======== Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Have you been Surfnotized? From: Foondoggy Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 17:46:11 -0500 It happens to me all the time. I can watch the ocean for hours, especially when it's moving, but I always get surfnotized. Last Saturday I took up my usual lookout on our dunepath with a stogie and a pair of binoculars. It was a cool and crisp, but sunny afternoon and I was out for some fresh air and to check the condition of our beach break. A Nor' East swell had begun to build slightly over night. It was very rambunctious in the morning but it started to sort itself out after low tide and got progressively rideable as the tide came in. Chest high on peaks, it also offered an occasional workable wall for anyone willing to brave the 40 degree water temps and 50 degree air temps. Several young guys wearing appropriate heavy and hooded gear were up to the challenge and most got a good workout between the closely packed waves and a strong side current. The gusty winds made things even more interesting, and cool. I kept looking for telltale signs of an improved sandbar. There were several promising peaks at mid-tide which foretold good possibilities with bigger or better swells. Whenever I gaze at the ocean it is not long before I can imagine epic days I've recently seen, or 20 years ago. Images are etched in the brainpaths and along with those images come feelings, emotions, sounds and memories. I can still remember a man I helped rescue 3 years ago during a big swell at our beach. He got caught in a ripcurrent, sucked out about 75 yards and then he panicked. I paddled over to him after he started to scream in holy terror. I let him use my board to float while we waited for a lifeguard to come out and get him. I'll never forget how terribly frightened he was and the fact that...he smelled very bad. I've often wondered about the adage that you can smell fear (anyone know for sure?) This guy was petrified and he stunk. I also remembered wonderful and terrible session all at once. The difficult waves were wonderful when I made them, terrible when I didn't. I've never seen an ocean with waves I did not love to watch or did not provoke a deep inner thought process. I either became very analytical of what I was seeing, judging wind, tide, swell and other factors, or compared it to other conditions I'd observed in the context of great surf or bad surf. What I love about the ocean and its waves are the limitless varieties of shapes, sizes, colors, types, temperments and textures....sort of like people really. Just imagine that for every person in the world, there is a wave out there like them.... And everyone is different, and everyone is wonderful and the world is a better place because of them. I could just watch all day. "Hey! Yo, Foonboy!" I knew that voice. It was my neighbor, Elmer, standing right in front of me. "Hey Foon, what's the matter with you bro, you were in the zone, man. I thought you were in a trance." "No Elmer, I was just watching the ocean". -Flakedoggy ======== Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Have you been Surfnotized? From: "Bonzer" Date: 10 Mar 1997 22:01:52 GMT Yep. Better, even, than watching a fire. Bonzer ======== Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Have you been Surfnotized? From: the Sandman Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 14:58:34 -0800 Foondoggy wrote: > > Whenever I gaze at the ocean it is not long before I can imagine epic > days I've recently seen, or 20 years ago. Images are etched in the > brainpaths and along with those images come feelings, emotions, sounds > and memories. I can still remember a man I helped rescue 3 years ago > during a big swell at our beach. He got caught in a ripcurrent, sucked > out about 75 yards and then he panicked. I paddled over to him after he > started to scream in holy terror. I let him use my board to float while > we waited for a lifeguard to come out and get him. I'll never forget how > terribly frightened he was and the fact that...he smelled very bad. > I've often wondered about the adage that you can smell fear (anyone know > for sure?) This guy was petrified and he stunk. > he probably shit his pants ======== Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Have you been Surfnotized? From: sir ffreaks@cyberia.com (sir ffreaks) Date: 11 Mar 1997 22:53:17 GMT Yeah, that's the best. It makes you really think clearer. -- Trav Stranded in York, Dreamin' of Nags Head. Check out my new page at: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/1862 ======== Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Have you been Surfnotized? From: dano@west.nest (Dano) Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 20:44:36 -0800 >It happens to me all the time. I can watch the ocean for hours, >especially when it's moving, but I always get surfnotized. Last Saturday >"No Elmer, I was just watching the ocean". Happens to me too... When I try to explain to people why we do this (surf, I mean) I can only compare the hours of sitting there and gazing out to sea watching for the tell-tale bump to that practice the NewAgers have called meditation. When you think about it, we're doing the same thing, but we do it without contrivance or artificiality. We sit calmly and our thoughts slow to simply nonverbal observation... Of coourse this is punctuated by activity, but