Surfing: the other side of the coin

Do you think surfing is lovely and extremely rewarding from all sides? He also has unsightly aspects that are not customary to talk about

It is a guest article of my good friend, who has been involved in various extreme sports for many years, and now lives in Bali, where, among other things and hobbies, he is engaged in surfing. The main thing that I want to say about him is that he is an honest and deep thinking person. Looking at surfing from the inside, I agree with his theses and the conclusion. So, he has the floor:

To see the dark sides of even the most positive phenomenon means not falling into the trap of illusions.

We all know well that a medal has at least two sides (if we do not consider the edge), and a stick has at least two ends, although these points do not define it as a valuable tool for a person.

Thoughtful people can see many more objects or phenomena with reality. In general, there are infinitely many of these points.

Still, in this article, I will consider only one, but the opposite of the generally accepted opinion that surfing is lovely and extremely useful from all sides

To begin with, almost everyone in the modern world is ruled by the “invisible hand of the market,” and its primary weapon is marketing, which mercilessly smashes the enchanted or gaping consumer.

In this game, everything that makes a profit is good, everything that absorbs it is not very good, but without it, you can’t go anywhere either.

So surfing, the progenitor of all “board” sports, surprisingly one of the last to finally jump into the accelerating popularity car of its younger relatives, did not escape the fate of being covered with gilding, behind which the original meaning of the action slightly fades.

After all, we ride, and who gives out and how to pay is not so important, credit life and all then.

The iridescent halo that endless advertising surrounded surfing completely lit up the negative moments, which you can only see when you plunge headlong into this culture and lifestyle.

And when faced with them face to face, you are often unpleasantly shocked and remain with a painful feeling that you have been treacherously deceived.

Table of Contents

Psychology

Firstly, surfing is one of the most selfish sports, cultivating and inflating the human ego to the maximum limits available to a particular individual

Yes, there are priority rules. In competitions, they are regulated by judges punishing a decrease in points and disqualification, which, of course, disciplines the athletes.

But in ordinary life, these rules, alas, operate nominally. As in the animal kingdom, which is more vital is right.

In the case of surfing, it is not so much about physical strength as about skill, experience, and arrogance.

As one comrade known for his merits in Russian surfing told me: “When I swim on the lineup, I often forget that there are people around, I see only waves and brag about almost everyone, like the last …”.

It can be assumed that most of all, this is sinned by people for wheveryoneerything goes well on land: complexes from childhood, current troubles, “size matters,” and other “advantages” that must be compensated for to raise self-esteem.

However, even more, or less healthy, adequate people do not always pass the test with water pipes, and, reaching a certain level of skill, they begin to spit on the needs of others, especially recruits

Covering sports, localism, the cold war for priority on the lineup and a wave on acceleration, eternal drops, intemperance, and sometimes open aggression towards not only strangers, but even occasionally close friends – this is not a complete list of our troubles.

On the lineup, in the process of riding, the worst human qualities are often manifested: every man for himself, who got up first and the slippers, my wave is my rule, I want to move or land on my head.

But to the credit of surfers, I must say, drowning or carried away by the channel, as a rule, are saved; praise the foam!

Physiology

Secondly, the muscles and joint load is unevenly distributed during surfing

Unlike classes in the gym or functional training, where we try to balance the system of exercises and limitations, in the ocean, on the board, our torso is forced to obey and adapt to the laws of maximum possible acceleration, reducing friction and finding balance in an unnatural position relative to ordinary life.

Hence, all kinds of distortions, clamps, and microtrauma appear, resulting in discomfort, pain, anger, and this is almost a return to the first problem above in the text.

And also, depending on the climatic conditions in which you surf (hehe), you regularly either overheat in the sun, or at least be exposed to prolonged harmful exposure to sunlight (hello to skin cancer), or overcool despite oily wetsuits, which save only partially.

Special exercises can reduce the harm from such effects on the body before and after surfing, massages, creams, high-quality uniforms, and a reasonable number of hours spent in the ocean

However, alas, it will still not be possible to avoid these problems altogether.

Intelligence

And all this obscurantism ends with a relatively common disease of most athletes, called “brain surfing.”

At the critical stage of its manifestation, the surfer’s interests are reduced almost exclusively to riding.

The width of the world’s perception turns into the depth of perception of the object and its attributes.

The fact is that after a gurney, especially a successful one, there is often a feeling that on this particular day, you have already done something important in your life.

And this strange feeling, absolutely not justified at the level of common sense (physiologists, perhaps, can explain), allows you to relax and not to “flounder” much more on this day, especially when the basic human needs for food and a roof over your head are already more or less satisfied …

Even the reproductive instinct can fade into the background, the situation resembles drug addiction

While one of the main functions of a healthy and thinking person of the 21st century is to contribute to the development of humanity (scientific, creative, provisional) or at least be helpful to others, a surfer can recline on the couch after a wheelchair, watch a video, play a console, hang out with others like you, endlessly discussing the same surfing in the exact phrases, go skateboarding, even if he is over 30, and most importantly, all this with a complete sense of accomplishment and self-importance, as if a surfer is the savior of the world only one at a time definition.

Therefore, it is essential to assess the situation sensibly, remember that if there is no development, degradation takes its place, and this is the law of nature

All these, of course, are only the main problems lying on the surface, so to speak, the patient’s skeleton.

Everything else, in my opinion, is not so essential and is most often a consequence of the ailments sounded.

Good news

But! Let’s not forget that you have to pay the price for everything in life, and for extreme pleasures – at an inflated rate, besides, the trick with a coin is lovely because it can be done an infinite number of times, the main thing is not to forget to turn it over

Surfing has that almost endless number of analogies and parallels with life that you can only imagine.

Its uniqueness as a sport lies in the fact that one can see a reflection (psychological picture) of a specific character, his relationship with the elements, and the social realities of the human community at the moment.

And there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this.

Unlike most sports activities, where a person deals with a static surface, in the case of surfing, we move along a substance that escapes from under our feet, and success consists in finding the optimal balance of our actions and the changing reality around us.

Doesn’t it look like anything?

Of course, surfing is beautiful and profound, and each of us was convinced of this more than once by our example or in the role of an observer

And if you approach the issue with a cold mind and an open heart, clearly understand the goals and objectives, respect your fellow tribesmen, correctly prioritize and take care of yourself first of all.

Then, everything will turn out to be not so sad, but quite even harmonious. So flip the coin more often!