Has surfing lost it's soul?

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Has surfing lost its soul?

Yes
10
42%
No
10
42%
Are you a hippy?
4
17%
 
Total votes: 24

mical
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Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by mical » Sat Jan 30, 2010 7:11 pm

Shearer asked whether surfing is on the decline, and this question came to mind.

Has surfing lost it's soul?

If you have an opinion either way, what is 'soul' to you?

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Trev
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by Trev » Sat Jan 30, 2010 7:54 pm

Argh! Geez mical. :evil:
It's Saturday night and here we are, talking on the intermathingy. :cry:
However, since we're here, here goes. :lol:
I voted "No" and despite being the first to reply to your query, I see there have been two other votes. Both in favour.
So, why? Well I would agree that surfing's soul had changed. And it may be buried under a heap of extraneous stuff (the Long Reef boogers probably did that while they were excavating the lagoon).
On Realsurf and in the real surf I note plenty of surfers who are IMO the embodiment of "soul".
Many include in their posts, their feelings when pulling up at their favourite spot to find it cranking, their feelings sitting out the back; sharing with just a few other like- minded punters or sharing the stoke over a coffee or beer, post session.
The soul is still there while ever there are surfers who feel that way and can express themselves well enough to convey their feelings.
Changed it may have, lost? Never.
Now. It's Saturday night. I'm outa here.
Or maybe not. Been to the gym for the last three days. Sleep now. :oops:
Beanpole
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Skipper
I still don't buy the "official" narrative about 9/11. Oh sure, it happened, fcuk yeah. But who and why and how I'm, not convinced it was what we've been told.

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Grooter
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by Grooter » Sat Jan 30, 2010 8:14 pm

Nah I don't reckon it has, at least certainly not the act of doing it.

It's mystique has taken a battering though via the amount of corporatism that has profited from it.
some cnut wrote:There are only two real problems that we face in life, knowing what we want but being unable to know how to get it and/or not knowing what we want
It's possible to hate the filthy world and still love it with an abstract pitying love

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Trev
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by Trev » Sat Jan 30, 2010 8:46 pm

Fong deleted his post.
It was well written Tim. You should leave it here.
Beanpole
You aren’t the room Yuke You are just a wonky cafe table with a missing rubber pad on the end of one leg.

Skipper
I still don't buy the "official" narrative about 9/11. Oh sure, it happened, fcuk yeah. But who and why and how I'm, not convinced it was what we've been told.

mustkillmulloway
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by mustkillmulloway » Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:02 pm

TrevG wrote:Fong deleted his post.
It was well written Tim. You should leave it here.
thank u trev 8)

but must stay in charecter :wink: :lol:

i
reginald wrote:Hang on, now all of a sudden I'm the bad guy. How the try again did that happen?

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steve shearer
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by steve shearer » Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:03 pm

Why are you such a pussy Tim?

is a more pertinent question.
I want Nightclub Dwight dead in his grave I want the nice-nice up in blazes

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otway1949
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by otway1949 » Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:26 pm

Ah soul?
That unique element in our make up that takes us to appreciation of life instead of being one :lol:
Jaffa, I'm opinionated, and I'm sometimes right. So?

astro
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by astro » Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:32 pm

Surfing is what you want it to be.If you want to be a fashion puppy with all the gear you can,I see them all the time.However I also see the guys who just live to surf,they get jobs that allow surf time,they only buy siht they need some of these guys look so unsurf that that...they just look to unsurf for words.But when they hit the ocean the catalist ignites and they become at one with the universe reaching euphoric hights that others can only dream of.These are the lost souls of surfing, riding the kalidascope of life,looking into barrels of uncertinty and hiding behind the curtains of reality only to be spat back into society to hide in secret until next the two shall meet...!

mustkillmulloway
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by mustkillmulloway » Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:36 pm

steve shearer wrote:
is a more pertinent .
is that like a sharpe that never washes off :lol:

we call em textures down south mate :lol: :lol:
reginald wrote:Hang on, now all of a sudden I'm the bad guy. How the try again did that happen?

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Cpt.Caveman
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Sun Jan 31, 2010 9:47 am

IMO, if surfing becomes something where you just go through the motions, or where you only do it to be part of the surf gang, then it might loose its soul for me.

I can't see that ever happening, so never :)
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Chillin
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by Chillin » Sun Jan 31, 2010 9:56 am

astro wrote:Surfing is what you want it to be.If you want to be a fashion puppy with all the gear you can,I see them all the time.However I also see the guys who just live to surf,they get jobs that allow surf time,they only buy siht they need some of these guys look so unsurf that that...they just look to unsurf for words.But when they hit the ocean the catalist ignites and they become at one with the universe reaching euphoric hights that others can only dream of.These are the lost souls of surfing, riding the kalidascope of life,looking into barrels of uncertinty and hiding behind the curtains of reality only to be spat back into society to hide in secret until next the two shall meet...!
Im not quite sure what you are saying Astro, are you saying that if you wear all the gear then your surfing has no soul? The thought that you might have to look like you're not a surfer so you can be one with soul is condecending, surely soul comes from within and not from what you are wearing or what board you ride.
Maybe we should define what surfings soul is, i get the feeling it might be diferent for all of us.
Your opinion is worth as much as it costs.

purple pyramids
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by purple pyramids » Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:45 am

probably just the same as it ever was.

do the 70s count as a time of great soul? people squatting abandoned dairy farms, breakfasting on mushrooms picked on the way to a deserted beach seems to fit the bill perfectly.

meanwhile, back in sydney, it was a punch to the head before you even got onto the sand and junkies following your every move like a pack of hyenas for a day of surfing in water full of raw sewerage.

