Creed McTaggart Gives Blue Wedge The Serpent’s Kiss

In terms of speed, agility, and explosive strength, a man’s physical prime arrives around age 27. For reference, Mark Richards was 25 when he retired from professional surfing, having won four consecutive world titles.

However, and this is key, a long-running study published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle tracked participants over several decades and found that physical capacity for endurance-based activities peaks closer to 35.

Which might explain why so many otherwise well-adjusted 30-year-olds suddenly develop an evangelical interest in marathon running. I digress.

Given that surfers spend just 3% of their time in the water actually riding waves, there’s an argument that surfing places a greater premium on stamina than your one-rep max. By that logic, our athletic prime might arrive with a few more candles on the cake.

Need evidence? Both world number ones, Yago Dora and Carissa Moore, are in their 30s. JJF and Medina are 34 and 32, respectively. Miggy Pupo, 34, is putting together arguably his finest season yet. Even Parko’s 45-year-old chassis looked remarkably well-oiled in Surf100.

The biological clock is negotiable, basically. Must be all them peptides.

And for anyone still mourning the ballistic potential of their twenties, here’s 32-year-old Creed McTaggart making a Serpent Sled sing in the latest Rage bit.