Surfing, the Culture and it’s People.

Dudes and Dudettes Hello!

The net is a wonderful way of keeping in touch with many things happening outside your normal circle of life. I guess for me it’s the only way at present that I can keep up with the life I once knew and loved so much, lifes a beach. I am a self confessed old fart in the making, but I say that as a term of endearment. I have seen so many changes in my 36 years on this planet, but it’s the changes in the surfing scene that amaze and excite me at the same time.

You could be forgiven if you think I am refering to the technological advances in the sport, or even the recognition that our heros recieve, but you are only a little close to the point I am making today. I will agree that surfing as a competitive sport has come a long way in twenty years, but more to the fact is the perception of surfers by society that has dramatically changed. In a sad sort of way, surfing has been exploited to an extent, kind of like the next new thing at times. Money begets money, and it also makes the world go round, and I agree wholeheartedly that athaletes of all styles should be recognised, but outside of the surfing relm, the average person has never been given the chance to understand the mystical, almost religious emotion behind the surfing culture.

To earn your living doing what you love the most is something few of us will ever get the chance to do. The Kelly Slaters, and Layne Beachleys of the world are few, but slowely growing, but what seperates them as atheletes is the fact that they LIVE the culture and are finally recognised for achievment and skill. Something though has occured that blows my mind! I remember a time when I was flicked by the general public because I was a surfer. See, once upon a time, we were refered to as dole bludging, mindless fools with no future goals in life! That whole misguided mindset by society is something I have to say I miss a little 😛 We all worked hard as kids, yeah sure there were a few of us that skipped chores and even work to catch a bitchin break, but we were also the first out of bed EVERY morning, riding our bikes down to the beach at kirra to catch an hour or two before school.

“Surfings a source, it’ll change you’re life, swear to god”. Those words made famous in the greatest movie of all time in my book, “Point Break”, however, so true they are. It’s like a drug, something you just can’t get enough of, and what I am going to do now is TRY and paint a picture of what it’s like.

“The Culture”

It starts at an early age I guess, the early starts, age and morning time lol. The waves are always better at dawn, but honestly you had to leave early cause you lived off the beach a fair way and riding back from the surf after a couple of hours, with a board under your arm was sometimes an effort. Still though, we did it every single day without fail. I was never sick as a kid, even though I was scrawny lol, I’ve been told that it was the salt air, and now later in life I have to agree. We loved it, no matter how many times we did it, we loved it. You know that feeling you get in your guts when you are about to pick up that new car, or about to have foxtel connected lol, the excitement that you can hardly contain, well it’s kind of like that, exept that unlike the new car feeling fading after a while, every morning you wake up to surf you feel the same.

To this day, the smell of the surf at daybreak is so intoxicating. I stand there, looking out to sea, eyeing the linebreaks, smile and breath DEEP. You can taste the air, it’s like an old familiar smell in your Nanas kitchen, scones or pastery puffs, you NEVER forget it. No matter where you are, you can always sit back and smile and relish in the memories when you smell it. I grew up with a group of guys that were all the same, we never realy had a choice. The beach was our life and we lived it to the fullest. It was funny as a kid to watch the tourists pour in and out every holiday, not funny though when they got in the way of a good line! We never realy understood their excitement, it was different from ours. 

 

We all started off with bungers, big arse boards with no control, chunks missing and about two inches of desicated wax on the top. I know there are a lot of you laughing right now cause you know what I’m saying lol, but the point is that as we improved we upgraded in our gear. My biggest problem was not being able to have a short board, I was always tall and lanky and needed a longer deck, but now I love em, they’re like an old shoe, so comfy 😛 We worked, hell the first thing you learn as a kid on the coast is that ya olds arn’t gonna foot the bill every time you snap a board, and god knows I nailed a few. I worked every arvo at a resteraunt as the garbage boy. I applied a term for my profession, I was a “garbologist”, one who is appointed to remove that which if left will stink out a room and cause lack of buisness! In other words, in my mind I was SOOOOO important!

