Anyone else surfing for years and still bad?

New year. Feels nice, doesn’t it? We hit the reset button and now we can all pretend we’re going to be awesome at surfing in the new year. Bullshark. And that’s what this story is all about–surfing for years and still bad.

🦈 new year, same bullshit

I no longer “do” New Year resolutions or set any goals in relation to surfing. It just doesn’t make sense. Life gets in the way and just like that you’re screwed and unhappy for the rest of the year. You may wish to wake up every morning and not immediately reach for your phone, but who are we kidding.

Instead, this year I “did” things I will no longer do. Like I won’t apologize for my slow pop-up. Or popping up from one knee or both knees. Or kneeboarding or bodyboarding all the way to the beach if the wave already broke. On a bigger day, I won’t apologize for catching waves from a standing position so I can spot the tiniest wrinkles of green waves—and so I can pee in my wetsuit to my heart’s delight.

There will be no apologies for butterfly takeoffs, “I should have known better” wipeouts, or forgetting to keep my eyes up. Also, land pop-ups. Fuck ’em. Not happening. My body was made for popping up on a wave and on a wave only.

There will be no groveling on my part for not surfing four days a week to progress my surfing. Or for sticking with my foamie even though I own a perfectly decent mid-length and a longboard. Finally, I will never be sorry for surfing at Venice Breakwater when there are so many “better breaks” available to me. I’m not into sitting in traffic, y’all.

👩‍👧 perfection kills curiosity

You may remember what a terrible disservice Malcolm Gladwell did to all of us when he decided that to master any skill you need to perform it for 10,000 hours. I say: screw Malcolm. You don’t need to do anything perfectly to enjoy it. Perfection is the enemy of the people.

I know this from my own experience. My mother, a person I deeply admire for knowing the answer to every question, won’t try anything new unless she can do it perfectly. As a result, she won’t do anything new—ever. We’re talking about 70+ years of not doing anything new besides having a kid. And look how that turned out.

For years, I’ve been convinced that I need to strive for perfection in surfing. Nothing less will do. But thankfully, life’s cured me.

If you listen to this podcast or read The Wipeout Weekly, you already know I am an unserious surfer. I’d go as far as saying that if you take surfing too seriously (unless you want to go pro or teach surfing someday), it’s a guaranteed recipe for disaster and general unhappiness. I am not the only one.

🌍 turns out we’re all terrible

Just this week, there’s been an entire /surfing subreddit thread (and that’s saying something, because these guys never admit any weakness) on “Anyone else surfing for years and still terrible?” Everyone’s in agreement—we’re all terrible, no matter how long we’ve surfed.

One of our Girls Who Can’t Surf Good in Australia surfed a few times with Stephanie Gilmore. You know, the eight-time surfing champion. Stephanie said, “Jen, if you’re popping up to your knee, that’s fine. Unless you’re planning to compete on the world circuit, you don’t need a perfect pop-up.” Gotta trust the pro.

If all of this sounds a bit “happy-go-lucky,” it’s because it’s meant to. But I’ll tell you what I will apologize for, though—if I screw up your wave. I guarantee I will be more upset about this than you are.

Author: The Wipeout Weekly team