Pros, Greats, Goods, and Funs

I am not a professional surfer.

Don't pity me. I'm not really looking for sympathy. Unless, of course, you happen to be a professional surfer - in which case, your understanding, compassionately expressed though liberal financial charity, is very welcome. Remember, benevolent generosity is it's own reward.

I'm not a great surfer.

That doesn't mean that I haven't ridden some great waves. I have - or, at least, I have ridden what I thought were great waves. I've had rides on waves where I remember every millisecond of what happened for the whole next week. I've gone to sleep remembering waves that I've ridden. In vivid memories, I can recall every color in the water. I can see the bulges and flats. I can see the foam and the sun and the clouds. I can smell every plume of moist air, taste the lips of dried salt, hear the crash of the water. I can remember every second of every turn of some waves weeks after I rode them. I've finished rides on waves and paddled over to groups of complete strangers, grinning and nearly screaming "Hey, did you guys SEE that?!"

I wish I could say that other surfers got as excited about my rides as I do. More often than not, that doesn't seem to be the case.

It could be that other surfers have difficulty expressing themselves the way they'd like to. Perhaps if surfers could break through the barrier of machismo inexpression, I would find people hooting, hollering and screaming their admiration for me like teenage girls at a concert everywhere I go. It is possible that I actually have legions of fans up and down the Southern California coast, all of whom struggle in my presence to contain their overwhelming emotions to appear cool.

Or not.

To be entirely honest, I'm not even sure if I'm a "good" surfer.

Technically, I have no idea what makes someone a "good" surfer or not. I've seen surfing spots rated for "beginners", "intermediate" or "advanced" surfers, but I've never seen any meaningful criteria as to what skill sets are required for each category.

I've seen the guys in the videos and the magazines, doing gymnastic tricks with spraying water on dream waves in exotic locations where the locals wear no clothes. I've seen some contest footage on TV. Snap, turn, snap, turn, snap, turn... I never understood it until very recently when I read some of the criteria that judges are supposed to use to score surfing contestants "The surfer who can execute the most maneuvers on the face or curl of the wave will naturally have the opportunity to score the most points" (1). I've seen spectacular pictures in magazines and advertisements of surfers crouched in poses that look really cool. But, none of that seems to have anything to do with what I see at the beach.

I think my friend Chris is a good surfer. He's a big guy who rides a big board very aggressively. He moves around a lot on waves, pumping up and down the face with a semi circular hip motion like a tribal dancer. He catches good waves, and likes to ride them as long as possible, often staying on all the way into the shore break.

I think Dan, one of the locals at Seventeenth street, is a good surfer, too. Dan rides a mid size fun board with a round nose. He's patient. He waits for the right wave and when he takes off he comes down the line with big, slow, smooth turns where you can see his body weight shifting from one side to the other.

There's another local that we call Venice. I think Venice is a good surfer. She surfs nearly every day, and has as much fun sitting in a group of surfers talking as anyone I know. She readily admits that she's "got twenty years" on most of the people around her. She'll tell you that she didn't even start surfing until she was 45 years old. But, she's fearless paddling after the set waves, and I've seen her get some really fast, good drops with healthy bottom turns and fun rides - especially on the rights. Venice prefers rights.

If I were to make my own criteria for what makes a "good" surfer, it would be very simple: If it looks fun, and I'd like to do it, that's good.

If that were the criteria, then I'm defiantly a good surfer, because. I've ridden some really fun waves. And, in talking to other surfers, I've noticed that the most common comment other surfers give me has to do with fun.

"That looked like a fun one.", they'll say.

In retrospect, that's the highest compliment that one surfer can give another. If I watch someone riding a wave, and I imagined myself in their shoes, and it looked like good fun, then they've accomplished the goal for which I aspire.

So, I tell them. "Hey. That looked pretty fun."

When surfing is stripped down to fun, then there are very few bad surfers. After all, anyone who is in the water having fun can hardly be accused of failing. I've seen people who are clearly very inexperienced paddle into a wave, and stand up on a surfboard with wide, wild eyes. Their arms are outstretched and wobbling like a drunken tightrope walker. They shoot straight down the face of the wave, loose all their speed, and get smashed by the wall of whitewater from behind.

Then, after a second or two, a head pops up through the foam.

A picture of that face is worth a million words.

More Later
-Travis

Copyright 2004 Travis R. English


(1) Gabrielson, Bruce - The Complete Surfing Guide for Coaches