I love the sound of the surf, she talks to you. Honestly she will growl at you when angry, applaud you when you rip it, and sing you to sleep at night. It’s a language all on it’s own that only a surfer learns to decifer. Think I’m being melodramatic, I’m not, I’m just talking about the OTHER true love of my life, and one I miss every single day. My Nan was a legend! She would let me have all the guys over for the night and let us steal wood from the neighbor. We’d steal milk crates from the shop, bungy cord em to the bars of our bikes and fill em with wood. A couple of bottles of sweet (cheap) wine (that Cori’s bro bought for us), and a news paper, and we were on the beach for the night. Such good memories! She never worried about us, probably never knew we were drinking lol, but we were always safe in her mind.

Think about this, a few of your best friends, sitting around the fire on your favourite beach, in the cool breeze of the mid summer. Drinking till you could drop, telling tall tales about the HUGE barrel you caught (even though we all knew the swell was a massive 2 feet lol), and then falling asleep on the sand in your sleeping bag with the sound of the surf rocking and whispering in your ear. These days you would NEVER let your kids do that, some freak would surely come along and fuck it all up! See how much life has changed! I look back now and laugh at the old snears that we were bad kids, cause we wer’nt and we had more fun than any, and grew up in the most wonderful environment.

How many of you had a past time that you indulged in as a child? I am guessing a lot. Well, how many of you still indulge in that past time? I’m guessing not many. We all mature, we all change, grow older, alter our point of view, even sacrifice for love, but a surfer NEVER changes. It’s like trying to take the fight out of the dog, you might tame it, but you will never control it. It’s a part of our lives. All the skin Ive lost off my chest from sand on the board, all the salt water I’ve ever swallowed in my life after being dumped, I would never change for anything. We learned respect! Try

paddling out on a busy break and steal another guys (or girls) line, you will fast learn about respect. 

We dressed a certain way too, but not in the expensive “billies” that you see today. Sure we had em, but the “cords” were for the good times, and any surfer I know will relate to that term right off 😛 Our dacks were hangin down long before it was fashionable in the city DECADES later. Our hair was so stringy and dry that you just could’nt do anything with it but let it fly. The sun bleached it, but when it was’nt light enough we used to squeeze lemon juice into it and lie in the sun. I’m serious, no idea where we got the idea, but it turned ya hair white lol! Skin, well we were all the same shade, brown as a berry! There was this old guy at surfers that had a “little beaver”, don’t get all dirty now, it was an electric spray gun from black’n’decker. He was an icon on the coast, and made a living spray painting all the honeys with tanning oil 😛 Nowa days you’d never get away with it, all the hype about skin cancer, but back then we’d get it for nothin if one of us raced off and scammed a pack of ciggies for him lol!

Now I’m ageing, I’m going grey and my kids look at me like I’m an old fart lol. I live in Canberra, about as far away from the waves as any surfer could ever hate to be, but there is one thing that makes it worth while. A; I have a wonderful woman in my life, and I have a great job and a wonderful future and four fantastic kids. B; Some of the best surf beaches are less than 3 hours drive and every time the urge gets too much, all I have to do is load em all in to the vw and head for the white water. There is one other thing that makes it all ok though, I have the memories of a king! Sure I might look like a fish out of water wearing the old faded surf shirts and the threaded boardies, but I’m as happy as a pig in shit while I see the discomfort of the “suits” walking around me, secretly wishing they could chill in a pair of occies lmao!

Guy’s, this has been therepy for me. Writing this has bought back so many wonderful memories! I am smiling so big I think the top half of my head is gonna fall off the back lol! Hope you got something out of it too, and do yourselves a favour. You may not become a surfer, life the dream every day, rip a killer tube or nail a perfect cut back, but there is one thing you can do. I defy you to reject this feeling. Right on dusk, just as the sun is half way under the horizon, sit there and look at the water between the sun and the shore and listen to the waves. Concentrate on on that area and keep your focus there, the first thing you will feel is your eyes water, the next is your eyes closing. Block it out, block everything out but the sound of the waves and do it for as long as you can. It is not unusual to find that you are in the dark some time later, totally relaxed and energised.

Thats a ritual I used to do every MORNING before hitting the waves, but using it to relax is just as effective.

Damn I want to surf now!!!!!!!!! Much MUCH Love to You ALL!

 

Luke xoxoxo!!!