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
SURFING
Practicing the Art of Failing
When experience is the way to success, failure becomes an absolute necessity
I’ve always been uncomfortable with failure. As a child, I established, through some association, the belief that trying something and not achieving the expected outcome was a bad thing. I […]
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 Surfer’s Claim
Cool is cool, but certain celebrations can’t be contained
During a morning surf, a young surfer-girl caught a big set wave. She scrambled to paddle as it reared up and hollowed. She made a late critical drop and disappeared […]
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
There’s Togetherness in Surfers’ Small Transgressions
On the practicality and satisfaction of peeing in the ocean
Surfers pee in their wetsuits. I’ve never met one who doesn’t. All those people you see out there in the ocean, looking calm and free? They are. They’re peeing. This […]
OLDTIMERS
The Longboard Classic Is More Than a Contest
Even with the competition delayed by weather, surfers still celebrate
WELLFLEET — Carl Breivogel, a 73-year-old surfer, has been participating in the Cape Cod Oldtimers Longboard Classic since the 1990s. Standing on the dune at White Crest Beach on Sunday, […]
SURFING
The Childish Joy of a Shared Wave
On a perfect summer evening, a child’s invitation coaxes surfers out of solitude
Life’s essence is revealed more on some days than on others. Days when the roses reach so far out into your path that you can’t walk by without smelling them. […]
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
We Live in a Stream of Moments
Seeking the place where there is room only for Now
The moment: a slice of time of uncertain length, liberated. A sampling of the river, defined not by length but by its content and significance. The internet says a moment […]
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
Like a Big Family
The collective joy of watching someone catch his first wave
The waves were perfect for learning to surf. Knee to waist high, soft and gentle, breaking slowly over an old flat reef now buried in fine white sand. The water […]
