Zen and the Art of Surfing

Surfing is all about commitment, trust and the right timing.

Dropping in is the moment of commitment on a wave, it’s the point at which you let go of the rails with both hands and trust that your feet will find your board over the mountains of moving ocean that you’re about to claim and you literally drop from the top of the wave into the translucent place of trust and potential and you fly in the curved space of the wave on the water.  You absorb the weight of the sea in your bones and your body, and with each carve and turn on the face of the wave you’re lighter and heavier all at the same time--moving at the speed of the sun and the light. 

There is also another outcome; you perl.  It’s going over the falls and getting rag-dolled under the wave, most often with salt water finding its way into your sinuses and other unnamed places.  Perling happens because you take off too early, or you drop in too soon; it happens because you did not wait for the wave to come to you.  It’s the place of being too eager, of not having patience and not sensing your space in time with the wave.  Perling can lead to a hesitation the next time you are about to drop in, and the universe will usually answer your hesitation with another drilling session over the falls. Total conundrum at times since to drop in you cannot hesitate, you must commit and you have to find that perfect equilibrium between waiting and going with everything you’ve got - at the exact moment required. 

And sometimes that’s the least of it.  On a crowded day, you might get tangled up with another surfer –  in a completely embarrassing haze of mashed up boards, tangled leashes and the impending doom of another wave about to crash on your head with more surfers coming your way. The whole scenario is enough to make you determine then and there that you will never commit yourself to something that could lead to that kind of outcome again.