When is a surfer no longer a surfer?

[I like gulls]

I read somewhere recently that in the US they consider a surfer to be some one who has a surf 8 times a year.

Faaark

[oldman]

..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.

Now that's what I call a lifestyle! Rock on RR, but if you don't mind I'll be on the short board.

[oldman]

Oldman, I have NEVER been excited about surfing crowded, blown out crap. What I mean't was more those days that are more than surfable when people you know that previously would have dropped everything start making lame excuses like the ones above.

No offence intended Ringmaster, if you took umbrage at all.

Here's my problem. For many years I did get excited about 2' onshore crowded rubbish, and whatever else the ocean threw up. Now it has to be good for me to get pumped? If it's crap I'll make better use of my time.

It's true though, like anything that physical you've gotta stay in tune and if you are not surfing regularly then your timing suffers.

Funny thing RR, when I was surfing often I found this was true. If I missed a couple of weeks I would really feel it and would have to shake the rust out. Now I surf less regularly and feel as in tune as I ever have. I can't explain that.

[Trev]

[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

Good thinking.........however......lets combine the two. Thinking about being a fire truck doesn't make you a fire truck..true. However, if you are a porn star/ criminal/politician/surf jounalist etc, you don't stop being one of those people because you are not currently involved in the action. Any thought processes, planning, travelling to & fro all make up a part of being that person. So it is with surfing.

[Trev]

Sorry the quoting didn't work out on the above post. Meant to be a shown as part of Fong's last entry with my commnents at the bottom.
Also "YOUR" is possessive. It should be "You're" as in short for "You are" a surfer etc.

[fong]

[ you don't stop being one of those people because you are not currently involved in the action. Any thought processes, planning, travelling to & fro all make up a part of being that person. So it is with surfing.

nice thu u should at least hinted at a personel attack fongs guide to debating...dimwit

ok...my argument got done up

new one....your not actually a surfer unless u been coached

from beginners too want b pro's...they all pay $40 a hour to b coached

p.s i'm grasping at straws now and still think i'm a fire truck

[Trev]

[ you don't stop being one of those people because you are not currently involved in the action. Any thought processes, planning, travelling to & fro all make up a part of being that person. So it is with surfing.

nice thu u should at least hinted at a personel attack fongs guide to debating...dimwit

ok...my argument got done up

new one....your not actually a surfer unless u been coached

from beginners too want b pro's...they all pay $40 a hour to b coached

p.s i'm grasping at straws now and still think i'm a fire truck

Now there's an interesting discussion point. How many surfers on the WCT actually have a coach? Golf, tennis, cricket, footy etc all have coaches even at the highest level. What make top of the range surfers (and motor racing drivers) not need a coach?

[Hawkeye]

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.

Say that to Tom Kirsop. I dare ya!

He's at least middle 70's in the shade, and regularly disappears for sufing jaunts to the Maldives and other exotic locations.

[Larry]

I love the sea

So what does that make me ?

[Sleepy]

umm... larry the sea man?

[Jorgo]

Larry old mate - perhaps you have
"water on the brain!!!"

[matt...]

RickyG...

the job will be there on Monday...
the house reno's can wait one more day...

I can relate to you on two levels:
1. My best mate is being engulfed by work/kids/house/over-possessive control freak wife. I've organised a weekend away surfing, but his wife won't let him go away for two consecutive nights.(???!!!). I've watched him slip away from the waves for the last 5 years - he is lucky to surf 10 times a year.
2. i work, i have a modern wife that wants everything, i have kids - a 6yo girl & two 15 month old boys. i surf 4 or 5 times a week. admittedly i live 5 mins away from the beach. RicV is right - you may have to trade & give a little to get a little - let your wife go shopping or have coffee with the girls while you mind the kids, then you can state your case for a surf. for jobs around the house: i always ask my wife "is it something that needs to be done in daylight, or can it wait until dark?" or pay someone to do while you go surfing...

or i get up at dawn and be back while the family is just finishing breakfast, or sacrifice the morning to go for the late, help your wife to bathe & feed the kids, then fark off for the late once the kids are in bed. (this is limited in the winter though)

Rockin' Ron brought up a good point of ME time: everyone needs it - otherwise you go nuts or end up like my mate - he has no time for himself, apart from half an hour on the loo with his newspaper...

my wife has occasionally commented "why can't you be more like your mate? he does everything for his wife, everything for the kids, blah, blah"

i say "i'd be a slave, i'd be unhappy & hard(er) to live with... and you or the kids wouldn't like an unhappy husband/dad. surfing makes me happy. you married a surfer. i'll always surf when i can. i'll do the jobs around the house when there's no surf... but when it's on, it's on...

don't give in, don't give up, keep the stoke...

[ric_vidal]

surfing makes me happy. you married a surfer. i'll always surf when i can...

All you missed Matt is... ‘and don’t expect ME to change’

[mad]

From time to time people will say to me "I used to surf" and besides thinking to myself "why the fark would you give it up?", it draws the line in the sand. That's when your no longer a surfer, or for Fong's sake, someone who surfs.

Frequency is another matter, and I think desire is the decider here. You can be living in a desert, raising arizona, try and place your shin bone up your shpincter and just can't surf. long as that fire's burning in the belly you still surf. Been there (except for the shinbone bit) and never felt I was less of a surfer, just crustier and rustier due to circumstance

[oldman]

but it's beyond me how people with kids etc maintain the stoke without mucking around with various boards.

