What is it about surfing?

Visually, it’s beautiful in a visceral way, yet it’s very nature is to be ephemeral, sometimes lasting just a brief few seconds. A wave heaves its energy as it reaches the point of breaking and begins to topple. This life-ending act often enriches another, the surfer, and enables him to achieve far more in life merely from having been a part of the event.

Perhaps this is the one aspect of surfing that results in a brief instant in time that can touch a person to their very core and lead to life altering, lasting change. According to long-time surfer Rabbitt Kekai “once a person rides their first wave surfing gets in their blood and they’re hooked for life.”

No doubt almost everyone loves the beach and rich, blue-green water, but is that all it is? Surfing has so much to offer people both visually and spiritually. If not, why are so many people enamored with surfing even when they don’t surf? Is it because they want to somehow feel touched at their very core and grasp a piece of what every surfer feels? A connection with the ocean; the life-blood of our species?

For me each wave ridden enriches my life to a point that I know I’m better off on days that have included riding waves. My body, mind, soul all feel exercised in a very fundamental and important way.

Could it be that this is what people seek when gazing wistfully at the surf? I think in many respects it is, they’re just not fully aware of it. Some have said that what draws people to surfers is that they are comfortable in a medium that is deeply troubling and ominous to most. There is no doubt that this is alluring to the non-surfer, but can that be it? I expect to most people it's not and goes far deeper. I think everyone desires to be touched to his or her very core, and unlike so many that trod thru their daily lives searching for meaning, only surfers truly feel it.

Ask anyone who wishes they could surf what attracts them and often times you’ll get an almost unintelligible response of “…it’s, it’s…just, oh I don’t know there’s just something about it.”