I'm absolutely knackered.............

..........because I have had three surf sessions over the last two days.

Yesterday, I had my new big and beautiful blue 10' single fin out in perfect peeling rights in the morning and then finished off the day further round the bay on my bodyboard in bigger and faster rights including one wave which would have to count as the longest I have ever had on a bodyboard. By the end of the ride, my right calf was really aching because I was working so hard using my fin to hold into the face that it was somewhat of a relief when it did end, right on the beach among the seaweed!

This morning, feeling a little like I really didn't need another session, I was again on the 10' single fin looking for the peeling rights from the previous day but they were not there unfortunately.

So I paddled a little further around the bay to some close outs, that were breaking into a bit of a hole, so at least I got a little face time and a lot of that much desired wave condition "By myself". The swell appeared to have come a up a little so I headed back to the point and those little right hand peelers were working again and I got three really, really excellent rides before the tide came in and it stopped working again. Just got to be in the right place at the right time!

Incidentally, we had a 6 metre swell over the weekend and knowing it would be too much for me, I took my video camera down and shot the following footage, of the many that were willing to brave it, if you are interested.

Anyway, I don't know about you guys, but I am finding that after that much surfing, my body is just not coping as well as it was when I was a little younger.

Mind you, when I first started surfing 8 and a half years ago, I found the walk up the beach trying, would only last a little while in the water and needed a couple of days get over it before I could go surfing again!

So it is all relative I guess but it definitely looks like it is going to be an increasingly obvious issue.

I think one of the key contributors is hydration and I keep forgetting to take on some water before I go surfing rather than relying on doing so after a surf and having trouble actually getting enough fluid in to myself.

I also think that a loss of flexibility is also problematic. I find I have to give my calves a good stretch in the morning before I actually stand up otherwise I am hobbling around like a much older man for a few minutes. After spending sometime over at Pranaglider's blog, I have also tentatively restarted a yoga practise again after many years of "I must get around to it soon!"

Unfinished Business

After nearly thirty five years of living on or near the Southern Ocean I have now belatedly returned to live on the Australian Pacific Coast. This was my first home, the mystical the place of my youth, where I first earned my spurs as a surfer, but I ultimately left the small coastal town I came from to pursue work and career opportunities.

While I have been fortunate to enjoy half a lifetime of great waves with good friends in many fine places, I always felt I left a lot of unfinished business back in the water where I came from. Favorable circumstances have now allowed me to return to my origins and I am back in the subtropics living within a five minute walk to the nearest break.

From the first moment I stood upright on a board I became completely committed to never leaving the water until they carted me out. At the age of 55 I am more determined than ever to make good on that commitment. So I am traveling full circle and betting the mellow, warm water waves that I remember from my youth, if combined with plenty of stretching and healthy living, will allow me to log a lot more time in the tube for an awful lot longer.

A Call for Contributing Authors

This blog currently has 6 actively contributing authors. We'd like to add some more to the roster, and get some added imput from you stoked surfers who just don't want to quit surfing and being stoked!

You don't have to be a surfer over 50 to be an author - just someone who is determined to stay fit, enjoy the active lifestyle, and never stop being stoked no matter how old you are!

If you'd like to join our blog as an active contributor, please email Huck. Just scroll down to the list of contributing authors, click Huck, then click email under my pic. Look forward to hearing from ya'!

Mahalo nui loa! to Gdaddy, goomba271, Monty, Ramsnake, & Fergus McDingo!!

Thanks to those of you who keep this blog alive! I love surfing, but find at my age, its a lot tougher to stay out there in the lineup.

I live a few hours from the ocean now, and I don't have any fellow surfers in my neighborhood, so I rely on this blog for tips, pointers, info, and keeping up the stoke! This blog has seven followers (6 besides me!), and I get email support and appreciation as well, so your work does not go unnoticed

Props to those of you who have shared and contributed to making this blog worth having, and worth reading

Here's a pic of me with my latest homebuilt hollow wooden surfboard at the 'bu!

Derek Hynd, 53 years old, one eye, no fin - check it out!!

Malibu Seniors

I got a job in Pacific Palisades removing a deck - took a few days, and I had a chance to surf Malibu in the mornings. Really noticed the older guys in the surf there - lots of 'em. Good to see our age demographic well represented at this classic spot!

Unlike many of you...............

