I grew up in/on the ocean surfing almost every day and spent my early years making lots of life decisions through the lens of “will there be surf there?”
Living up in the “2+ hours one way to surf” portion of the PNW now for >10 years, and trying to juggle wife, kids, high intensity job, etc., has all contributed to way (WAY) less surfing than I did in my first decades of life. While it has slowed the progression of my surfer’s ear (yep - it’s a thing), it has been really hard sometimes to maintain my stoke levels. Long long spells with no surfing.
Last weekend I was jonesing hard to surf. It had been a while. I have a little 5’8 FireWire Seaside with quads just leaning on the wall in my home office, silently judging me for not taking it out. My 5/4/3mm wetsuit was pretty much dead though, so on a whim I told my wife I was out of pocket for the day and headed down to Seaside, OR, and Cleanline Surf shop. The staff at Cleanline was awesome - i have spent a lot of time in surf shops in places near and far and that is a really really good shop.
More important than picking up a new 5/4 and managing to sneak in some surf that day, the real win was that I managed to find my stoke again along the way.
For all those who have a passion for something that recharges their batteries but who may have let it slip toward the bottom of a long list of priorities, be it surfing or more likely on this forum fly fishing or whatever….get on it!* I’m already plotting my next trip to the WA coast, and a longer road trip for surf, and my next trip to warm water barrels, and…….
* Unless you have a passion for crime or something evil. Maybe don’t get on that.
Living up in the “2+ hours one way to surf” portion of the PNW now for >10 years, and trying to juggle wife, kids, high intensity job, etc., has all contributed to way (WAY) less surfing than I did in my first decades of life. While it has slowed the progression of my surfer’s ear (yep - it’s a thing), it has been really hard sometimes to maintain my stoke levels. Long long spells with no surfing.
Last weekend I was jonesing hard to surf. It had been a while. I have a little 5’8 FireWire Seaside with quads just leaning on the wall in my home office, silently judging me for not taking it out. My 5/4/3mm wetsuit was pretty much dead though, so on a whim I told my wife I was out of pocket for the day and headed down to Seaside, OR, and Cleanline Surf shop. The staff at Cleanline was awesome - i have spent a lot of time in surf shops in places near and far and that is a really really good shop.
More important than picking up a new 5/4 and managing to sneak in some surf that day, the real win was that I managed to find my stoke again along the way.
For all those who have a passion for something that recharges their batteries but who may have let it slip toward the bottom of a long list of priorities, be it surfing or more likely on this forum fly fishing or whatever….get on it!* I’m already plotting my next trip to the WA coast, and a longer road trip for surf, and my next trip to warm water barrels, and…….
* Unless you have a passion for crime or something evil. Maybe don’t get on that.
