PANDEMIC SURFING UPDATES AND THOUGHTS

There is a lot to unpack here. I have been surfing and have been pretty candid with my thoughts about it in the weekly newsletters. In the last newsletter I also shared that I will take my blogging down to one day per week. I managed two posts a week for a good clip there, but a.) I don’t want to get burned out on posting; b.) I don’t want to create so much content that people can’t consume all of it; c.) I also need to make enough time to write other things; d.) now that I am surfing a bit more I have less time to write.

The last stretch of waves — from Friday April 24 through Monday April 27 — was pretty incredible. There was something in at least the chest high zone to surf for four days in a row. On Friday the 24th I had planned initially to get to the beach at 3p and surf till dark, but as I was finishing up some writing at 1130a I saw that the forecasted swell had arrived early. Winds were light side offshore from the ENE. I had wanted to make pierogies from scratch for dinner, so I opted to drive out early, surf, and return home in time to make dinner. When I arrived there was not a soul in sight, and clean, peaky waist to chest high surf. It was drizzly and cold so I wore my 6mm Ripcurl Heat Seeker, 7mm gloves, and 7mm boots. Mostly riding the 5’7” Channel Islands ‘Fishbeard’ that I picked up in March — that’s the board that is in the majority of coach vids right now — it’s part fish and part shortboard and suits my surfing well. I thought I’d have it all alone but Bobby, the local hairdresser, had popped out just before me. With two guys and a whole beach, however, it was pretty easy to stay apart. Didn’t film this session — no clients and no tubes — just had a free surf. Was in a good rhythm with the inside nuggets that hit the bar just right. In fact I was catching so many waves that I began to overheat in my suit. It was way too much rubber. I considered taking off my gloves, but decided to stay over-warm rather than risk frostbite. As the afternoon continued it did get more crowded. I do not feel that I was ever very close to any other surfer, although I did see some groups surfing who had arrived together. They sat together in the lineup and were socializing. They also liked to burn one another and whomever else. Their surfing was uninspiring from both a technical and social aspect, but for the most part they were easy to avoid. I went in at 330p, counted about 15 people out with many more frothing for parking and suiting up as I was leaving. I got home in time to take a hot shower, hang up my gear, and make the pierogies, which we ate with sauteed onions, sour cream, and an arugula and radish salad. We’ve been into our every other weekly trip to the Union Square Farmer’s Market to load up on eggs and fresh veg. I am no longer vegan or vegetarian, but eat that way most of the week.

When I got out of the water the jetty I surfed was crowded the but the one next door revealed some empty waves.

Pierogies with potato, spinach, and onion! Both dough and filling are easy to make! I made a batch of 36, cooked 14, and froze the rest for another day!

The next day, Saturday, the 25th, had all of the hype on it. I knew it was going to be crowded so I left my house at 415a. Brooklyn is very quiet at that hour. There was still some residual moisture on the van. I suited up around 5a. I didn’t even check the surf because the buoys suggested there would be something to surf — it was 6ft @ 11 seconds. I paddled out in the dark around 515a. I wore my Isurus 3mm hooded suit, 7mm booties, and tried the no gloves route. The water was like ice fire on my hands. I am near sighted and don’t wear contacts in the water so was surfing pretty blind, but it was a complete pleasure to be alone in the ocean with an orange horizon and the sparkling boardwalk lights on the water. I did bring the Go Pro this session because I had planned to do some light coaching with Brant. The Go Pro footage reveals that I did indeed get inside of that tube in the dark and made it out through the “doggy door” — this is what it’s called when you’re inside the tube but you have to exit through the crashing lip rather than through the “front door” or circular opening at the end. It’s still a make, but just not as glorious. The crowd came on quickly by 6a. As the tide filled in a weird bump and funk started to appear on the waves. I was over it by 7a, hopped in the car suit still on, and headed to find something less populated. I succeeded, but only just, and this time I put the mittens back on. The place I surfed had about 8 people total surfing it. 6 of these were Isao Hoshi, a really nice Japanese surfer, and his crew. They can be a bit frothy and there is definitely some ‘lost in translation’ communication that can happen, but overall they are just stoked people. We waved in the water and took turns on waves which kept us apart from one another. It was a bit of a marathon day. After that session I pounded a tupperware of pierogie filling — potatoes, spinach, and onions — and a tin of sardines (King Oskar — best) in the van and headed to Katherine and Bobby’s for a high tide session. I set up two CSC boards for them — the 9’ orange and the 9’ red stripe — and we walked to the beach at least 6ft apart from one another. No one out at all. Clean A-frames with soft entries. Was home by mid afternoon, and was almost too exhausted to even edit footage. After showering I just laid on the couch with T Rock for a bit. Sophia had baked some fresh sourdough loafs, so at 3p I went to town on a vegan mezze platter to go with the bread: homemade falafel balls, homemade hummus, sauteed greens with garlic, roasted eggplant, a salad of roasted red pepper, olives, green onions, and basil. We garnished the table with radishes from last Wednesday’s farmer’s market and pickles from a jar. Here is the video of the surfing that day followed by pics of Brant on a bomb, Bobby and Katherine at their spot, and the mezze platter I whipped up afterwards.

Been working with Brant a lot through the crisis. He only surfs once a week, but he makes it count. We’ve been doing virtual pop up and technique coaching from our homes and it’s paying off in his approach in the water.

