Ask Carroll

[rmb]

I have read previously your swimming programs so I wont ask about those I can look back and find them.

I guess to answer your questions yes I do have access to water for swimming, waves could be a variety of beach breaks, points and reefs from fat to heavy and sucky probably up to around 4 to 6 foot max. What type of surfer I guess I wouldn't consider myself a high performance more a take of trim do a turn etc bit non descriptive but I dunno what else to add.

Maybe to make it easier are you aware of any good online training programs for surfers?

[Nick Carroll]

I can't really recommend any of those, to me most of them seem like they're more about themselves than about surfing.

A lot depends on your age and attitude to things. For some people it might work to do some other sport as well, like tennis or something, for the social aspect and to engage themselves a bit more. I guess the best thing to do along with a bit of swimming is get yourself a fitball and a couple of light weights, this lets you work on balance and overall body strength and quick movement. There's plenty of good little training programs online for that.

I do think a big thing is don't overdo it. You want to have energy to surf when you can, you're supporting that and hopefully not wearing yourself down in the process.

[Davros]

Nick, I just read about that insane shooting of two TV journos in the U.S. , the perpetrator was an African American ex news presenter who was tipped over the edge by the nutcase who massacred those African American church goers and called for a "Race War" (no doubt he had other axes to grind) F$ck me drunk.

You've lived in the U.S., have Amercian friends, your connected. Do you think that this insanity of middle class American slaughtering each other is now becoming just part of living in the U.S. and the horror is now a regular sound bite on CNN and a shrug of the shoulders for everyday citizens. Not being candid my wife is from Santa Cruz and she looks at the U.S. with a different lens nowadays being here but in some ways it's always difficult for Americans to be truly objective and acknowledge their country is on the grip of a major and frightening crisis.

[Nick Carroll]

I think a lot of people I know in the USA just get on with their lives and sorta compartmentalise this stuff. They don't feel connected to such events. It's happening, but to other people, usually quite a way away. The whole Second Amendment spinifex has been around a long time and no new light is gonna be shed on any of it. Plus if you live in a place, the "news" is different, it just streams along and a lot more than one item is prominent; I think in Australia we get a slightly odd view of the USA because our media cherry-picks the big shock horror news items, which makes it look like that's all that is happening in whichever nation is at the centre of the item. It's the same overseas, where many people have a very odd view of Australia, based only on what few news items make it into other countries' bulletins -- usually something to do with a tourist being torn to bits by Australian fauna.

True objectivity would require you to take all this into effect, including the fact of the US population base (I think around 320 million now?), the long history of gun laws and gun use, the big differences between different parts of the USA, the many social climates, the population drifts of the past 50 years or so which have dislocated many families and built and destroyed cities, the steady increases in economic uncertainty for steadily increasing numbers of people, and a hyper-kinetic media environment, parts of which seem bent on making an art of form of irrationality. The fact is, if you care to look, the USA is always in the grip of a major and frightening crisis -- unless you're living there.

[Davros]

Thanks Nick, yeh its a complex place i think, but so is France, japan etc...

[rmb]

I can't really recommend any of those, to me most of them seem like they're more about themselves than about surfing.

A lot depends on your age and attitude to things. For some people it might work to do some other sport as well, like tennis or something, for the social aspect and to engage themselves a bit more. I guess the best thing to do along with a bit of swimming is get yourself a fitball and a couple of light weights, this lets you work on balance and overall body strength and quick movement. There's plenty of good little training programs online for that.

I do think a big thing is don't overdo it. You want to have energy to surf when you can, you're supporting that and hopefully not wearing yourself down in the process.

Thanks Nick some sound advice. I have put more emphasis on having good eating habits and my exercise routine at the moment isn't too strenuous maybe I will focus on a few core strength and balancing exercises as well as a few flexibility sessions.

[foamy]

Nick, have you read 'Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life' By William Finnegan?
Seems to include a lot of non-allegorical and detailed, first person point of view descriptions of his surfing experiences that you are also interested in writing.

[Nick Carroll]

I haven't yet.

From what I understand we have had very different surfing lives and I don't think his book will crash into mine too much.

[Davros]

Nick, have you picked up a Tracks lately, my 8 year old loves it. What happened?

[Nick Carroll]

I haven't done that either. Crikey, bad of me! I guess you might as well ask, what happened to surf culture? The answer would be, it's changed with the times and the demographics.

I had to laugh the other day while reading about the "National Surfing Luau" held in Washington DC, USA, recently, bringing together lawmakers, culture vultures, and surfers in a celebration of the surfing lifestyle. I don't reckon one of the people invited to that thing was under 60 years of age. Looking at them all lined up in their Aloha shirts and white hair, I thought where the fcuk are all the kids? Hell, where are all the middle aged surfers? Where's Kelly and Mark Healey and JJF, and Kenny Collins, and Nathan Fletcher, and Courtney Conlogue (women??), and well, any of the boys and girls who actually rip and push the boundaries of surfing in 2015? Or...or is this how surfing is seen now, just a washed up old Baby Boomer gig, delightful old heroes-gone-to-seed sorta thing?

Fascinating times really.

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[The Mighty Sunbird]

well if it all translates as less cnuts in the lineup, I'm all for it

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[The Mighty Sunbird]

oh

looks like I'll need to find me another whale carcass then

[Nick Carroll]

I was thinking the other day, when we were groms surfing was a subculture. These days it's mainstream and so just maybe kids are rebelling against their parents' former derision of clubbies and going in that direction.

Or maybe they just don't give a shit about all that stuff and are just getting into the water. A lot of kids nowadays don't see much of a dividing line there anymore.

[Slobadan Madicubich]

With the way board rider clubs put up their flags for comps, there isn't.

[Davros]

When I was talking about Tracks I meant in the last 18 months not years...same answer I guess.

[Beerfan]

I was thinking the other day, when we were groms surfing was a subculture. These days it's mainstream and so just maybe kids are rebelling against their parents' former derision of clubbies and going in that direction.

Or maybe they just don't give a shit about all that stuff and are just getting into the water. A lot of kids nowadays don't see much of a dividing line there anymore.

Kind of how I look at it as I'm thinking of a clubbie mal. Just getting in the water, a bit of fitness, and good for when/if my knee is playing up. Can't be bad for my surfing and there are plenty of calm, sunny days where it's just good to get in the water.