How to Change Your Session’s Rhythm

Surfing is said to be the act of riding a wave. 

Surfing is also said to be no more than 5% riding waves. The other 95% or so is spent paddling, waiting and paddling more. 

As an aside, I think surfing is also checking the waves, dragging a dilapidated boardbag through third-world airports or New York City, frequenting cafes, frequenting bars, going to surf shops, buying only enough wax to ensure you’ll be back soon, bragging about surfing, complaining about surfing, acquiring goods that reflect your interest in surfing, working out, wearing mustard beanies…I could go on, but it’s typically some combination of these things depending on where you land on the spectrum. 

All nice, but let’s talk about that first 5%.  

You ever had a session in which you get assaulted by a set paddling out, claw your way to the lineup, sit for a while, find yourself too deep, find yourself on the shoulder, finally get a wave, cop another set on the dome, etc? Of course — we all have. 

And have you ever had a session in which you paddle out at the perfect time, hair perhaps dry, immediately chip into a good wave, paddle back out in a rip, get another fun one and so on? I’d like to think we all have. 

It’s easy to write the former off as bad luck without digging any deeper, but there must be more going on there. I don’t think waves are the only consequence of the wind transferring its energy to the ocean. There are other things happening, other patterns you can observe, other rhythms you can feel. 

The more time you spend surfing, the better you get at tuning into that — pterygiums are just the teachings of 10,000 waves burned into your eyeballs. 

Still, there are times in which we all fail to find a groove. One way I’ve learned to combat that? Just get a wave. Any wave. 

Find a new rhythm and see where it leads. 

The Golden Ticket, Part 1

Jed Smith is on a heater. His ability to reveal deeply personal details about challenges in his upbringing, share learnings from his experience, mix in a bit of opinion and make it all read like something that belongs on a surf site is brilliant. A fucking pleasure to read.

Chippa Wilson’s Last Solo Session Was Better Than Yours

Title don’t lie. Unless you happened to get ten tubes in a row at an empty 6-foot beach break, Chippa’s last solo session was by all means better than yours. We’ve got the footage to prove it in the new episode of First And Last. Ah, Chippa’s great. The most relatable person, the least relatable surfing – gotta love it. 

Did Gabriel Medina Just Get Married?

That would in fact explain the curious lack of one of his famous New Year’s Eve posts. 

Stab In The Dark With Taj Burrow, Episode 3 Of 4 

Anybody else feel like they didn’t realize how much they missed watching Taj surf until they watched this? There’s something so distinctly Taj about it. Anyway, let’s watch this and then all go buy more surfboards (I am open to trading as well). 

Lennox Head World Tour Event Rejected For Now

A quote from this story: According to Lennox Head local, Nick Mercer, speaking inside the chamber, the decision to hold a contest against the community’s wishes could be met with a protest paddle out during the event by local surfers, raising the possibility of an “ugly confrontation” with security. 

Adorable. Click in for all the details.

Dane’s Not Going Down Without A Fight

I said I would keep these to five stories. However, this opens with a new Dane clip and closes with writing, “And for the record. If you ever see me on a set at Rincon throwing my arms in the air on a 7’6 single fin feel free to burn me…” It’s worth bending the rules.

One last thing: No, no, I didn’t forget about you last week. We just happened to have a few other emails scheduled and chose not to harass your inbox. If you missed last week’s Fwd, you can read it on the site here.