"It's just you, and your ability to paddle and surf - catching & riding waves is all on you, period ~ ~ ~ MitchellC
There it is yes!!! Thank you!
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Can your surfing improve after years of surfing?
- Thread starter JeffRSpicoli
- Start date
There it is yes!!! Thank you!
Second surf on a new to me fish a couple of days ago. The first surf I got a clean barrel on my very first wave on it. Was feeling good taking it out again. When I got out after the surf I walked past a lady who had been out there as well she told me that I have beautiful style on the wave. Aw shucks! I deflected the compliment by chatting to her about her midlength twin fin. Crossed the road to my van and had a chat with a local shaper who was out there trading the better waves that came through with me and specialises in alt shapes. He commented that I'm surfing better now than I was 10 years ago. I turned 58 in March.
Next surf I kept standing a touch too forward and kept bogging into cutbacks until I told myself to get the feet back. The flush of the previous days compliments was gone from my mind and a big part of surfing well is in your head not just the body.
Next surf I kept standing a touch too forward and kept bogging into cutbacks until I told myself to get the feet back. The flush of the previous days compliments was gone from my mind and a big part of surfing well is in your head not just the body.
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Love reading this stuff.
Here is a shot from the trip, great photo bomb! Maybe it was the caliber of the guys in the water that made me feel like Wilbur Kookmeyer. Got waves, good ones, but the dude in the background was making these airs: like okay I'm humbled and hey watch me I can do a cut back.
Here is a shot from the trip, great photo bomb! Maybe it was the caliber of the guys in the water that made me feel like Wilbur Kookmeyer. Got waves, good ones, but the dude in the background was making these airs: like okay I'm humbled and hey watch me I can do a cut back.
Know that feeling for sure! The highs and lows of surfing are like the tides.
celebratory beer after a "proper" nias drainer
luckiest mofo around - so blessed - bigger tomorrow
Ahh the "Golden Trophy" enjoy!!!!View attachment 109636
celebratory beer after a "proper" nias drainer
luckiest mofo around - so blessed - bigger tomorrow
I guess it depends on your definition of improve. I certainly have better wave knowledge and know where to sit. I can get set waves at my local and am much more comfortable in bigger surf.
However, I'm not nearly as flexible as I once was and recovery takes longer the older I get. I won't try airs because I like my knees and ankles in working condition. I don't like to take closeouts. The older I get, the more cautious I am because I need to go to work on Monday and know I won't recover like I would when I was 21. I recently took off deep against my better judgement and ruptured my ear drum. I lost some hearing in my ear and was out of the water for 8 weeks. That pretty much ended any risk taking I had left in me.
You can probably maintain a certain level of surfing and improve your wave knowledge. Stay in shape and keep surfing. But, no one on the planet has ever defeated Father Time. So we all know what fate awaits us.
Sorry to be a downer, but we had so many old time local rippers at my local who were in their 60s. One by one they suffered injuries that eventually ended their surf careers.
However, I'm not nearly as flexible as I once was and recovery takes longer the older I get. I won't try airs because I like my knees and ankles in working condition. I don't like to take closeouts. The older I get, the more cautious I am because I need to go to work on Monday and know I won't recover like I would when I was 21. I recently took off deep against my better judgement and ruptured my ear drum. I lost some hearing in my ear and was out of the water for 8 weeks. That pretty much ended any risk taking I had left in me.
You can probably maintain a certain level of surfing and improve your wave knowledge. Stay in shape and keep surfing. But, no one on the planet has ever defeated Father Time. So we all know what fate awaits us.
Sorry to be a downer, but we had so many old time local rippers at my local who were in their 60s. One by one they suffered injuries that eventually ended their surf careers.
yep, I expect to be one of those, one of these days. But I will go down swinging. And when the time comes, I would cheerfully and shamelessly switch over to a some kind of motor propelled board if it'll put me on the face of a wave that I will no longer be able to make otherwise.
Did they say in a CSI episode that people on the average gain one lb of weight per year? To surf you cannot do that. You need to keep your weight down. People generally eat more and more throughout life, even though they are burning fewer, and fewer calories. To be good at surfing you may not eat more and more. We are how we eat.
Everything about surfing is fun. It is fun to watch from shore. It's fun to watch from the water. I like paddling, I like duck diving, I like spacing out watching the horizon. I don't mind getting cleaned up, and I stay out of everybody's way. Surfing is a fun exercise.
I shaped my last 2 boards from a thick blank 4" thick 8' long. My most recent board is 6'9" x 23" wide, and a max of 3.5" thick. The thickness gives more floatation and faster paddle speed. I also like more fiberglass, 2 layers on the bottom and 3 layers on the deck.
Everything about surfing is fun. It is fun to watch from shore. It's fun to watch from the water. I like paddling, I like duck diving, I like spacing out watching the horizon. I don't mind getting cleaned up, and I stay out of everybody's way. Surfing is a fun exercise.
I shaped my last 2 boards from a thick blank 4" thick 8' long. My most recent board is 6'9" x 23" wide, and a max of 3.5" thick. The thickness gives more floatation and faster paddle speed. I also like more fiberglass, 2 layers on the bottom and 3 layers on the deck.
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I'm 62 and in the UK. I improved in my early 40's after three decades of intermittent surfing, so the bar was low and I knew with the skills and understanding I'd gained I should have been surfing better (mid life crisis). I adjusted my quiver, got in whenever I could and focussed. It would be much harder to improve if you'd always surfed week in week out for that time though.
Lots of valid points already mentioned but a big one is consistency of surf - April here only had two surfable days so there's a level you just can't get past with that lack of consistency. Also head-to-toe rubber in winter is a curse for older surfers.
I had two surfs this week, one good and one awful due to a bad back (pop-up issues). Its pretty humiliating when your body turns you into a full-on kook. Never take a fully functioning body for granted and as muscles says above, you have to adjust what you do and understand the consequences for an old body.
I surf with people decades younger (better) than me and yes I feel like a kook sometimes but it also inspires me to improve and I'm sticking with shortboards still which isn't easy but I think worthwhile.
Lots of valid points already mentioned but a big one is consistency of surf - April here only had two surfable days so there's a level you just can't get past with that lack of consistency. Also head-to-toe rubber in winter is a curse for older surfers.
I had two surfs this week, one good and one awful due to a bad back (pop-up issues). Its pretty humiliating when your body turns you into a full-on kook. Never take a fully functioning body for granted and as muscles says above, you have to adjust what you do and understand the consequences for an old body.
I surf with people decades younger (better) than me and yes I feel like a kook sometimes but it also inspires me to improve and I'm sticking with shortboards still which isn't easy but I think worthwhile.
bodysurfing is also something one can experience for longer in to old age. Bodysurfing is so damn fun. I just plan to stay in the ocean. That’s all we really want anyway.
Like the great philosopher TFAD used to say, its a race to the bottom, and after 55. I am fred flintstone dragging the feet and throwing the anchor, popping the chute, pulling the ebrake, popping the ibuprofren, jabbing the coritsone, yoga doing, static hanging, all the way to the bottom. Did a sick turn the other night, even the groms were like yewww
walking the beach on our sunday hikes with the wife and saw a old guy coming in with his rubber matt and fins, I told my lovely bride, that's me in my 80s, i love the ocean to much to forsake her.
That guy was shredding. It was like watching a surf vid all day with all the ripping going on.
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+1. It feels a lot creepier in OR than HI, but tied with OBSF for creepy factor
and water temp.
That’s why we bought down here. I could see surfing Colorado’s until my reaction time is too slow from age or injury, then growing old gracefully at pangas
my "annual turn" happened today
age is nothing but injuries are