Fear of the Unknown / Reasons for surfing
Writing essays on bodysurfing isn't exactly popular...so I'll try to make this as short as possible. I'd like to tell a story...
Last time I travelled to the North Shore of Hawaii we had great conditions. But "great" to a guy from Southern California is only "below average" to a Hawaiian living on the North Shore. However, one day we got a great day even by Hawaiian standards. Pipeline was 10-15 feet with the occasional 18 footer. It was as perfect as I've ever seen it. Every wave someone was getting an unbelievable in-n-out barrel and every wave at Backdoor was the same. A lot of the heavy hitters were out, about 60 people total I would guess.Â
In front of the house Off-the-Wall was perfect as well, maybe 10 guys out. Insanities...zero guys. That's a no brainer, I'll go out at OTW or Insanities; there are fewer guys there and the waves are almost as perfect. The next day we had a few friends over and I got to talking to Steve Kapela, a well known bodysurfer, especially around Oahu. He was talking to me about how, when it's perfect at Pipe, he swims out and sits right next to the surfers...as close to their takeoff spot as he can get, while still being able to make the wave. For a brief moment I thought, "Why not go somehwere else, where it's not as competitive and almost just as epic?" Then it hit me...THE CHALLENGE!
If you want to be the best you have to compete with the best. Part of the fun of being a bodysurfer, is knowing you can hang with the surfers despite the fact that you are severely outgunned in many aspects (there are a few aspects you have an advantage in, depending on your knowledge and skill level). The point is this: Some people go to surf and be mellow, some people go to surf in the worst conditions they can find to prove something to themselves and everyone else. If I'm good, I can go to uncrowded OTW and surf the waves well...but if I'm great...I can go to incredibly crowded Pipe and surf the waves well. There are a lot of good people, there are few great people.Â
Like always, I choose to push myself, challenge myself. Not because I care what other people think, but because I'm interested to see how much I can take...how far I can go. Next time Pipe is like that, busy as all hell, I'm going out at Pipe.
I'm scared of GREAT bodysurfers. Maybe there is a guy out there, in some random spot, just bodyripping the fuck out of every wave, doing shit you couldn't even imagine was possible. But I don't want to ignore him...in fact I want to do the opposite. I want to meet him. I want to go to his spot. I want to try his moves. I want him to come to my spot. After all, this is about pushing myself further, not suppressing others. Fear of the unknown. Some don't want to find this secret shredder...I do.
VanMelum
