 6' If you have ever ridden a surf craft you can picture yourself in the pocket.
I surfed from 15 to 21 then went driving rally cars for almost 20 years but was never able to visit a beach or drive a coast road without "mind surfing" and eventually the pull grew too great (OK! OK! the cost of driving rallies got too great) and I have now been back in the water seriously for more than 20 years.
And to the correspondent who used Lake Jindabyne as an example of where there woulod be no surf, there was a great half page pic in the Daily Telegraph late last year of some guy surfing 3 ' wind swell at the southern end of exactly that lake.

[bookster]

You are a surfer as long as you think about surfing- the act of riding waves, the weather forecast, craning your neck to get a look at a glimpse of the ocean as you fly/drive/ride past it. If you think about what the surf may be like, you qualify in my opinion.

Of course there are varying levels of commitment, and others may well use that as a yardstick to quantify if they consider you a "surfer" or not. The folks who live inland and get up at sparrowfart to get down the beach for the early are just as much surfers as the guy munching on breakfast watching the waves from his balcony, IMHO. The guy who surfs once a month is just as much a surfer as the guy who surfs every day. If you catch a wave that sees you paddle out with a smile on your face, how many waves you've caught is irrelevant- your stoke is with the last wave you caught.

I've found in the last 8 months that I've not been able to surf at the drop of a hat, when and where I like- having a new baby will do that. I could imagine some more obsessed surfers ( a few of my mates come to mind) crawling out of their skin at the thought of having to give up "their" time, but despite sometimes not getting into the water until the seabreeze has kicked in, or surfing when I can, rather than when I want, I still manage to enjoy my water time- and I am still a "surfer". Having someone who a few years down the track you will be able to introduce to the thing that is a big part of your life is something I look forward to- the reduced sessions now will mean more time in the water when my daughter is surfing

What counts is enjoying everything to do with surfing, and being able to take time out from it without worrying about whether being away from the water makes you less of a surfer- it doesn't.

[Beanpole]

Funny sometimes you can not get in the water for a while especially if its crappy conditions keeping you out and your still in tune. Other times when your stretched at work or whatever you can get really out of sync.

Iguess when being out of sync with the ocean seems okay you stop being a surfer.

[RickyG]

[quote="Rockin' Ron]

RickyG, if you are choosing housework then that is a sickness...my personal remedy is the spliff and the mal. Never fails...you get wet, there is a theme to the two hours you spend in the water, and you get ME time.[/quote]

Yeah, not so much choosing but having it chosen for me to a degree

Approaching mid-thirties and with 2 kids under 18-months it's hard to balance all the stuff you've gotta fit into a weekend, plus quality time with the kids, and sufficient water time. Living 30-40 mins from the beach doesn't help.

Like Bookster says, I'm trying to focus on staying with it long enough so that when my two boys are a bit older I can go surfing with them - can't wait

[fong]

Fong, your thinking is warped. .

can't argue against that

but the arguments rest u clowns putting 4wards fair game

so your a surfer if u "think about it"?

hmmmm lets follow that logic your a crimnal if you "think about doing a crime"

your a porn star because u "think about being a porn star"

i'm a fire truck because i "think about being a firetruck"

no...sorry....doesn't wash now does it because u can ONLY B A SURFER WHILE YOUR SURFING

and old man....i don't think u have stand up in a tube too count....just b wet and enjoy it

i've watched 70 years old men and women "surf/swim" each day without fail just on dawn all year round without wetties at towns

i sometimes wonder if there more "surfers' than the sum of us :? u got step out the ads "only a surfer knows the feeling " and confront the fact the worth of your life is more than one cool slogan

[ric_vidal]

Approaching mid-thirties and with 2 kids under 18-months it's hard to balance all the stuff you've gotta fit into a weekend, plus quality time with the kids, and sufficient water time. Living 30-40 mins from the beach doesn't help.

Get the crash cart stat!

RickyG take it from RicV if you want to be a good husband/father take time to surf, just be realistic about the time, you’ll be a better person for it. It may require some horse trading but do it. Housework and the other sh*t will be there whenever. Cook, clean the dunny, shove a feather duster up your clacker and run around with the vacuum cleaner like you are doing all the housework... you WILL get time off.

[Jorgo]

Yep - like RV says - make time. I remember being told something along the lines of - just substitute housework for any other mundane pain in the arse "have to do" job.
"You'll never remember that great day you cleaned the house the best its ever been (and then it only gets dirty again) - but you will remember forever that wave you got where that last section built and threw, and you ducked under it and popped out the end with a big smile on your dial - and your mates were hooting back at ya"

Oh, and RV - pain in the arse was no reference to feather duster activity.

[ric_vidal]

Oh, and RV - pain in the arse was no reference to feather duster activity.

the funny thing is people keep asking, ‘are you still surfing?’ I mean I don’t surf anywhere as much as I could/should but that is for other reasons... but it’s still basically a function of living to me.

Now got to do the chores, otherwise the wife will beat me.

[Jorgo]

Double post I know.
Fongle - I hear everything that you're saying - not saying that I agree with it mind you. How does your stance vary on those that are unable to hit the waves due to illness (temporary - bad flu, or more long term ie. Nic Nac??).
I'm fairly certain that an enforced layoff doesn't mean that one has lost the urge to surf. I'm just starting my second 6 weeks out of the water in the last 5 months. Damn sure that I'll be checking wind, tide, weather systems etc every day - just as normal, and getting to the ocean to view every second day or so. Not to mention RS reports and forums and TV Surf Reports and footage every day.
When one is no longer interested in any of this input - then I think there are danger signs.
I was lucky in that in my last lay off I made myself some boards - now unless I was planning on getting back in the water to "surf" again - what would have been the use?
And it certainly wasn't to make them and sell for the Bucks