Teahupoo Contest

[crabmeat thompson]

To me, you're describing surfing as more of a spiritual experience, than a sporting one.

It's why i say surfing is much more than a hobby, but it's not a sport. Sport awakens feelings of competitiveness and winning (something?) and advertising and dollars and a hierarchy system which must be obeyed in order to 'achieve' ...

to me surfing is a way of connectedness to the universe. without it, I feel aimless and dull. That's spiritual, not sport, huh?

But you can say the same thing about most individual athletic activities. Running, for example, can be just running, competing against yourself or competing against others. Golf, swimming, cycling , skiing etc etc. None of them require a competition to enjoy, but that doesnt mean they arent sports; it just means that they can be performed without external competition (someone you need to play against). I mean, how many skiiers compete or have ever competed or feel like they are competing, other than against themselves or the mountain, but I doubt many will say that skiing isnt a sport.

Whether or not golf connects you to the universe may be another question. But runners certainly say they get a high.

I think the probability with surfing that your life could end immediately at any given point elevates surfing onto a higher spiritual plateau than golf or going for a jog.

Someone free skiing off the tracks just them or with a friend. Is that more adventure & extreme than sport?

to me, surfing is a pursuit. it's not sport.

Ask greenough Shearer, if he considers himself a sportsman?

If you're not competing

[Skipper]

...when.. the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
that's a mulloway.

don't need to call it sport if the term shocks you,
sport.

[Slobadan Madicubich]

Would "strangling the chicken" be considered a sport?

[Nick Carroll]

I dunno slobadan, you must have considerable experience with it, you tell us

[crabmeat thompson]

Just stop braithy....its more dangerous driving to a coffee shop and parking.

Really....surfing is a fun thing too do.

Its not a dangerous pursuit for 98% of surfers.

surfing tassie by myself and an orca breeched 20-30 metres away and then began circling the reef I was on. almost like it knew where I had to paddle back in through. I dry docked onto lowtide reef and waited about 40 minutes after it'd gone to paddle back in. I was diving the whole time under the walls of whitewater and hanging onto the kelp so it wouldn't wash me off the reef. just in case the orca was wanting a feed.

it felt like that was pretty dangerous.

[foamy]

We certainly know one thing, surfers tend to be competitive. They are certainly very judgmental. The reputation of surfers as these laid back dudes just cruising around is just not on the money.

It's pretty often a bear pit, with an intense sullen competition for waves. And everyone is judging: what you are wearing, what you are riding, where did you paddle out, where are you in the lineup, how do you surf......... where did you park? Oh yes, it's very spiritual.

You can make of surfing what you will, and humans can draw from it as per their capacities and interests. I like the bare feet and the sun coming thru the backs of the waves in the morning and the air and the sound of the bubbles exploding and the feel of water moving and the colours.

[Beanpole]

Geez fong, more people die on the golf course than on any beach. Heart attacks, stroke, lightning strikes, run over by golf carts, bashed with a five iron it's carnage out there.

I actually like Nicks definition of sport.

[el rancho]

Braithy orcas don't attack humans in the wild. Never ever. Not once.

[Drailed]

Didn't think there had ever been a case of a human being attacked by an orca in the wild??

[bilko]

... to me surfing is a way of connectedness to the universe. without it, I feel aimless and dull. That's spiritual ...

no, that's physical
your connection to anything and everything is physical
there is only the physical, there is nothing else

[steve shearer]

hello neuro-biological evolutionary empiricist.

in the end that is semantics too.....Wittgensteins Limits of Language.

Or if you prefer something more Asian: the finger pointing at the Moon is not the Moon.

Maybe Braithy's Orca might have mistaken him for a seal?

[alakaboo]

A surfer in northern California got bitten by an orca in the early 70s.
It let him go.
Only deaths have been in captivity, think about 4-5 and 2 were crazy dudes who broke in at night, got nude and tried to convince the orca they were lovers

Orcas and crocs scare the shit out of me.

[foamy]

Orcas. If I was Braithy, I would have been nervous.
Orcas don't tend to feed in warm water very close to shore and that's where the people are. I wouldn't be assuming safety if I encountered an Orca in their feeding zone.

[crabmeat thompson]

Braithy orcas don't attack humans in the wild. Never ever. Not once.

well there's scope there to be the first.

Maybe Braithy's Orca might have mistaken him for a seal?

that's all I was thinking. I was less than a kay away from a seal colony wearing a wetsuit, hoody & booties ... it's fin was like 12 foot out of the water, it could have fit my entire body into it's mouth sideways and these things kill great whites and it hung around me for 40+ minutes.

It was pretty heavy at the time. That 20 minute paddle back to the beach as it was getting dark was the most alive I've felt, maybe ever.

[Beerfan]

I don't give a fkukk what the stats say I'd be schitting myself if I was in braithys position.

[crabmeat thompson]

... to me surfing is a way of connectedness to the universe. without it, I feel aimless and dull. That's spiritual ...

no, that's physical
your connection to anything and everything is physical
there is only the physical, there is nothing else

C'mon you heartless sap.

There's spiritual connections with people all over the oceans and lands of the world. The histories of the great civilisations of the world are littered with spiritual connections.

[Nick Carroll]

speaking of physical connections, I hear the rumbling of guns on the pro surfing front line at present. could someone be about to run out of money. too rumour-ey to report yet though.

[crabmeat thompson]

exactly ron, the oracle.

the spiritual pursuit they've been leeching money out of for nearly half a century is about to 'sprinkle the salt'.