“The fact that you’re surfing means you’re lucky. Surfing is such a positive and powerful thing to do. It’s medicinal, it’s physical, it’s all sorts of things.”
When it comes to good surfing, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You don’t have to be the best surfer in the world to do what is good surfing for you. The only thing that is going to make you surf better is to surf more, but that’s not about enjoyment, necessarily. If you want to improve, you have to put in the effort and time and have the right equipment.
No one can climb the mountain on day one. You’ve gotta take baby steps and have a long-term vision. When I used to go to Hawaii, I used to say, “You know what? It’s 8 to 10 foot, I’m not even gonna catch a wave. I’m just gonna paddle out and sit in the channel where I know I’m safe and I’m just going to watch it and come in,” and I’d be proud because I went out when no one else did. Before you know it, the next time you go out you’re going, “I’ve seen it big, maybe this time I’ll paddle over and try to get one.”
This story is from the Volume 61, Issue 1 edition of Surfer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Volume 61, Issue 1 edition of Surfer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
60 Years Ahead
We had a whole plan for this year. Funny, right? Surfer's 60 year anniversary volume was going to be filled with stories nodding to SURFER’s past, with cover concepts paying homage to the magazine’s most iconic imagery. Our new Page One depicts something that’s never happened in surfing before, let alone on a prior SURFER cover. And our table of contents was completely scrapped and replaced as we reacted to the fizzing, sparking, roiling world around us. In other words, 2020 happened to SURFER, just like it happened to you.
A Few Things We Got Horribly Wrong
You don’t make 60 years of magazines without dropping some balls. Here are a few
THE LGBTQ+ WAVE
Surf culture has a long history of marginalizing the LGBTQ+ community, but a new generation of queer surfers is working to change that
For Generations to Come
Rockaway’s Lou Harris is spreading the stoke to Black youth and leading surfers in paddling out for racial justice
Christina Koch, 41
Texas surfer, NASA astronaut, record holder for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman
END TIMES FOR PRO SURFING
By the time the pandemic is done reshaping the world, will the World Tour still have a place in it?
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
After decades of exclusive access to Hollister Ranch, the most coveted stretch of California coast is finally going public
What They Don't Tell You
How does becoming a mother affect your surfing life?
Four Things to Make You Feel A Little Less Shitty About Everything
Helpful reminders for the quarantine era
The Art of Being Seen
How a group of black women are finding creative ways to make diversity in surfing more visible
