Surfing

We spent the weekend in the sun.

Yuri surfed. He tore his booties and wetsuit, snapped of his leash and drove off the beach parking lot with the zipcar card on the roof of the vehicle. He still enjoyed the time in the water and took the punches in stride. Surfing centered grounded him.

The sport has a rhythmic quality in almost everything one does. The drop into a wave, the energy with which the building mass and elevation spits the rider out  in front of the wall of water, the dive under an oncoming wave and the constant shifting on the board all have a beat, a balance between what your muscles can do and what the power of water, tides and gravity choose.

The line of the horizon in front of the horizon humbles the surfer with its mystery. The setting sun brings closure and the incoming serenade of waves, the large the small and the endless variety in between lulls him in a trance.

The combination of rhythmic calm and momentary bursts of energy and ecstatic moments of a strong ride have an addictive power. Meanwhile even with a thick wetsuit, your body burns a ton of calories to keep the body in symbiosis. As a result a surfer gets a very intense workout and meditates at the same time.

As a surfer one fights the elements and embraces them simultaneously. When Yuri paddled and dropped into a wave too soon, he missed his window and the waved passed him by.

If he dropped in too late and the height of the wave built up too much, Yuri would end up at the very top with a straight drop down drop instead of just a steep decline, plunging onto flat water and with the entire weight and force of the wave coming down on top of him.

If one tries to paddle out from the beach when the ocean rages, she will be exhausted by the time she makes past the break. If she waits for a break in sets, she paddles out calmly and with the patience for the right wave, at the right time and the right position, she can catch an incredible ride with minimal effort. Surfing is a game of observation as much as endurance and fluid movements.

Yuri knew that the ocean could be terrifying if not respected. When he snapped his leash and momentarily lost the site of his board, he felt a slight tinge of fear. He was far out and both the waves and the undercurrent were strong. Swimming back onto land could take a while and he was already tired and cold. Getting washed out to sea is not out of the question if one finds himself at the wrong place and the wrong time.

And yet being just a little in physical shape, a decent baseline of experience and humility is all you need to stay out of trouble and have the time of your life without needing to be an expert or trying way way too hard.