Sometimes the ride lasts for only a second. Riding a swell, the surfer must adapt to the dynamic nature of each moment on the wave, rebalancing weight, shifting feet, leaning forward, flexing knees, ankles and torso - carving his or her line like an artist on a blank yet ever-changing canvas. No one wave is the same, even at the most consistent breaks. The physical act of surfing similarly defies predictability. I can read the swell report, check the weather and wind, but in the end, I won’t know if there are waves to be ridden until I drive 40 minutes from my home, walk onto the beach and look out at the great Pacific Ocean. Many local breaks do not have a live-stream camera. The proliferation of surf cams has made it easier to monitor the conditions, but things can still shift by the time one arrives at the beach. Some days we paddle out to wind-blown, choppy closeouts, just to satisfy the deeper desire to spend time immersed in the ocean, waves or none. Surfing cultivates patience and faith, a gaze continually set to the horizon in hopeful anticipation. Perhaps the wind and waves cooperate, but the high tide prevents the waves from breaking. Maybe the waves are there, but the wind is howling onshore. Surfers must be adaptable, bending their schedule to accommodate the changing conditions hoping they might align, for a brief moment, to ride a swell from sea to shore.Īs any surfer will tell you, there are many days when the elements do not align. To surf is to submit to the fickle nature of the elements - to organize the calendar not by the hour, day or week, but by the tides, winds and waves. This lack of predictability is one of the beautiful aspects that draws me to surfing, and has subsequently changed the rhythms of my life. The tides may be told far into the future, but the wind and the waves are in constant flux and can be predicted only a week or two out, at most. Unlike other events and activities, surfing is anything but predictable - it is a sport that depends almost entirely on Mother Nature. Fortunately for us surfers, this wave of unpredictability is something to which we are uniquely accustomed.
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