This conversation was started several months ago after the Tubesteak Tracy article in The Surfing Medicine Journal #25 was published. Following are some suggestions to enhance the surfing experience for maturing SMA members.
- Focus on more quality wave experience rather than the quantity.
- Look at alternative sports and activities that are water oriented. Kayaking, SUP paddling, surf photography and other water-based activities can help in staying contacted to the ocean.
- Focus more on surfing friendships and interaction rather than agro-agression and quantity of waves. Focus on the “Art of Surfing” not on the destroying a wave and being a surfer who wants to impress others.
- Acknowledge your surf buddies injuries and limitations and help them remember what they use to do. Keep the memories alive.
- Keep your surfing morale high and work on keeping the stoke. Help others in the surfing world, by coaching, volunteer judging a contest, working with veterans or those with disabilities to understand the thrill of surfing.
- Connect with the waves daily, by going to the beach, walking your dogs there, watching the ocean with friends and even checking Surfline.
- Challenge yourself to learn a new aspect of the surfing culture. Try a SUP, ride a boogie, body surf or just swim. Get into or stay in good physical shape.
- Ride a bigger board.
Tubesteak Tracy closes with several quick tips that keep this message very simple:
“You may not be as bad as you feel.”
“The only person who can take away your surf stoke is you.”
“You go till you no mo can go.” Saburo, Hawaiian mentor
As an aging surfer myself, I am almost 100% doing SUP surfing now. My reasons will be detailed following at the end of this article. Aging pro surfers and former pros and surf icons, now embrace SUP. I paddled next to Mickey Munoz at the “Battle of the Paddle” at Doheny in September 2011 and it was great to see an almost 80 year old surfer still stoked.
It has been related in several magazines, (The Surfers Journal, SUP magazines) that Gerry Lopez is SUP’ing more than 50% of the time. Paddling next to Lopez is a great experience as he is as cool paddling as he was in the tube at Pipeline.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in her articles and books on death and dying details the stages one goes through in dealing with death. In losing the ability to perform and function as you once did in a sport or physical activity we love, we as surfers go through the same stages of anger, denial, barginging and finally accepting where we are at. Many of us have have former surfing buddies who just quit and go cold turkey.
Why I SUP Now
Health Factors, Aging and the Stoke Facto
(from Monterey Herald, April 20th, 2012, “Dropping In” column)
I first stood up on a surfboard in June 1960 at Huntington Beach. Since that time I have been able to travel the world in search of warm and cold water waves. The shortest board I had was a 6’0” Aqua Jet, I rode at Steamer Lane in the early 1970’s. The longest surfboard, I had was a 9’6” that I still have and on occasion I still am able to use when I just want to surf. So more on this in a minute.
In 1998, I had a Cervical fusion of C-5, 6 and 7 using my own hip bone. After 4 months I was back in the water, but noticed a big difference in my performance. What used to take a split second to stand up, now took more than a second and put me in critical areas for the take off that I could not handle as well. Four ankle and four knee surgeries as well as three cardiac ablations over the next decade or so took me to 2007, when I started to Stand Up Paddle for exercise and to experiment with SUP surfing.
On my last trip to Tavarua, Fiji, I noticed a huge difference, as I was “bobbing for waves “ instead of riding them. It was taking me almost 2 seconds to get up and getting pitched over in the critical part of the waves at Cloudbreak is not my idea of fun or surfing. I logged a couple of head high to overhead and a half waves at a spot called Restaurants riding a Laird SUP (Stand Up Paddleboard) huge 12’1” and had a great time, I then borrowed a 9’6” SUP and braved Cloudbreak. I had one of the best surf go outs I had had in years.
The stoke was back, I was riding waves and feeling like a grom again. In an aging surfer’s head they are in their prime, thinking 27, but your body says “screw you buddy, you are over 60.” So what makes up this “stoke” factor in aging surfers? Some where between 40 and 60 years of age, people who surf, have to make decisions about their surfing. Aging makes catching a wave a bit more difficult, the paddling required can be a bit too much for someone who in the past may have had no problem catching waves. The body has lost muscle tone, all the beers and shots of tequila and nachos have moved weight around and perhaps pounds have been put on. This makes paddling just a bit more difficult.
So you paddle in and you are at the top of the wave. This is great except that you are about 2 seconds behind and now you are perched on the crest of the most critical part of the wave. On a world class wave, you are on your way to a wipeout, on a normal wave you bail and spend a bit of time swimming. When one loses the abilities to participate in a favorite hobby or activity, a natural progression leads to anger, denial, bargaining, depression and finally, hopefully an acceptance of where one is at in life.
Surfing is hard to give up, but if one starts to think about ways to change your approach to a passion or hobby, when it becomes difficult, that is the beginning to the adjustment to aging. I hate to say this, but I would have given up surfing several years ago (I can hear and see local surfers applauding), because it was no fun anymore. SUP is a gift, because it maintains the thrill of surfing in a new way and keeps you in the water.
Photo: Hung Tran
Compiled by Participants of the 2012 SMA Galapagos Conference
(Rich Guess, Neal Harris, Aprille Harris, Ali Heller-Ono, Frank Ono, Thomas Holthus, Deborah Sullivan, Norm, Marcia and Danielle Vinn, Clayton and Kristina Everline, Kathy Anderson, Rym Partridge, and Bill Jones)
Written by:
Bill Jones and Rym Partridge