"You cannot stay on the summit forever, you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know." ~Rene Daumal
When did "it" all start? When I saw someone surf and didn't even know that I wanted to do that? When I saw someone surf years later and I knew that I'd like to try that...somewhere in between?
When was the first time I paddled out? In 2007 when I took a surf lesson? The week before last when I went out without the saftey net of friends by my side? When I go out sola? Pues, the love affair with the waves has begun, and I am totally intrigued by their mysteries. I want to hang with them, to play.
It's hard to keep up with my new friend though, and her mood is different every day. There is a certain intuition in the soul surfer- that person who paddles out with all the love and care of someone going to spend time with an old friend, and the understanding that with effort, focus, and intention, you sure can have a lot of fun. I have found myself frantic in the endeavor to calibrate myself to the mood of the waves, on many levels: One or two of the first mornings that I knew that I would surf in the afternoon, I locked myself into an intense stream of phone calls to all new friends on the island, trying to figure where that perfect wave for me would be at about 4:30pm; I have paddled out expecting the worst and discovered something much better; I have paddled out thinking that I would be able to impress, and gotten my butt whooped (1st encounter with the reef). Ahh, the surfer's intuition. I think that goes hand in hand with a surfer's resilience to circumstance when the intuition fails...
Relax, don't fight it once it gets you. That's the advice for getting caught on the inside (of where the waves are breaking). But first some great moves to try are paddling like mad to the shoulder of the wave in the hope of floating by intsead of getting caught underneath the peak where it is breaking. You could also try to duck dive if you have a short board (push you and the board underneath the wave with your knee..i think) or turtle roll the longboard (grab the rails or sides of the board and roll underneath it, pulling the nose close to you as the wave washes over top). I have had varying degrees of success with these while trying to manage myself on the inside...better just to pay attention and stay out of the way.
It's all about timing and positioning out there it seems. I am learning everytime I go out, watching more seasoned surfers- scoping their moves if you will. Just like with climbing (which is why I love these sports so much) I find myself re-living my sessions, analyzing my split second choices and actions and brainstorming the possible outcomes of trying something different in that moment, should it arise again. And although that particularly specific moment probably won't, I will again refer to my Cumulitive Theory of Life Experience and be completely flabbergatsted and amazed by the fact that I seem to be building up an inventory in my bag of tricks and pulling some moves that are really fun!
It's really true that you're gonna go where you look.
Let's all take a moment and broaden this concept to encompass our whole lives...
But with waves it's really true too. So at first my goal was to catch the wave and get a push. That means moving forward. Oh and also not to "pearl" the board by plowing the nose underwater as I try to stand up (then you flip over...). Due to these goals I had been looking down (nose) and srtaigh ahead (forward push). Now I am seeing though, that the surfer doesn't just want that simple push. I mean, we're talking about communing with an old friend here! The surfer wants to stay with the wave, not just get pushed out ahead of it. The surfer wants to play.
Now, as I see the wave rolling off of the horizon towards me, I slide back on my board and twirl my legs to spin my board around to face forward. I start to paddle like hell, but controlled, not sloppy, digging in to my shoulder, keeping my thumb tucked in, and actually pulling my hands ever so slightly under my board instead of just down the side to propel myself forward. I look back to see where the wave and I will meet. When I feel the momentum of the wave underneath me I lift my upper body like the yoga pose seal/upward dog to keep the nose out of the water, and I look to my side, down the line of the wave. I give a few more good hard paddles as I feel the wave lift me, and then I grab the rails (eyes up!) and pop to my feet. My body is crouched low and I lean back on my back foot (left - I'm goofy)and swivel my hips to turn the board down the line.
Little movements back and forth the keep the balance, the water rushes underneath me as the wave moves me forward. As tanglible an expression of the earth's energy as I have ever experienced. I am surfing.