...........I did not start to surf until I was nearly 50. 49 to be exact. As my newly acquired partner at the time Michelle had just started to learn, and the bloke across the road had a 7' 6" mini mal that he was willing to lend to me, I thought ok, lets have a go at this - even though I was terribly overweight and unfit.
Still a little overweight but way way fitter, healthier and having fun - so it would have to rate as one of the best decisions I have ever made!
9 years later we are still both mad keen and have organised our lives, as much as possible, around the opportunity to ride waves.
I refer to myself as a wave rider rather than a surfer because I started to realise that the majority of surfers seemed to have had a very narrow and competitive view of their chosen activity which I did not empathise with.
I am loath to:
1. Take myself too seriously.
2. Scrabble about on a shortboard when the waves are too small and not have the sense to use a more appropriate ( maybe longer? ) form of wave craft.
3. Not to be stoked to share and call others riders on to a wave.
4. Not to have a quiver of wave craft of all types that allow me to make the best of any conditions.
5. Not to understand that the 1st rule of surf etiquette includes "whoever has been waiting longest".
6. Not to understand that females have the right to share the line up also.
7. To forget that the surfer having the most fun is the best surfer.
Currently my quiver includes:
1. A 10' 10" Walden SUP
2. A 10' Warren Thompson single fin
3. An 8' 1" McTavish Carver
4. Access to a 6' 10" Aido Accelerator my partner Michelle now owns
4. A BZ Big Bruddah bodyboard
5. A POD handboard
6. and of course a pair of POD fins
I am very seriously considering adding a 4th Gear Flyer mat to my quiver also.
I create and administer the blog "Waveriders" and invite you to take the time to visit occasionally. (note from Huck: I have added the waveriders blog to my blogs list - when a new post is added, the blog will show on the right)
Hello to all of you and thanks for inviting me to contribute Huck.

the one that got away

Over the recent Easter and post Easter swell on the Gold Coast in Oz, I spent a bit of time (along with many others!) attempting to get a few fun waves on the hollow sand banks around Rainbow Bay and Greenmount Point. On one occasion a solid cleanup set of about five waves pushed the crowd well into the inshore - but as I was sitting a little outside I was lucky enough to scratch over the last feathering crest and avoided being pushed inside.

I looked around and found myself completely alone at the takeoff, and better still a perfect peak was lifting up lifted up about 15 metres directly ahead of me. As I quickly turned and began to paddle into what appeared to be a fortuitous and benevolent gift from Huey, out of the corner of my eye I saw a movement off to the inside shoulder.

Suddenly my attention was riveted onto the immaculate vision - a perfect angel of a young woman paddling a white mini mal, her long blond hair still perfectly dry, shining in the sun, her bright yellow bikini standing out on her perfectly tanned, perfectly proportioned body. I could only watched in awe as she gave me a small angelic smile of acknowledgement, and effortlessly stroked into the peak on my inside, rising to her feet and pulling into a fun, hollow, head high, barrel that reeled off way down the line almost out of sight.

She had just quickly paddled out of nowhere! Once I recovered my senses, I concluded that Huey had obviously sent an Angel to punish me for past multiple sins of dropping in, snaking and many other associated felonies, and also maybe to teach me to take absolutely nothing for granted. The the score remains Angels one, Sinful Old Water Rat zero.

(photo courtesy of "Dok")

Guilheim's Reply to goomba271 (glide baby glide)

I couldn’t agree more… Actually, I recently shaped two "gliders" in the 11’- 12’ range. Those boards are great :

A 12’2’’ that I made for Pierre, and my own 11’3’’

Guilhem.

Glide baby glide.....

Can you remember your first wave on a surfboard? If you're old enough, as in "Over 50" it was likely on a longboard.

Maybe it was when you were a little kid on a longboard? It was for me and I'll never forget the glide.

Were you ever able to rent one of those huge tanker boards in Waikiki to feel what it was like to stand high and dry on a board of such length, width and volume that you could remain standing long after the wave had rolled under you?

I am mathematically incapable of calculating the body weight to board volume ratios of those earliest surfboard experiences but common sense suggests that we are all far from those ratios at our current weights on our current equipment.

Are all of us so hooked on the pro performance levels portrayed by the media that we entertain the fantasy of high performance surfing for ourselves at our home breaks on our own equipment?

Snap out of it, son.... it isn't going to happen. Not today and not tomorrow.

Is it out of the range of possibility that a modern SUP ridden at most of our current weights might come close? Perhaps something along the lines of a 12 foot Mickey Munoz Surftech?

Try ignoring the media hype and shape or buy something that starts to compare to the weight/volume ratios of yesterday - to once again feel the stoke that got you hooked to begin with!

glide on brothers and sisters

Re: Over 50 surfers:
I celebrated my 62 bday on 3/24/10. I have been surfing since 1964. Currently I own eight boards.

Vintage:
9'3" Hansen 50/50 square tail (c/1965)
8'6" Hansen 50/50 pintail (c.1966)
8'4" Ole (circa 1967) pintail w/ 50/50 rails

Modern:
8'4" R Wood round pin single fin concave nose rider (magical board)
7'10" R Wood round pin single fin concave nose rider (a step down board)
7'10" Greg Stritch round pin channel bottom thruster (got 10' point
surf on this one!)
7'2" R Wood round pin 5 fin with FU center box.

Newest board:
6'0" Hand made Alaia (by me) just finished today, the linseed oil is drying, so I have not ridden it yet.

I appreciate your site.
Surfing? A deeply personal and intimately inspirational panacea for life on land.

I cannot remember life before I began surfing. I cannot imagine a life devoid of the privilege of the sublime pleasure of simply paddling out and catching a wave!

My advice on interacting with all the stress-filled combatants
inhabiting dry places? One should not expect too much from them, after all they don't surf.

Hey, if yer not out when the tide goes out the tide goes out witout cha!

glide on brothers and sisters, mike