An ice-cream headache morning greeted us down in the Mount today, but that didn’t stop a keen few from getting wet. The wind remained on good behaviour and line-ups all along the stretch handed out tasty, often unridden treasures.
After insisting that I wouldn’t jump on the booty bandwagon I relented and picked up a pair of Quiksilver Neo-Goos. Yeah, the name doesn’t inspire but the performance of these little 3mm booties was phenomenal. After a couple of kooky take-offs they began to feel natural enough to attempt the occasional backhand turn. I’m not calling them good turns but there was, indeed, a change of direction. Most importantly, I spent more time in the water than yesterday – and returned home sans frozen, yellow toes.
Thought for the day: Life is like surfing. Don’t give me the ‘oh God, here we go’ look. It’s true. Pushing through the discomfort barrier is the only way to grow. Mick Fanning is back on fire (check out his drone footage from Snapper), yet it certainly must’ve been tough getting back on the polyurethane horse. I have a feeling he is going to charge in Tahiti. Mick usually heads over to the islands a little early, to rack up some tube time before the circus arrives – and his results are testament to this work ethic. It’s not comfortable putting in the training hours but, damn, he has three world titles to show for the effort. Mick was surfing like a new man at J-Bay, punting frontside airs and generally going berserk with his entire arsenal of manoeuvres. No more hack slice, hack slice business. More like float, hack slice, boom hack with air drop, speed arc, frontside punt. Mick in flow is a joy to behold.
Speaking of Mick, sharks seem to be the flavour of the moment – and why not? They’re munching us left, right and centre if Stabmag and a few other publications are to be believed. I would love to know how many surfers get beaten and killed by bouncers in bar fights every year. Then compare this to the number of violent shark attacks. Obviously most shark incidents involving surfers never get reported to the old shark attack file. I’ve been chased out of the water once and witnessed a proper attack not long after. I certainly didn’t report my incident to anyone (except the friendly dudes camping next to me) and the dude whose board got crunched just walked off in shock. No newspapers, no fanfare, no statistics. I reckon there are a lot more incidents with sharks than are reported. Maybe more than lightening strikes or coconuts falling on heads.
While a lot more little surfer punks probably get knocked out by bouncers than surfers get nudged by sharks, it would be interesting to compare honest numbers. Either way, maybe think of the ocean as a bar (or club) and the bouncers as the sharks. Be good, keep busy, bust some moves, don’t think about the bouncers too much. If one comes and taps you on the shoulder, relax. Don’t panic. Stay cool and get out of there.
Maybe we should start a surfer shark incident file? Right here on Surfd.com? I suspect it would it would quickly become a Wannasurf and get skewed by grumpy locals, but nevertheless, another thought for the day.
Enjoy the photos from our local. On a breezy Monday it was all about the blurrrrrr.
Cha cha.
