Surfing in silence, living the dream!

When I think of surfing one of the main thoughts that come to mind is how inclusive the sport is. Every time you paddle out you see so many different types of people, ridiculously young groms that whiz past as you shake your head in disbelief at their talent, old dudes that power past as you struggle to fathom how they are doing it, skinny people, fat people, pretty much every type of person surfs. This crazy assortment of people seems to be part of what unites us and unconsciously creates a sense of community (even if sometimes the community only consists of a herd of neoprene clad surfers bunched up waiting for that perfect wave)

This strange unity and sense of belonging doesn’t happen very often and is not present in most sports or in most situations in life, but with surfing it happens whether you want it to or not. I remember getting this feeling when travelling to Byron Bay (Aus), Byron Bay is a beautiful, hippy little surf town where most people walk around barefoot, live on the beach and think of surfing 24/7.

At the campsite where I was staying, I met a group of guys from Israel, we instantly got on because we had a common interest of waking up a 5am, to run to the beach for that sunrise surf. What was strange about the whole experience wasn’t that they could hardly speak English or that my Hebrew was rubbish, it was strange because we spent almost 3 week as an inseparable pack of surfers and we hardly ever spoke. This became a slight problem when cooking but for the rest of the time it really didn’t matter and in the water I realised that no one needs to speak, the occasional glance when a big set rolls in speaks a thousand words, the yelps and whoops when one of you pulls out of a perfect barrel is the best high imaginable and the Cheshire cat smile and high fives as you wade back to the beach cements why I love to surf but also supports the argument that surfing unites people, excludes no one and you can strangely enjoy it with others without even speaking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another side to surfing that I really love to see is when people with disabilities get involved, I have read about a number of volunteer-led organisations that are set up to use surfing as a form of therapy, to improve the emotional wellbeing of young people and give them the confidence that they may have lost. This is surfing at its best, supporting people in need and improving their emotional health by having a blast in the water is gold dust and I take my hat off to all the people involved!

I recently saw an absolute gem on YouTube of a hero surfer that helped his friends mum experience surfing, all you need is a board some duck tape and a heart of gold. It is truly inspiring to see other people (not only surf much better than me with someone taped to their back) have the drive to share the experience with others, even when the odds are stacked against you!

I hope you have gone through some similar experiences of surfing, and if not, I hope my rambling has convinced you to grab a board and give it a try!

How to survive a Wipeout!

I was recently watching the Fiji Pro and just could not help but feel amazed but the strength and fitness of the surfers taking huge wipe outs and managing to get right back on the board and back on another monster wave. It got me thinking about wipeouts and how it effects everyone, pro or not-so-pro.

The feeling of absolute helplessness when you are being ripped apart in every direction and have no idea how deep you are unless you unfortunately hit the bottom. I think the ability to hold your breath and relax underwater is very heavily underrated and it wasn’t until I started to practise yoga that I found I was able to handle big wipeouts by reverting back to the relaxation methods that I learned.

This may sound a bit hippy and deep but I am not trying to get you into yoga, it is just an example of practising breathing and relaxation. I would suggest going one step further and practising your relaxation and breathe holding in the water – Using techniques that free divers use.

Here are a few tips that will help hold your breathe for longer and keep you calm…

Relax

relax your body and mind is key – don’t practise after eating or drinking red bull! Take your time, calming your body and try to clear your thoughts…

Breath

Take a few long deep breathes, do it slowly and find a nice rhythm. Make sure that after inhale you fully exhale.

Exhale

Exhaling is so much more important than inhaling. Using your diaphragm to push out every bit of air

Inhale

Try not to fully inhale so you’re ready to pop, try to breath in for 80-85 percent of your maximum. This will help you stay relaxed relaxed during the breath hold itself.

Hold Your Breath

Just hold it.

Chill

Relax your body as much as possible because you want your heartbeat to go down. Try to not look at your watch, think nice calming thoughts, a relaxing holiday, chilled music..whatever comes to mind. To distract your mind try small movements like touching your fingers together, pretend to play the piano or just play around to waste time and keep you mind of the desperate urge to want to breathe.

Recover

It is important to recover before you try again, these tips are not the be all and end all but they will help you!

Remember to be safe out there 🙂

Dolphins and UK beaches, a match made in heaven!

There are a few magic moments in surfing which is hard to put into words unless your lucky enough to be a poet…

Your first wave, I mean your first proper wave in which you feel in control and get a strange euphoric rush which you are forever hooked on.

Your first proper wipe out when you are under for so long that you think your lungs will explode but you come up for air a new person, bloody thankful to be alive.

But for me the most amazing time in the water is when surfing with dolphins, life is good when your surfing with dolphins and I wanted to see how many people were aware that you can get this high in our own humble country of England, every year on the south west coast numerous surfers share their waves with dolphins and if you haven’t had the chance you should defiantly try your luck!

Portrait of a bleak winter….

This is a quality video by Ben Tredinnick, it is perfectly named ‘A Cold Winter Swell’, was filmed in Cornwall (Fistral beach) and makes putting on your thick wet suit and hood totally worth it!

Surf travel essentials

As the days are getting lighter and half term is upon us the thought….surf trip….comes to mind. I have packed my board bag a number of times praying to the almighty surf god that my board will go through the baggage handelers safe and sound, I have a few mates that have had a few dings appear when they open up the bag but most often it is the rail that is dented or cracked.

The solution to this nightmare came to me after whilst studying design at university, I was prototyping a model one day with random materials and I came across pipe insulation. This is by far the most perfect material to protect your rails when packing your board, it is cheap (a couple of quid from B&Q) and conveniently has a cut through the middle which makes sliding it onto our board a piece of cake!

Next time your on a  surf trip be sure to get some, alternatively you can look into purchasing this nifty collapsable board…or not