quotations about surfing
When I was a teenager, surfing was life or death. It kind of separated me from reality, and I didn't want to face some things that were happening at home or in my life. I discovered surfing and it was like, "Wow, no one can even get at me when I'm in the ocean."
LISA ANDERSEN
Surfer Magazine, June 30, 2017
The way people surf now and the maneuvers that are being done, surfing is where I imagined it could be 20 years ago. It's almost reached the level that skateboarding is at, where you can't make many mistakes in a heat, you know?
KELLY SLATER
"Once and Future Kings", Surfer Magazine, June 15, 2017
Rain is pouring down
In our land-locked town
Skies are always gray
Let's go surfing, babe
Somewhere there is hope
Somewhere there are dreams
SPARKS
"Let's Go Surfing"
Met a local girl boy she was fine, you rode across the beach. You're just a barney surfer from across the way, to howlies she's out of reach. Met a soul surfer who shaped long boards, taught you how to ride the waves. You're just a little kook but you picked it up fast and now you're more than okay.
THE W'S
"Hui"
In one place we came upon a large company of naked natives, of both sexes and all ages, amusing themselves with the national pastime of surf-bathing. Each heathen would paddle three or four hundred yards out to sea, (taking a short board with him), then face the shore and wait for a particularly prodigious billow to come along; at the right moment he would fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon the board, and here he would come whizzing by like a bombshell! It did not seem that a lightning express train could shoot along at a more hair-lifting speed. I tried surf-bathing once, subsequently, but made a failure of it. I got the board placed right, and at the right moment, too; but missed the connection myself. -- The board struck the shore in three quarters of a second, without any cargo, and I struck the bottom about the same time, with a couple of barrels of water in me. None but natives ever master the art of surf-bathing thoroughly.
MARK TWAIN
Roughing It
Surfing's inherent connection to the natural world may seem like an obvious space for sustainability in the sport, but the industry has become inundated with boards, waxes, and wetsuits created from toxic and harmful materials. In many ways, surf culture has been commodified and the sport is now driven by a million dollar industry where big companies focus on profits. However, some companies are working to break the cycle and retrace the roots of what surfing is really about: humbling yourself in nature.
MARIE TARGONSKI O'BRIEN
"How Smaller Businesses Make a Big Impact in the Eco Board Movement", The Inertia, June 9, 2017
My passion for surfing was more than my fear of sharks.
BETHANY HAMILTON
"The best surfing quotes of all time", Surfer Today
The balance and patience factors are much more critical in surfing than they are in snowboarding ... if you're out surfing serious waves and you wipe out, you don't land on soft snow. It's usually either very sharp coral, or you get raked across the beach gravel and sand while you're tumbling underwater.
FREDERICK LENZ
Snowboarding to Nirvana
In surfing, coming to terms with death -- or at least the possibility -- is an ongoing crisis in big waves. The set is building outside, and it's so beautiful, aesthetically. People are watching in awe from the beach: the blue water, the stiff offshore winds, the 40-foot walls charging in from the open ocean. If you're out there with nothing but your body, your wits and a surfboard, that set can be your coffin.
BRUCE JENKINS
North Shore Chronicles
They're anglin' in laguna in Cerro Azul
They're kicking out in dohini too
I tell you surfing's mighty wild
It's getting bigger every day
From Hawaii to the shores of Peru
BEACH BOYS
"Surfin' Safari"
Share more waves and enjoy the moment. We're all spinning way too fast.
LISA ANDERSEN
Surfer Magazine, June 30, 2017
You're done. Once you're a surfer, you're done. You're in. It's like the mob or something. You're not getting out.
KELLY SLATER
Step into Liquid
Time really isn't part of my awareness when I am surfing. With surfing, instead of being bound to a time and space dependent experience (like sitting through the linear duration of a movie or a song or walking around the perimeter of a sculpture) we wander in a landscape that is without temperature, without light, without size, without shape, and without time.
KEVIN BEWERSDORF
Spirit Surfing
Surfing is a release from exploding tensions of 20th-century living, escaping from the hustling, bustling city world of steel and concrete, a return to nature's reality.
FRED WARDY
"Surfing Is", The Perfect Day: 40 Years of Surfer Magazine
We're all equal before a wave.
LAIRD HAMILTON
Force of Nature: Mind, Body, Soul (And, of Course, Surfing)
Everybody thinks the most important part of surfing is some technical move you make on the board, like learning how to carve a turn or do a cutback or whatever. Wrong. The most important skill for anyone who wants to surf is to be comfortable in the ocean. And not just on a nice day. What happens when you find yourself tangled up in the whitewater, which can happen on even the smallest wave? Do you panic--or is it fun? You want to be relaxed and confident in turbulent conditions, so before you even think about buying a board, the first order of business is to become a strong swimmer. No swimming, no surfing.
LAIRD HAMILTON
Force of Nature: Mind, Body, Soul (And, of Course, Surfing)
Surfing is rehabilitative because the ocean, like war, is a mine field. Filled with sharks and other unknowns, it requires acceptance of chaos. But ... once you embrace the chaos, it's beautiful.
ERIC STONEKING
"Injured war veterans search for peace and rehabilitation in the waves of Huntington Beach", Los Angeles Times, June 7, 2017
Sometimes in the morning, when it's a good surf, I go out there, and I don't feel like it's a bad world.
KARY MULLIS
"The best surfing quotes of all time", Surfer Today
Life is a lot like surfing.... When you get caught in the impact zone, you've got to just get back up. Because you never know what may be over the next wave.
BETHANY HAMILTON
Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family and Fighting to Get Back on the Board
Surfing is notably easier on one's frontside.
WILLIAM FINNEGAN
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life