What Would You Do?

58 Years old, five months till 59. I have been surfing since I was fifteen. I started at a great time, perhaps just a few years later than the very best time. Queensland waves were relatively uncrowded, equipment was vastly improved and there was still enough of a link with the counter culture movement of the late 60s and even early 70s to still feel the vibe. Mind you the 80s ruined that but by then I was at the right age to go along with all that ripping and tearing, the Echo Beach boardies, The Sunnyboys, Charlie Don’t Surf and moshing.

For some of the 44 years I surfed daily, most of it weekly or fortnightly, and for about ten years about once a year. I was always only ok at it, able to hold my own at the local during the hero era of your twenties but I surfed bugger all in my 30s and have been working it around career and family ever since. I haven’t minded missing days, weeks, and sometimes years between surfs. This has probably kept my joints and muscles together for longer so I am only just starting to have wear and tear issues on my shoulders now. The rest of me is pretty good but from the mid 50s holy shit its got harder to stay at a level. That level being the level you want to be at, whatever that is.

There are many things that are different about surfing now. Until they invented surf cams if you weren’t at the beach you could only guess what you were missing out on. Now days you know it’s pumping when you are at work or at a family barbecue or whatever. There is a world of difference between being told, “you should have been here yesterday” and seeing Snapper or The Pass reel off in real time.

But you know for me that is ok too. Surfing has always been more a complete experience for me than just paddling on to and performing on a wave. I was never keen to charge big waves or spend six weeks in Indonesia; I didn’t even get to Bali until I was in my mid-thirties. I was so unsurf fit I was only game enough to paddle out at 3 foot Seminyak.

Even now I would rather surf chest high picture perfect than twice as big onshore. Victoria has waves; heaps of waves but I never really surfed when I lived there for the same reason. Everything was harder, the surroundings weren’t as pretty, the water always cold, it was often too big or down a cliff, in short it wasn’t surfing how I liked it.

You might be thinking, “ Well champ you weren’t much of a surfer than or now,” but I disagree. Surfing does have something for everyone, those that want to compete, the chargers, the travelers and the ones like me who just want to feel that special magic that surfing has. That link between nature and you, that feeling of non motorised movement over a moving surface, the sheer stunning coolness and style of it. The way all of you feels when you walk up the beach when the surf has been just how you like it.

I don’t believe that I am any less of a surfer because I never really enjoyed overhead waves or didn’t visit Indo every winter. I sometimes wonder about the chargers and the competitive surfers, whether they, on average last as long as I have. If the bodies give out, are they like Olympic swimmers or test cricketers who if they can’t do their thing at elite level anymore just stop completely and go play golf, get on the piss or host morning radio.

Now days I don’t even care so much if I don’t live right at the beach. I read a comment from another older surfer well into his 70s. He said that it is better not to have waves across the road from your door. You appreciate more what you have to work for, you are not so picky and perhaps your sense of entitlement is not so developed. I don’t think any monoculture is good for you, even one based around something as inherently sublime and healthy as surfing.

Lately though, some strange thoughts have been coming to mind.

Nobody likes crowded surf. Actually that is not true. I think there is a certain kind of surfer who enjoys the gladiatorial battle of catching waves and surfing well in big packs like you see at Noosa.  But I doubt many of them are over the age of 45.

Why?  Because most older surfers are less equipped to deal with crowded conditions and obviously can remember when it was different, in some cases very different.

Even if you are surfing everyday if you are over say 45 your reaction times are slower, you want a bit more time, a bit more room to move. It is frustrating to have the crowds but that is only a small part of the problem. The crowds have eroded the old rules about right of way and dropping in till at most point breaks in Qld and NSW it is just a shit fight. At these places 80% of the waves are caught by 20% of the surfers with the local crew obviously having a huge advantage in terms of knowing the break, pecking order etc. etc. Snapper Rocks being the prime example.  Sure some famous popular breaks are more workable than others depending on the vagaries of the lineup and the skillset of one’s fellow surfers but in the end in Southern Queensland it is safe to say I am done with these places now.

Lesser quality breaks or points more suited for longboards are better but even there problems remain. Personally a bigger frustration are the surfers who make no effort to get out of the way of the rider on the wave. Whether it is cluelessness, arrogance or deliberate snaking I find this to be as big as frustration as your standard drop in. Such is surfing at popular locations in the 2020s.

What makes it worse for the older surfer is not just the physical, mental or philosophical difficulties but also the sheer force of memory. The memories of surfing at these locations when there was far less hassle, plenty of waves and of course far less bodies in the water.

This is of course a unique older surfer issue. Maybe I think too much but when the fun goes out of it through not being able to ride the waves at your favourite breaks anymore with any pleasure and the body starts to ache isn’t it unreasonable to, in footy terms, hang up the boots?

After all you can’t surf forever, sooner or later the day will come. Is it better to pass on the diminishing returns and instead go out with a bang? Sure beachies are fun and in some parts of the world consistently good for months at a time but what if where you live they aren’t and what if where you surf the best banks get crowded as well. Obviously even for a cruiser like me what I will be able to do on a wave will become less and less. What if “just for the fun of it” isn’t enough anymore?

For example what would you do if you could have four hours at your favourite spot, maybe Kirra or Crescent, Narrabeen or Winki, in what you see as perfect conditions with a guarantee that any wave you want is yours? Throw in a jet ski to take you back out the back, two buddies, beers and a photographer to capture the moment as well.

Yep, I know you could do all of this on a boat charter to Indo or the Maldives and people do, but for my generation a lot of great memories are tied up with spots here in Australia. I also know there are now wave pools but I have not tried one so I don’t know how it feels as to how it looks.

I think it’s a bit like being in a rock band. Would you rather go out with a bang in a massive stadium tour or fade away playing the same songs year after year to punters sipping chardonnay on winery lawns?

So would you take the offer, knowing that when you paddle in you have to leave your board on the beach, walk away and call it quits for good?

And if you could, when would you do it? Now, at the peak of your remaining powers or maybe you would wait till a set age, say at 65 or 70?

Would you take it?