again this is very nonverbal. And on big days the terror and amazement adds emotion that is basic to human nature but we never get in this homogenized world of airbags and lawyers (windbags). So there, that's my transcedent thought for the decade. Well said FoonMan, Dano (stumbling down to the beach) -- In order to attempt to prevent the continuing onslaught of unsolicited email, my attached address has been altered. To restore, change .nest ->.net ... ======== Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Have you been Surfnotized? From: ric@discoveryinternational.com (Ric Harwood) Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 17:05:32 GMT In alt.surfing, , dano@west.nest (Dano), Dano wrote: >>It happens to me all the time. I can watch the ocean for hours, >>especially when it's moving, but I always get surfnotized. Last Saturday > >>"No Elmer, I was just watching the ocean". > >Happens to me too... When I try to explain to people why we do this (surf, >I mean) I can only compare the hours of sitting there and gazing out to >sea watching for the tell-tale bump to that practice the NewAgers have >called meditation. When you think about it, we're doing the same thing, Similar. A good sufnotize is close to meditaiton, but one of them can be done in the train, at home, at night, far from the sea/land/air interface. >but we do it without contrivance or artificiality. Meditation should be done without contrivance or artificalilty. >We sit calmly and our >thoughts slow to simply nonverbal observation... Of coourse this is >punctuated by activity, but again this is very nonverbal. And on big days Very meditative. >the terror and amazement adds emotion that is basic to human nature but we >never get in this homogenized world of airbags and lawyers (windbags). Very true. >So there, that's my transcedent thought for the decade. >Well said FoonMan, Indeed. Better still, meditate and surf. Result: That post surf silly grin lasts all week. ATB, Ric. even though the surf was crap and cold today. ======== Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Have you been Surfnotized? From: dano@west.nest (Dano) Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 20:59:40 -0800 >ATB, Ric. even though the surf was crap and cold today. As it was here in SoCal today. Ah well, standing on the beach watching small waves is still better than most anything else.... D -- In order to attempt to prevent the continuing onslaught of unsolicited email, my attached address has been altered. To restore, change .nest ->.net ... ======== Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Have you been Surfnotized? From: sponge@iav.com (Neal Miyake) Date: 17 Mar 1997 16:53:31 GMT Great prose, foon. Whenever I watch the ocean, I dream of sessions yet to be. I almost always wish I was out in the water, at least just to get wet. I mind-surf every wave, getting around impossible sections and sitting in the tube forever. I shred (in my dreams). :) When I watch surf videos (esp at the mall), my wife has to constantly remind me not to stare with mouth agape. I kinda get this blank gaze--like from watching MTV for eight hours straight. I'm addicted. In Spain, I was mesmerized by these little waves peeling across the beach (see http://www.iav.com/~sponge/sesh/sesh71.htm). They would barrel perfectly for yards. And even though they were three-four inches tall (two inches, Hawaiian scale), I saw a tinier version of myself right in the slot. That's one of the best things about surfing--anticipation. There will always be another swell coming over the horizon. Until then, dream on. Aloha, sponge sponge@iav.com http://www.iav.com/~sponge ======== Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Have you been Surfnotized? From: kithill@aol.com (KITHILL) Date: 26 Mar 1997 07:49:40 GMT One day, while working for a photofinishing firm, in the early days before grad. school and other bothers, I took a break on the Santa Cruz route, and went to watch a medium swell at The Lane. Standing on the cliff, I was very close to the waves and surfers as they raced together through "the slot" right near cliff's edge. Transfixed by a perfect, consistant swell, I fell into a deep trance for I-dunno-how-many-minutes only to wake up, turn around, realize where I was and think to myself "Oh..look at that...the North American Continent...How'd that get there? " . Talk about taking a trip.... My ol' boss dosn't know how close he came to losing me, the car, and the photofinishing. Who knows how close I came to losing my job and my mind!! Also, took two beautiful lady surfer friends out to a surfmovie fest in Berkeley. The first showing ended and I got up to leave and walked out thinking they'd followed. Realizing they were not behind me, I went back into the theater to find them both transfixed by the first film of the second showing. "Hey" I said, "What's up? Are you staying?" Not taking their eyes off the screen for even a blink, the answer came back out of a perfect-wave induced trance-like fog from both of them: " Whaaaaa?....Yeah...Huuuuh? Yeah". Thinking I probably wasn't gonna get much more from them, I sat down to watch. Soon there was three of us sitting there, mouth agape, eyes wide, & head slightly tilted while mind surfing some beautiful mysto break in Exotic Spot X . Kit "I was chiefly conscious of ecstatic bliss at having caught the wave." - Jack London, Learning Hawaiian Surfing , 1907