Coffee spilled from our mugs as we drove over the big tree root at the end of the driveway. It happens every time Eli and I go to check the […]
Surfing
SURFING
Flying on the Edge of Sunset
After fearing it, a surfer rides the calm of the fading light
For most of my life, I’ve had a recurring nightmare. It’s dusk, the light is fast fading from the day, and I’m headed to the ocean to surf. I arrive […]
SURFING
Giving Up on Second-Guessing the Swell
After chasing the perfect storm waves, what’s remembered is something else
For a whole week, I had been watching the storm develop in the southern Atlantic. Lee was growing into a hurricane and was predicted to track northward up the East […]
SURFING
To Learn to Surf, Leave the Board on the Beach
Watch for currents, feel the waves, and start your relationship with the ocean
Surfing is, in essence, being in a relationship with the sea. Before you learn to surf, you must learn to be close to the water. A learner soon finds that […]
SURFING
The Surfer’s Curse
Blind spots, optimism, and the pursuit of novelty waves
You might see surfing as a virtuous thing. It provides a rewarding focus. It ignites a sense of passion and serves as a creative pursuit. Surfing tunes you into your […]
SURFING
The Paddle Out Completes a Circle
The surfers’ ritual of celebration, gratitude, and farewell
WELLFLEET — The messages and phone calls came in all day. People asking, “Are you OK? I heard something happened at Lecount’s.” Messages and calls went out, asking the same […]
SURFING
The Complex Stuff of Simplicity
Boards, suits, straps, wax, and other things surfers need to ‘be in the moment’
Surfing exemplifies simplicity: a human, on a board, riding a wave. There is a presence and purity to it. When you are surfing, everything falls away and the only thing […]
SURFING
The Wave as a Quasi-Religious Presence
Defining the soul of a place by the ocean
I spent a good part of my late teens and early 20s traveling and surfing in Central America. I followed word-of-mouth suggestions on where to find the next good wave […]
COLD WAVE
6 Questions Sane People Ask Winter Surfers
It might be crazy, but ‘it makes us smile’
Being a surfer on Cape Cod in the winter invites a lot of questions. Willingly jumping into the ocean when the temperature dips below freezing and the waves are big […]
SURFING
Nyepi, the Day of Silent Danger
A lesson in social responsibility on the island of Bali
We knew the waves were good. The surf reports showed it. There was a big south swell sweeping in from the Indian Ocean onto the reefs to the west. The […]
SURFING
After the Shipwrecks, Joy
Is it right to feel so happy in the very place where sadness dwelled?
Often, when I am sitting out in the ocean, snug in my thick wetsuit, warm against the ripping wind and salt spray, I think about all the souls that have […]
SURFING
Localism Is Surfing’s Dark Side
A protective instinct that unites us and can drive us apart
You’ve heard a lot about the wholesome, soulful side of surfing. That’s what draws most of us in. It is the current that runs strongest through surfing. It is the […]
SURFING
At Home in a Portuguese Surf Town
The tide and the wind are the same in any language
The sun is warm on my shoulders. The salt is starting to pinch the skin at the corners of my eyes as it dries. A small white cup of coffee […]
