Inspiration for the Young at Heart
Timothy Martin
Retire from work, but not from life.
I've got it bad, seven days a week bad, a dozen boards in the garage bad. To put it another way, I love surfing. I would rather get up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday to ride atop a several-ton chunk of liquid energy than sleep in. I'd like to surf every day, but I never seem to have enough time. My job keeps me going from dawn to dusk. When I arrive home after work, I'm usually tired, too exhausted to even zip up a wet suit.
That's about to change, though. I'll be retiring soon, and I plan to spend my golden years on the waves.
The surfing fever swept over me just last year, when I crouched thigh-deep in broken whitewater and paddled out toward my first wave. The moment I stood up on my board, I was hooked. I felt like a climber at altitude getting a hit of bottled oxygen; like a runner crossing the finish line at the Boston Marathon. That's how much I enjoyed it.
Much of the blame, I suppose, can be placed on the area in which I live. Northern California is one of the most scenic places in the world. It has a beautiful shoreline and some mighty big waves. The kind of waves that have the strength to rip your board out from under you, toss you around like a jellyfish, and slam-dunk you back into the surf much in the same manner that Dorothy's house was slam-dunked onto the Wicked Witch of the East.
Why would a soon-to-be retired sixty-year-old want to risk life and limb in such dangerous waters? Actually, I can't think of a better thing to do.
There's a lot to like about surfing, regardless of your age. First off, you don't have to be King Farouk to afford it. Once you buy a board and a wetsuit, there are no further expenses. The waves are free. And so is the scenery.
Surfing is loads of fun, too. It doesn't matter where you ride or what time of the day you do so. When you're on the water, you're having a blast. Sometimes there are other surfers around, but most of the time you're completely alone.
That's the best part—the solitude. Surfing is a great way to learn the importance of spending time alone. It's a way to find inner peace, a lightness of spirit. It's a way of holding, for a short time, the small personal Holy Grail that each of us seeks in our daily lives.
Like most "elderly" surfers I ride a long board. Short boards are light, thin, and more maneuverable. On a long board you make the board move by running to the back or front, causing it to accelerate or decelerate. Because of the width and weight, a long board doesn't go as fast as a short board does. But waves can be caught quicker and with more fluid efficiency. And that means more waves can be ridden.
I guess you could say surfing has become a religious experience for me. But not one that's easy to describe. It's like a church you walk by a hundred times. It never registers on your emotional seismograph until the day you step inside and have a look around. It's the same with this sport. You have to climb on a board and paddle out into the ocean to experience it for yourself.
So if you're ever up this way, stop by at the beach and squint out over the water. You'll probably see me sitting astride my board, waiting for the next wave to break. One more wave, one more in a lifetime of waves for a passionate surfer like me.
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