Opinion – At Pinta do Surfe: Surfing, you will still want to catch this wave

You, dear reader, must have been wondering lately: why are people talking so much about surfing? Why is this sport so “in fashion”?

It is clear that the fact that we have excellent athletes in competitions, and that the modality is an Olympic sport, greatly helps its popularity. However, we need to better understand some factors that lead people so different to love surfing. Let’s see if I can convey in the lines below a little about this “wave”, and in the end I hope to plant a seed of curiosity there.

Surfing a wave is a magical experience and in a way impossible to verbalize, since everyone has a unique experience of that moment.

The feeling of floating connected with the energy of the wave makes this moment transcendental. You can’t even understand what happened, a strange smile appears on your face and you just think: I did it, I did it, I did it!

What you want most now is to pass the surf and get one of the series*, you can and that’s it: you don’t want to stop anymore. The surf session is over. You don’t even know how long you’ve been in the water and all you think about is the waves you caught and when you’ll come back to surf again.

New thoughts invade your head and you literally plunge into another world. You have to understand a new vocabulary and a new way of behaving. From that day on, you think about surfing every day. Start reading a lot about the subject, following championships, meeting the best surfers in the world, watching surfing movies and shows, discovering the best spots* to venture into and much more…

Time passes and, with the repertoire of information acquired, you decide to change your board for one more suitable for your surfing, as you already understand more about this universe and start to know which equipment is better. And you often change boards and equipment, because evolution involves several factors that influence your way of surfing and you will be in constant transformation.

One of the things I love about surfing is that it’s all up to you, it’s you with yourself. Without the need to surf better than anyone else, the evolution and the challenge are individual. And often it’s just impossible to stop.

“Surfing is like the mafia, once you’re in there’s no way out.” Kelly Slater’s phrase, simply 11 times world surfing champion, couldn’t be more accurate. Little by little you get to know people, make friends and in the blink of an eye you are already thinking about going on a surf-trip with these friends.

Your wardrobe will have new items: lycras for protection, wetsuits for cold days, surf shorts, t-shirts, flowered dresses and lots of sand. Chances are, other music trends will enter your playlist. The proximity to nature will bring a peace that you have not yet experienced and you will only want to convey the good.

Exercise, stretching, yoga, meditation and healthy eating can be part of your routine. You follow the forecast through apps and decide to go to bed early to catch the first waves of the approaching swell*. A new routine will be established and in a short time you will have a new lifestyle. Okay, surfing has changed you.

This slow and gradual transformation is unique. There are doctors who recommend surfing as therapy, it has the ability to rescue you from difficult moments, because when you are at sea your mind works differently, you have that silence and peace necessary to put your ideas in place. There’s nothing a day of surfing won’t cure.

Now, if you’ve never surfed, give it a try one day. Look for a surf school and take some lessons. This is critical for you to learn safely and evolve faster. When the surfing session ends, you leave the sea light, your body tired and a smile on your face. The feeling of being alive and enjoying these moments is truly indescribable. Maybe the only way to understand is really catching a wave.

Let’s go surfing and respect everyone in the water. The best surfer is the one who has the most fun.

aloha

surf vocabulary

* of the series – The movement of waves happens in series with periods (time between waves) longer or shorter. When the surfer says: I caught the one in the series, he means he caught the biggest and best wave.

*peaks – The place on the beach where the formation of the wave is ideal for surfing. The same beach can have many points that receive the swell differently, creating a specific swell.

*swell – English word for swell, but in “surfistê” it describes the best combination of speed factors, space for displacement and wind speed generated over the coast to create waves with a special condition at a given surf peak.