Only a Surfer Knows the Feeling
There is a guy from Hawaii that I know. Every day, he wakes up, straps his surfboards to the racks on top of his car, drives his car from a town called Ewa, across the island of Oahu, to a little beach known as Ala Moana Beach Park. He does all of this even before the sun comes up. He spends a few minutes just looking at the ocean, watching and surveying the waves and how they break. As soon as the sun makes its first peek over the horizon, he grabs a board, waxes it up, and jumps in the water. He then paddles his board through what many people call a journey: two hundred yards of dark cold water, blistering currents, and waves pushing back against each stroke made to push forward. He makes this journey to get to a point right past where all the waves break, to a point called the line-up. It’s here, where he waits for a wave that he catches back towards the shore, only to make the journey back through all the cold harsh currents and waves again. He catches a few waves, and then catches one all the way back to shore, where he showers, gets dressed and then goes off to work.
He has one of the most stressful jobs I can think of. He is a counselor at one of the local shelters for teenage runaways. He deals with teen depression, suicidal tendencies, and coordinates bringing these kids back together with their families. And even though these tasks aren’t what most people would want to have to put up with in their lives, he does it every day. Furthermore, as stressful as his job seems to be, this man is one of the mellowest guys that I know. When asked why he does this morning ritual every day, he said, “surfing helps keep me focused”. And I believe him.
Think about it for a moment, each time a surfer goes to a beach, waxes up his board, and surveys the waves from the shore, he is preparing to go into the water to do something quite amazing. This person is willing to test not only his limits, but also the limits of what the ocean can do to him. He wants to battle the power of the entity that covers over seventy percent of the earth, manifested in the form of a wave, and ride it for all its worth.
In “On a Wave” by Thad Ziolkowski there are some life changing/shaping lessons in his life. Thad realized at a young age that he loves to surf. At 11 years old Thad looks older than most 11 years old, which allows him to hang out with the “cool” kids after a surf session and smoke pot. Thad learns early on that pot and surfing would eventually grow on him as he became more induced into the surfer lifestyle.
Lynne met an Egyptian swimmer, and he explained what to expect in the English Channel, especially the cold. She got used to the cold by wearing only sandals, shorts, and t-shirts all day. When she got to England, she needed to find a pilot to help guide her through the waters. Her pilot, recommended that she swim from England to France. During the race, at 11pm, she bumped into bunch of lettuce and she fight against the current. She was determined to break the world record. To finish the race, she had to land on the rocks. When she did, she had lots of cuts from the rocks and mussels. She broke the record with 9 hours and 57 minutes. When she swam Cook Strait, she was a bit stubborn and angry at her dad and coach, but she finished the race. She was the first to swim the Strait of Magellan, Bering Strait, and Cape of Good Hope. It was hard for Lynne to swim the Strait of Magellan because they occurred a few problems. She could barely stay in the cold water for two hours, the storms didn’t help out the situation, and when she almost made it to the shore, the whirlpool almost dragged her in. She got help out of the water and felt accomplished. When she was swimming the Cape of Good Hope, she almost got eaten by a shark. During her
“The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.” – Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild
Octavio Paz’s extraordinary tale of "My Life with the Wave" is exactly about what the title states, a man’s life with a body of water. Paz experiments with the norm and takes literature to a higher level (Christ 375). He plays with our imagination from the start and lets us believe the man has stolen "a daughter of the sea." These two beings try to establish a relationship despite their extremely different backgrounds and in so doing take us on a journey of discovery. The way these two characters react to one another represents the friction found in so many types of relationships. This is a love affair doomed from the beginning but destined to be experienced.
Those who do typically like to get the most out of their money and take advantage of all the opportunities on the islands. Surfing is popular lifestyle that society pairs with Hawaii. The near-shore waters that range from deep blue to turquoise are often tempting; however, many vacationers do not understand how dangerous Hawaii’s currents can be. Since Hawaii is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the ocean bottom tends to drop off quickly, which causes big and powerful waves. Annually, sixty people drown or are seriously injured by the rip currents of the treacherous waters. Earlier this year, famous singer Britney Spears vacationed on the famous beaches of Hawaii. In a recent interview, so revealed she almost drowned at sea. “I went out and I thought it was like a wave pool, and I thought, ‘This is so nice and refreshing,’ but the thing I didn’t think about is when you come back the waves really come in strong.” Spears got sucked in and kept getting pulled back to sea. She was under for about five minutes before one of her security guards noticed she was struggling and was able to rescue her (Bacardi). A majority of the beaches fly a red warning flag year-round to warn beachgoers of the hazards. If one does find himself trapped in the middle of a current, it’s important to remain calm. Do not try to swim against the tide. Instead, swim parallel to the beach until the current
The novel Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai is about the journey of living and reveals that life is not fair not to mention, it will always continue to advance with no pauses regardless of the situation.
