Live to Surf --- Surf to Live

STAY HEALTHY -- KEEP SURFING..... ..... As an ocean inspired artist, who surfs most of the year in cold and sometimes dangerous waters, I have evolved a variation on the 70's era "live to surf -- surf to live" mantra. Unfulfilled desire and will power alone is no longer sufficient motivation, and thus my variation on the 70's theme:

I MAKE SURF ART BECAUSE I SURF.
I SURF BECAUSE I MAKE SURF ART.

The net result is greater health and fitness, and higher performance surfing. It's my personal version of "live to surf -- surf to live."
We all know that after 60, the more often you surf, the greater the rewards. If you are still surfing in your 60's (or beyond) you probably have your own system for making regular water time a priority. KEEP SURFING !!!

Jody and Mar at Punta Burros

Jody and Mar at Punta Burros
Jody and Mar sliding in their sixties

kookery transcends irony

Elders are just well dressed, well behaved old people whose skill-set is being re-calibrated by time. In the beach-kitchen (bitchin!) skills improve with time and experience. By the time we hit sixty, most of us either like to cook or not.
But health and fitness imperatives may pull us into the kitchen without requiring the study of gourmet kookery. That is bitchin too!
And a new interest in food, diet, and cooking might also be inspired by surf travel.
We will cook for two, and we will cook for twenty-two!! We will explore some senior moments in the kitchen, and share our experiences with you, if we can remember them.
Most of us who still chase waves as a priority in life are aware that there is some performance loss with aging, and we are keen to preserve and enhance our carefully nurtured abilities.
Kookery can help with that. as the best training table for a mature athlete is the one you lay yourself.
Also, kookery can be part of a lifestyle that introduces you to new people and potential surf partners or even life partners. Two solid interests in common (surfing and cooking) is a pretty healthy basis for shared enjoyment.
Elders we can be, but we have to STYLE our way there (to illuminate the path for those who come after). Surfers like to party, and beach-kitchen bitchin party food from someone who knows their kookery will get you more re-invites than ANY story you ever told. Elder status awaits us all, so take care of yourself!!

Sunday, November 30, 2014

When Surfing Hurts

 Aging and Injury

Two realities, each challenging,  especially when causally linked. Both realities conversational taboos in youth culture surfing circles, but sometimes open for discussion among senior surfers.

When Injury sidelines a surfer athlete, sympathy for pain and missed swells is often only available from other sidelined surfers. Watching elder surfer athletes from the beach, one becomes painfully aware of the difference between elder-abled, and dis-abled.

Beginning in my early 40's, lower back pain began to negatively affect my surfing. As my back pain became acute and chronic, I began to seek relief in a variety of therapies, including yoga, chiropractic, massage, acupuncture. In desperation, I eventually underwent back surgery (without improvement).

Prone paddling caused pain, and I  moved to long boards and knee paddling, which does not hurt.  16 years after back surgery, I am still surfing in overhead conditions, but in the last year new injuries have conspired to sideline me -- especially shoulder trauma and resulting inflammation (tendonitis).

Surfing again in overhead conditions the past few months has resulted in body-to-board, head-to-board, and whiplash injuries causing trauma that a few years ago I would have bounced right back from. The risk/benefit ratio of performance surfing is trending in a discouraging direction. I stopped chasing big waves some years back. How much more debilitating injury before I restrict my go-outs to the mildest conditions? It's still surfing, isn't it?

first published Nov 30 2014

Seven years lated...I got barreled in Mexico on my 72nd birthday
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