Watch: Goin' left...
The timing is fabulous: two clips, each of goofyfoots in elongated lefts, land in my inbox within minutes of each other. Both shameless promotional trips, so they've got that in common too.
I hit play on one, then follow suit on the other, and travel from Nusa Tengarra to the Namib - boardies to steamer, shimmering blue water to fifty shades of grey.
Each is strangely unFOMO-inducing, perhaps we've passed that point now? The clips, they positively rain down, each with a fraction less impact then the one before.
But still, there are worse ways to fill fifteen minutes than watching perfect waves, especially for the goofyfooters out there.
Comments
You’d never want to go right again.
i don't
I’ll second this goofyfoot. If it ain’t a left it’s a close out
How over done is Desert Point and Skeleton Bay? And I'm a goofy foot.
It’s good.
Better the focus is concentrated.
I've barely been left all winter
Me either.
Getting emotional.
I've started surfing switchfoot, just to face the wave for a change. Quite challenging, yet liberating.
Good work buddy!
What, I'm no unicorn?
sorry to tell ya theres a few ive heard
Maybe I am the only one who is crap at both? :)
Ha ha ha Nah I'm crap tooooo
I picked a few old vhs tapes made by surfers journal, from a surf shop in Phillip island close to twenty years ago.
One was on Wayne lynch, another profiled Jim banks...
The later describes surfing a session in indo that was so
"perfect" that afterward he quit surfing, and only really body surfed afterwards.
It was a very interesting turn of events, made for a good narrative.
Its really interesting , thermal said we have reached saturation point with surfing/ media.
I still think this footage would evoke younger generation s of surfers to "Search" for those waves.
" de mystified the barrel" . who said that recently.
You can't v/r the hold down . the experience or the travel hold down / struggle.
Nick wins in the music stakes, Koa hands down for barrel time.
That’s a pretty nice shirt , Stu.
Eye of the tiger.
I don't own it but it's gotta be the best surf shirt ever.
Eclipsing even my Mambo MP cutback shirt with the coconut husk buttons.
And that's a big call.
Agree.
I reckon there’s a substantial case for the desire of a goofy to go left to qualify as a religion.
Wait a minute....coconut husk buttons !?!?
LOL !
Must be some BIG buttons!!
You couldn't wear it as it would be up on the shed wall.
One of my theories is that crowds would be way worse except for how surfing videos have created unrealistic expectations among younger surfers as to what a good surf is. As a grommet in the 70s I had no idea how bad my average surf was relative to benchmarks like Indo and Skeleton Bay. If I had I might of thought "this sucks" rather than being stoked I got a few good waves.
I reckon a lot of young surfers (and even long time surfers) have the surfing equivalent of erectile dysfunction from too much surfporn. The contrast to the realities of surfing average waves or hassles of crowded perfection is just too great. People are fussier and quit the sport more easily than in the past percentage wise.
Many more non-surf distractions these days as well.
Fortunately, population growth and those ex pro run surf schools have not created the tsunami of newbies that could have occurred.
If you can somehow keep expectations in check there are a lot of fun uncrowded average days as a result.
Sorry , Frog, but average days can get fucked. Sure they might be fun but I want to be thrilled. You’ve got to aspire to excitement because a memory bank filled with average waves is like a beige suit at a sober party.
They’re like the Crocodile Dundee quote “ You can survive on it , but it tastes like shit. “
Grab as many great waves as you can in your life cause age will confine you to the average dribble before you know it.
Bonus joke - Q/ What’s the best thing about Switzerland ?
A/ I’m not sure but their flag is a huge plus.
Another one ?
My wife says I’m addicted to drinking brake fluid....but I can stop anytime I want.
More ?
I’ve got nothing but respect for disabled sex workers . You’ve certainly got to hand it to blind prostitutes.
On fire Blowin!
I agree Blowin . Get as many as thrilling ones as you can while you can. It surprises me sometimes when I look in the mirror and see this old guy looking back at me. But I sure know I'm getting old when I try and paddle over the ledge into a beast.
I was telling my mate the other day how much I like sexy knickers but they tend to chafe while I'm working.
What's the best waves you have surfed?
Blowin. My point was how surfing has a sort inbuilt crowd moderator. The quit rates and can't be bothered rates are very high compared to if uncrowded perfection was easy to get or if expectations driven upwards by surf vids were lower.
Crowds on good days can be ridiculous but without the feedback moderators, if every surfer never quit and surfed regularly, they would be unbearable.
Personally surfing macaronis for two days at pumping 4 to 6 foot with an average crowd of 5 was incredible peak experience. But surfing a slighty wind affected b grade wave - burger world - peeling like noosa with 2 people all afternoon was so much fun in as well.
Crap surf is of course crap surf and i rarely touch it.
Crap surf is generally okay so long as you're catching plenty of waves and it's not surfing them all the time. Surfing crap surf and catching fuck all waves at the same time is a bad combo. That said, if the above scenario is happening on a sunny day, in a nice place, with a couple of your good mates then I generally still find myself having a good time.
Having kids was a great thing for my surf stoke. I'll surf pretty much anything these days and be thankful for the opportunity. I reckon I was fairly jaded for a while in my mid 20's when I could surf whenever I liked and was doing trips to Indo every year.
Agree totally Spuddups...I similarly got a little jaded in my 20's but had the good fortune of meeting a bloke at uni from the bush who had never surfed. We did a deal where he would teach me how to ride a horse and I'd teach him to surf. Seeing him in the water the first few times completely out of sorts, barely able to paddle on his stomach, getting worked and coming up laughing out loud just turned the switch back on for me in an instant. Pure unaffected stoke. He still surfs daily 25 years later. I never did go anywhere on a horse though...those things scare the shit out of me.
Years later having my son at 43 my opportunities to surf were limited for the first time ever. "Priorities" like work, relationships etc up until then had always come a distant second place to chasing waves at all costs. I struggled real hard to surrender to putting being a father first but eventually my love for my son and wife won out over selfishness. Those first few years I would only have short windows to surf and would surf anything with pure happiness...if I lucked into good waves it was a bonus...I was just grateful to be in the water and getting a little time alone most of the time!
But having said all that I did chase the best possible waves relentlessly for 20 years...so I get your point Blowin for sure. I think that it's all part of the magic of surfing that it ebbs and flows through you in so many different ways through so many varied times of your life.
Surfing is pretty hard to learn. There's a lot of other things for the kids to do these days as well. Round here there's basically no grommets. The water's too cold and it takes too much effort to score waves. I think they're more interested in playing Minecraft or something.
cool angles. pity those dudes seem so into themselfies...
such a sick wave.
l keep my expectations low l get enjoyment just from paddling and l stop on the shoulder and just watch the swell line and the
wave break l get joy just from that, my wave count is 3 or 4 for a good surf, anything else is a bonus haven't had many bad surfs.