Soul Surfing

[lok'din]

What is soul surfing to you?

[gfesagd]

every once in a while i have a dream about surfing.. the feeling that i have when im doing it---that's soul surfing

[VBnorthendsurfer]

surfing for fun, not worrying about anything else (how good you are, getting sponsered, girls etc.) those are all pluses but i just like to have fun.

[LongIslandSurf]

Surfing with a few friends, that are all laid back and dont care. On a nice uncrowded beach.

[namino tsume]

just surfing..... not doing it to be the best, or trying to do some hard radical moves on waves, just surfing doing a cutback when you neeed to.

[IrishGirl]

Just going out and totally forgetting about everything. Even looking and listening to the sea just totally relaxes me, to actual be out in the water and surfing on the waves is just amazing.

You know that feeling you get when you paddle for the biggest wave of the set, you're at the perfect spot to catch it and you have it all to yourself but there's a chance you mightn't catch it and when you do that buzz is just indescribable. -You paddle back, maybe half wrecked but your still totally on a high and rearing for more.

-On the drive home you're constantly re-surfing that wave and you still feel that little buzz inside you!


...think I'll stop now before I'm being pointed towards the nutbarn!

[dusty23]

wow ... that was deep........emotional

[PapaW]

That first part sums it up for me...

When I'm out there I really to tottally forget all my worries, all my problems. Its pure escapism for me. I come back relaxed, refereshed and can see everyhting from a new point of view.

If I don't surf I get angry easyily, pissed off and narky. Best for all persons that I get to surf :p

[IrishGirl]

If I don't surf I get angry easyily, pissed off and narky. Best for all persons that I get to surf :p

Definitely, I remember at the start of the summer it was flat for almost 2 weeks which is the longest I'd been without a surf in a year. I was like a BEAR for the second week, couldn't figure out why. Thankfully a decent swell came soon after and I was in top form for the next few days...!

[Phil]

when ive had a realy crap day or few days all i can think about is going surfing becuse i know when i get out the water after a good surf im totaly chilled out, no matter how big the problem was its nothing when i come out after a good session

[babyboarder89]

If I don't surf I get angry easyily, pissed off and narky. Best for all persons that I get to surf :p

Definitely, I remember at the start of the summer it was flat for almost 2 weeks which is the longest I'd been without a surf in a year. I was like a BEAR for the second week, couldn't figure out why. Thankfully a decent swell came soon after and I was in top form for the next few days...!

hahaha know that feeling. did that for 6 months straight last year. that was fun.

so yes, souls suring is just not caring about how you look or if your wetsuit is gren or blue or purple or what anyone is thinking about you. its surfing because its fun.

[Broosta]

'Soul surfing' to me is a load of bollox made up in order to mystify the sport more, maybe to appear more romantic to get more chicks or something! Don't know why anybody thought it needed any help in that department tho. Every sesh is different, even at the same break.
To me you go surfing or you don't. I don't decide, 'hmmm, shall I soul surf today or just go surf instead?' Some days you surf on your own, some days you can't get a wave for the pack. But its all good so what the hell!
Know what you're saying about getting aggro if not doused in salt water regularly. I moved away from the east coast to Bristol for about a year. That sucked big time! 1 1/2 hrs from Croyde nearest beach so no evening sesh after work, weekends only. I nearly had a breakdown! Split up with my chick who I'd moved there with, chucked my job, and just went home to rediscover who the f I was again! That taught me a valubale lesson - its better to live really close to a not so good beach than to live 1 1/2 hrs away from quite a good one!

[IrishGirl]

I don't think 'soul surfing' is a load of crap. Without sounding like a total moron I think surfing is good for the soul, same as I'd imagine meditation would be. Being out in the water and being totally at peace and free from all the other crap.

It's hard to describe really, it's like when I tell my brother he's an idiot for not getting into surfing. He says to me 'I'm sure a skateboarder, footballer etc. would say the same.' But I don't think you can, it's hard to describe the feeling you get from surfing, it's not only the catching the waves it's the whole experience really (only a surfer knows! ). Broosta, I dunno how you can't understand it if you surf regularly?

