Being motivated to surf, sometimes you don’t have it, sometimes you do.

What I remember of my younger years was that I was almost always motivated to surf. So why is it now that a lot of times I go to the beach when the surf is not great but surf able and I’m not that interested in going out?

When I was younger if there was anything in the water that would propel my surfboard I was on it. And in Hawaii, unless the winds were not favorable, which was seldom, or it was over my size limit, which could happen, I’d go surf. On the main land, I look and start thinking… nah, it’s not consistent enough, it’s small, it’s to cold, the wind is picking up so it will blow out by the time I reach the lineup, it’s a waste of time right now, I’ll come back later… but don’t, etc, etc.

Having a surf buddy helps with this type of problem. You get to the beach see something you could surf and say “what do you think?” Your buddy says “we’re here.” You say “yeah.” He says “we came to surf so.” You say “ok, let’s go out then.” Done deal.

After you surf you can make the assessment.. you say “ I saw you got a couple good ones”. He says “yeah, it was fun… you got some too”. You say “yeah, I’m hungry lets go get something to eat”.

When you’re alone you can’t do that. Well, you can talk to yourself, and end up either talking yourself into going out or not going out. But after a go out? Was it worth it or not. It’s almost always debatable, unless the surf was really good and you had a really good session.

So what happened yesterday? I went for a surf check, the conditions were really nice and I saw a couple good sets. Went home and got my stubbie…I’m so addicted to that board right now… but the surf just didn’t have the juice. I should have gone down with a tanker. I got a few nice ones but wished I had a tanker. My thinking stole the fun.

With a surf buddy, we would have debated first about what board would be best. He’d say “what board you gonna take?” You’d say “The stubbie.” He’d say “again? You always ride that board and then complain you should’ve taken a long board. I’m taking my long board, It’s not consistent enough for something short.” You say “yeah, I’ll take my quad long board then.” You both catch lots of waves and have fun…. Get out of the water, talk about your rides as you towel off and get in dry cloths. Then go get something to eat!

D.R.

These three guys have been surf buddies for over 40 years