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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by Yuke Hunt » Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:05 pm

Does motor-sport … cricket … kite-surfing or tennis have a soul ?
… and lets not confuse history and tradition with soul.

Did surfing ever have a soul to loose … ?

Firstly we have to define what the soul of surfing would be … so aside from the obvious spiritual reference of the soul being a consciousness … a spirit … mind or self … it can also refer to a shared awareness … and also to a quality that one may posses.

Take the term Soul Surfer for instance … a person who surfs for the sheer pleasure of the act ... and who shuns the commercialisation of surfing. If thats so then a vast majority of surfers on this planet are by definition soul surfers … either by design or circumstance. It could be argued that a soul surfer is some kind of Kombi driving spiritual idealist who not only shuns … but detests the commercial aspects of surfing today.

The very fact that some people … albeit more so in the past … consider surfing to be an art form rather than a sport … separates it from the mainstream and places it in an unusual position as far as being pigeonholed either way. Can a sport have a soul … it can have a heart and soul … spectators … players or a single person can be considered this … but a soul … ?

Can surfing be a spiritual activity … ? … arguably yes … it is considered meditative and it most definitely can help to de-stress. Therefore ... surfing in a sense is soul cleansing.

When someone or something is regarded to have lost its soul … I assume they mean that it has lost its purity. Surfing has a purity … an absolute purity … the very act of catching and riding waves is as pure as it gets … it can never loose that. It may get diluted at times … but the pure stoke that has entranced surfers for generations ... is the essence … the very heart and soul of the activity.

Sure surfing has a commercial side … just about everything does. Not many activities can escape some aspect of commercialism. We have professionalism in surfing … with an industry that both feeds it and on it. Surfing is big business … one way or another. The participants in surfing come from very diverse cultural cross-sections of the entire planet. The popularity and acceptance of alternate surf-craft … not to mention the number of females partaking in the blissful act of wave riding means that surfing has becoming a very popular pastime. With its history and traditions … today more than ever before being documented and honoured.

Lets adopt the outlook that the soul of surfing is a shared awareness … a consciousness of spirit … rather than some idealistic purists view.

If thats the case then all it takes is that the majority of surfers (real surfers) appreciate the gift … honour the history and traditions and share the pure stoke of riding waves.

The soul of surfing is far from lost.
The moving finger writes and having writ moves on ... now all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel even half a line ... nor all thy tears wash out a single word of it.

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el rancho
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by el rancho » Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:08 pm

fvck do what you want, don't be a sheep. don't believe everything you read in surf mags, and don't buy they're sellout products.

if ya wanna surf single fins, do it. you'll realise they're limitations soon enough. who cares what anyone says. just dont try copy anyone.

too many haters and fashion victims in surfing, too many people eager to get into stuff just cause they saw it in a mag and feel "that's what surfers do".

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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by diggerdickson » Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:57 pm

No, I remember having this discussion back in the 80's when fluro stuff was coming in and people said that surfing has lost its soul back then and that people were selling themselves out to commercialism, I say bull@#$t.

I get up at 4.15 and try to be first one in the morning, sometimes I am, sometimes Im not, but always I get a knowing glance from the guy that beat me out to the lineup, a smile that recoginizes that how lucky we are to be out in the water at that early time scoring good waves and riding whatever craft we want ( as long as its not a sup or wave ski :lol: )

Surfing will never lose its soul , because to say that your trying to say that surfers themselves have no soul, to me that can never happen ( personally and theologically) no matter what the magazines will try to tell us.
no, Im not a surfer, Im just a garbage man".

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Trev
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by Trev » Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:21 pm

Great paragraph construction Womble. 8)

And, Digger. I think you've nailed it here.
"I get up at 4.15 and try to be first one in the morning, sometimes I am, sometimes Im not, but always I get a knowing glance from the guy that beat me out to the lineup, a smile that recoginizes that how lucky we are to be out in the water at that early time scoring good waves and riding whatever craft we want"
Beanpole
You aren’t the room Yuke You are just a wonky cafe table with a missing rubber pad on the end of one leg.

Skipper
I still don't buy the "official" narrative about 9/11. Oh sure, it happened, fcuk yeah. But who and why and how I'm, not convinced it was what we've been told.

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chrisb
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Re: Has surfing lost it's soul?

Post by chrisb » Sun Jan 31, 2010 6:40 pm

I think it is a mistake to assume that as the "good old days"are long gone and commercialism is rife that surfing has lost its soul.

There will always be those victims of fashion who dress in the latest surf gear and buy trendy boards ie. poseurs who one can argue have no soul. It isn't like this is new - when I was a grommet I read an early '60's surf book that identified "highway surfers". These were pathetic types who affixed a surfboard to the roof of their car, drove past all the surf breaks but never surfed.

Then and now there's many surfers who don't follow trends in surf clothing and board design and surf purely for the enjoyment. First in the water at sunrise, surfing isolated waves in any weather. Surfing has not lost its soul.

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