[Phil]

i totaly understand what your saying, its just hard to describe ive done alot of sports like mountian boarding scuba diving mountian biking etc, but none of them touch me in the way that surfing does

its realy hard to explane becuse its quite a personal experance but just being able to get away from the moden day life and bull the weston world throws at us, to be at total peace with your self and your suroundings it realy does touch the soul

surfing has changed my life i did have a pretty bleak out look on life for a while but since i found surfing it realy helped me find my self and what paths i should take in life

ok thats enough of the hippy in me

[Broosta]

IrishGirl, I see what you are saying and I do get it, but I just don't like the phrase. If you and I surfed some cool spots together then I'm pretty sure you would see that we are actually on the same wavelength .
The term/phrase 'soul surfer' just gives me a mental image of 'The Cliche' which is a few guys and maybe girls travelling around in vw camper wearing brown flared cords and long hair smoking weed, occassionally actually wobbling around on a long board not very well. Talking the talk, looking the part in the car park, but its all just too contrived. Its like all the alternative hippy types go to Byron Bay to be alternative, but they all go to the same place and look the same.
I probably do 'soul surf' from time to time but I just don't like to call it that.
Probably the most 'soul surfer-ish' experience I've had was in Fueteventura in 1986 when two friends and myself hired a jeep and went to Jandia in the deserted south of the island. We had to bump along unmettled cart tracks for 3hrs to get over the pass to the beach. The landscape was utterly breathtaking once we got to there -an endless sandy beach stretched out for as far as the eye could see next to an equally endless range of mountains/cliffs with nothing man made in sight at all except what we had brought with us, not even any other footprints than ours. In fact my friend just started crying at the fact he was in a place like that, he was just totally awestruck. Anyway we just got our gear (shortboards!) and surfed in this amazing place. Thinking about it now it was the same sort of vibe as I got when I saw the film 'Picnic At Hanging Rock', kind of very alone with nature and just a little bit creepy but not bad creepy.
I have other great surfing memories too like surfing WindandSea, La Jolla, X-mas day 1991, perfect weather perfect waves! Or Les Estagnots, Seignosse, Sept 2002, last day of 2 week holiday and its been raining most of the time with average waves but on the day we had to fly home at 15:00 its double overhead and barrelling with perfect skies and light offshores!

[CheeZee]

" Soul Surfing "

all nice replies


.......... " There are no words , no description that will fit , no picture you can draw .... your soul is a force unto itself ...we are not meant to have any idea where or what it is .

We can only guide our spirit ... we cannot guide our soul

Your soul is what you leave for your gods' or your family & friends to keep when you have passed into the next life .

We do not Soul surf ..... " we surf with soul "

Peace and love y'all

[RoxySurf]

Woohoo CheeZee ain't that the truth!

[CheeZee]

hehe ... i kinda tripped off into a nice lil' hippy moment there

" hey , how are you and your new forum buddy getting along ?! .. cool i hope ... hope you both get to hook up and hit some good spots

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

im sorry but soul surfing is bs..
if you go and ask someone like tony hawk about shating or lance armstrong about riding a bike, theyll tell you the same thing.
"you just dont understand the feeling i get from it."
people dont get the feeling the first time they go surfing, just like you dont get it riding a bike or skating because its just not your passion. people have different passions, ive met people whos passions were guitar, hip hop, racing, whatever. its easy to find people who see music as their life. thats their passion, and this is ours. its a hobby, you might feel like its your life, dont you think if you asked a pro skater whos got a huge half pipe in the back of his house would say the same thing?
youre not special because you surf, nor do you see the world through a different light. surfing doesnt define who you are.

[CheeZee]

.... dude ...what you just wrote ...was soul surfing ...sorry but it was

" you soul has decided to put reality and understanding in place with your passions ..but a person can live life through one defining thing, object , desire ... the fact you have chosen to make sure your soul does not attatch itself to one thing and one thing alone was " Your " soul decision .....

If nothing else fullfills a persons soul to exist ... then yes a person can live his or her life defining themselves through one thing .

The danger is , that a persons soul can become so defined by that One thing, that they can become ready to die for that one thing ... " I've seen it , lived with it .... you have to encounter a lot of Death to really understand anything to do with your soul ...unfortunately .

I appreciate what your saying and understand why someone would come to your conclusions .... " it makes life easier to deal with "

Peace and love ... cheeZee