The ocean is inhabited by many and loved by all. Whether you surf the waves or use it for recreational purposes, its important to us all. There are dangers to the ocean that anyone who bathes in it should be aware of. Besides the obvious dangers of the current and the pounding waves, there are possible microscopic enemies at large. Every year the beaches are closed for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it may be for a surfing contest, or if the waves are too dangerous, but the most overlooked may be ocean contaminants. Around 20% of ocean water pollution occurs naturally. Its important for the public to aware of the contaminants that reach our waters and how they get there.
Let’s start with the main character of this book Lockie .He is the stereotypical surfer he meets the main criteria of a surfer and absolutely loves the beach it’s his natural habitat after all but there’s one problem he is hopeless at surfing we know this since the book begins with him being dumped by a wave later on we find that an eleven year old is a better surfer than him .
He learned that life goes on and he had to find something to do to get back in the water. An event inspired him idea to create “Wheel to Surf” which allows people with a variety of disabilities to get back into the water, not just once a year, but as much as possible. It is based out
person who is learning to surf or does not surf all together. It gets me so stoked to
Surfing has been a sport enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. It originated in Polynesian culture as a religious ceremony mainly practiced by the royalty. Having been introduced from the Hawaiian Islands roughly 60 years ago, it has become a common practice in virtually every coastal beach break throughout the USA and numerous places around the globe. When one goes surfing there are three basic stages that are repeated in a surf session: getting out to the line up, waiting for the wave, and catching a wave and riding it in.
My Dad had let go, there was no fear, I closed my eyes for a second as I dropped down the wave, I did it, my confidence grew, ever since then my love for the ocean and feel for surf has been an ongoing thrive, people say the salt water lays within your veins when you spend as much time in the water as I did. I started competing with surf lifesaving, I was the shortest in my age group, having three brothers people would assume I would be competitive and would want to win, and I didn’t. I just wanted to ensure I’d make it back to shore, as a little bit of fear lied within me each carnival. My parents were big on ensuring that winning wasn’t everything, because of this I believe that that has what’s helped me form into the type of person I am today and taking things as they come, accepting life as it is and within the events that occur being either good or bad, they happen for a reason and we need to accept, learn and grow from what has happened and move forward. Not look back, from going with my initial thoughts and beliefs, reading this book has increased how I feel about setting goals and aiming high, as any is possible, as I learnt m...
If we relate it to the act of riding a wave using a special board, it becomes clear that what we are actually riding is this “surf”. Concerning Jcolover’s zine, the action of surfing also seems to be used with reference to today’s exploring of the Internet. But not in a completely uninterested, flavorless or superficial way. After all, we are talking of digital multimodal environments (“surfing different waves at the same time”, minding the proper skills to do this particularly complicated task), where we drift on things left by others (there are good waves and there bad waves, and one needs to learn how to catch a really good one), as we are
My move to Los Angeles in August 1992 represented not only a great professional challenge-to work with only two senior bankers and cover all California financial institutions-but also a personal opportunity, a chance to broaden my horizons. I grew up in Paris and lived in the capital for 21 years before moving to New York; I definitely was a city girl! Los Angeles demanded however that I adapted to a whole different world, where sport rather than opera rhythms the season. I knew that my first year in the Los Angeles office would be extremely busy due to the small size of my group. In fact I averaged 90 hours of work per week that year. To keep my sanity and maintain a good spirit, I resolved to try and learn a sport that had always fascinated me: surfing. Thus I bought a brand new wetsuit and longboard and started the experience bright and early on a sunny Saturday afternoon under the merciless scrutiny of the local surfers, all males, who did not hide their contempt for my pale skin and weak arms so typical of investment banking Corporate Analysts. Surfing seemed at first an impossible mission: my board always mysteriously rebounded on my head, while the waves would break exactly where I was paddling. At work, there was an explosion of laughter when I proudly exposed my (only) personal project: why, a twenty-six year old Parisian, surfing? This had to be French humor! I resolved however to practice every week-end before coming into the office. Last summer, I finally stood up on my board and rode the wave to the beach. It was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life and although I still surf regularly, nothing matches my first wave nor the pride that I felt. Because I received little help and encouragement but prevailed, I cherish this experience which was actually a tremendous confidence