An interesting idea there Ron. I used to have a variety of boards but now I'm mainly riding either of two similar boards.

I used to find that buying a new board every so often is a great way to keep the fires going, and I like the idea of having different boards to give that variety, plus its gotta help your surfing to be out on different craft.

On the subject of 'ME' time, the message resonates. I found last year that I had pretty much bottomed out, and life was telling me that I had to be getting more joy out of life otherwise I was just going to shrivel up. If you don't have some activity that fills you up again then you have nothing left to give back. Taking Me time is not selfish then, it becomes essential.

Reading of your long hours isn't too good. You may not like to hear this Ron, but I am organising at work to drop back to part-time, probably from April this year. Gonna see how it goes and whether the finances get too stretched, but it's a lifestyle change directly related to the lesson learned. I'll have time for some hobbies (woodwork related, plus some writing maybe) and for surf in less crowded week day conditions. I won't have as much money but I'll have a life. It's a trade off that just looks like a no-brainer at the moment.

[Grooter]

On the subject of 'ME' time, the message resonates. I found last year that I had pretty much bottomed out, and life was telling me that I had to be getting more joy out of life otherwise I was just going to shrivel up. If you don't have some activity that fills you up again then you have nothing left to give back. Taking Me time is not selfish then, it becomes essential.

Very true mate. I was heading down the same path with work at one stage. Overweight, tired, constantly cracking the sh1ts with everyone at home and at work. I was doing the long hours, sometimes 30hours in one hit at the desk, and it was slowly killing me.

I started surfing a lot more often and found that the time out in the water, even if it was one foot dribble, made a massive difference to my mental and physical health

The missus has always commented that since I started surfing more I have been a lot better and I enjoy my work a lot more too.

You have to have that time to yourself, I realised long ago that work and career doesn't mean anything compared to time spent with family and a small portion to yourself. I don't want to wake up at 60 and be left wondering what I did with my youth.

[RickyG]

RickyG...

the job will be there on Monday...
the house reno's can wait one more day...

I can relate to you on two levels:
1. My best mate is being engulfed by work/kids/house/over-possessive control freak wife. I've organised a weekend away surfing, but his wife won't let him go away for two consecutive nights.(???!!!). I've watched him slip away from the waves for the last 5 years - he is lucky to surf 10 times a year.
2. i work, i have a modern wife that wants everything, i have kids - a 6yo girl & two 15 month old boys. i surf 4 or 5 times a week. admittedly i live 5 mins away from the beach. RicV is right - you may have to trade & give a little to get a little - let your wife go shopping or have coffee with the girls while you mind the kids, then you can state your case for a surf. for jobs around the house: i always ask my wife "is it something that needs to be done in daylight, or can it wait until dark?" or pay someone to do while you go surfing...

or i get up at dawn and be back while the family is just finishing breakfast, or sacrifice the morning to go for the late, help your wife to bathe & feed the kids, then fark off for the late once the kids are in bed. (this is limited in the winter though)

Rockin' Ron brought up a good point of ME time: everyone needs it - otherwise you go nuts or end up like my mate - he has no time for himself, apart from half an hour on the loo with his newspaper...

my wife has occasionally commented "why can't you be more like your mate? he does everything for his wife, everything for the kids, blah, blah"

i say "i'd be a slave, i'd be unhappy & hard(er) to live with... and you or the kids wouldn't like an unhappy husband/dad. surfing makes me happy. you married a surfer. i'll always surf when i can. i'll do the jobs around the house when there's no surf... but when it's on, it's on...

don't give in, don't give up, keep the stoke...

Good to hear I'm not alone here - I've often made the argument that surfing, in only occasionally, makes me a better partner, father, friend, etc. I also take the tin lids on my own so the missus can go off and do her thing - sometimes it's work but it's a job she loves (music) so I still reckon that counts for brownie points to be cashed in later

Re time out of the water and what keeps the stoke going, has anyone read That Oceanic Feeling by Fiona Capp? (might have been mentioned in a forum topic a while back). Probably the best expression of what surfing can mean to people and what drives people back to the surf after a long lay-off - she wrote ift after getting back in the water after about 20yrs chasing a career, family, etc. She mentions how she still though of herself as a surfer after all that time.

Well worth a read if you get the chance

[ric_vidal]

I'll have time for some hobbies (woodwork related, plus some writing maybe) and for surf in less crowded week day conditions. I won't have as much money but I'll have a life. It's a trade off that just looks like a no-brainer at the moment.

It was all going so well until there... the hobby thing is geat, partially why I started making boards, if I didn’t do them I would probably tinker with wood (badly). :?

It’s the week day surf... what’s going on?! Had a look at Curly yesterday at about midday and there were 25 guys sitting fundamentally on one (ordinary in my book) peak.

This morning had a look at Dee Why point, which I rarely surf, another 25 guys in less than spectacular waves... ’twas better earlier I am lead to believe.

Then you’ve got the bloody school kids who never seem to be there, or have got a free period or 20 up their sleeves and school seems to be finishing too early for my liking. No wonder we’re turnin’ out so many drop kicks who can’t spell.

So unless you’re thinkin’ travelling a bit OM, then you might want to rethink your semi-retirement of wood wittlin’ and banjo strummin’

I might add, the attitude can be somewhat different during the week, bit more relaxed me thinks, but that is about the only saving grace.

I think I have contacted grumpy old man syndrome.