Bobby and Katherine exiting the water with the CSC 9’0'“s. This is “crowded” for their spot but those people were not out when we were surfing. Look at that fun left coming through!

This meal was a winner! Sophia’s sourdough in the near left corner, to the right of that the sauteed greens, then radishes, homemade hummus, red pepper and olive salad, pickles, homemade falafel balls, and roasted eggplant.

Obviously I’m enjoying all of the at-home cooking during these times. I cooked a lot before, but now I’m branching out and trying to make things that I would normally buy out. The falafel balls are a good example. I usually have falafel once in a blue moon, usually from Taim when I’m making a trip to the New School in Manhattan. Pierogies I’d normally get on a random trip to Greenpoint, but not now. I looked up how to make them, the recipe was straightforward, so I went for it. Sophia is working pretty long days from home. I have a much more flexible schedule, so it’s my job to put dinner on the table. Some nights I cook enough that we don’t have to cook at all the next day, as was the case with the mezze night.

Sunday, April 26th, was stormy and gray. I had been texting with my yoga coach, Evan Perry, and with Juan on Saturday evening about the potential to score surf Sunday night. I felt that my cup was pretty full and was really on the fence about it. Then I started looking at wind and buoy charts and in my deepest heart I knew Evan was right. Monday had all the hype on it, but Sunday looked like it was the goods. After surfing Saturday, Evan, a yogi of 30 years, safely passed off his copy of Astanga Yoga by Lino Miele to me at the beach. I read it over on Sunday morning and many of the things Evan has been trying to teach me over the years clicked when I read about the philosophy and background of the poses he has had me do in our private sessions. I have been struggling to keep up my practice and get confused about the counting and transitions in the poses. I get through my two sets of sun salutations and then lose interest or will power to complete the practice. For some reason reading the book — which I think is not very clear unless you have had prior training as I have had with Evan — made it all click for me. I was also excited about the Astanga philosophy of doing away with dualistic mind body thinking by focusing on the breathe as an integral part of a whole being. I thought to myself, “This is like if Spinoza added a stretching practice to his philosophy!” I texted Evan to see if he’d chat with me about some of my discoveries. He was down and we had a productive and enlightening 1 hour chat about the history of Astanga, and some of the modern updates (there are quite a few). I decided that I would indeed have to surf that evening, but not before getting a good practice on my mat in. From 3-4p II had my longest personal yoga session and some of the tension in my right hip that I have been struggling with the past three months felt as though it had released a bit.

Many shakas and mahalos to Evan for helping me with my practice over the years. It will continue to be a struggle I am sure, but I am grateful to have a guide. One day I may also do a post/essay on the significance of my tattoos.

I left for the beach at 4p. Evan’s call was right: it was firing. The crowd was pretty light, but not non existent. I pulled on my brand new 3/2 Ripcurl Heat Seeker, which is like a 4/3 because of the flash lining, but just thinner (I had bought one of these last year and it fell apart in 5 months, so I sent it back and they sent me a brand new one). I also wore a hood, 7mm mittens, and 7mm booties. It was a perfect kit. I was light and warm at the same time. At peak crowd there were 10 people out. But part of these 10 were me, Evan, Juan, Evan’s friend James, Dante, and Isao. The other guys I had seen before too and everyone was sharing waves, taking turns, not socializing beyond hoots and thumbs up through gloves. It was the first time I had surfed without hip pain in a few months. This allowed me to push more through my turns without my body holding back in fear and tension. And the waves just kept pumping. Little pocket tubes everywhere. While many of the crew tried for the waves by the jetty I contented myself on the inside and more towards the middle of the beach. There were a few more closeouts there but also more opportunity to tuck inside. Plus I felt I didn’t need to be crowded the peak. The strategy did work. I got mine and everyone else got their fair share too. Joy was palpable. The session felt like therapy. By 7p my blind ass could not see very well and I was more than satisfied. I got out, changed, and shot a bit of vid from the shore. I had the Go Pro with me this session too, and the vid of the day, I must say, is pretty epic.

Middle of the beach wave.

I got home on Sunday night around 830p. There is no longer any traffic from Rockaway to my pad, so I’m making the trip in about 35 minutes. I did not have to cook since there were plenty of leftovers from Saturday’s meal. I added some animal protein this time in form of cheese and pate, and washed down the epic surf with a nice glass of Portuguese red wine. I tried to watch the season finale of Homeland, but despite the suspense I still passed out. I had to wake up at 4a on Monday to get in the last droplet of swell.

Monday, April 27th, was the coldest day of the week by far. I got to the beach early — a different jetty this time — and noticed the swell had dropped off a ton. There were still fun waves to be had, for sure, but I was not in a hurry to get out there. Dante was on his way for some coaching, and I just didn’t feel like freezing when I was already satisfied from the past three days. I stayed inside the van and started looking through the footage on my computer, texting screen grabs to stoke my friends out, and answering a few emails from my phone. When D. arrived we checked the surf in our masks and made a game plan to surf the middle of the beach where no one was out. There were lefts and rights coming through. A little lully and inconsistent, but plenty fun looking. I suited half way up and shot video from shore. When I saw that D. was out of rhythm with the ocean I paddled out on my 6’7” Andrew Kidman (I wanted float for my sore muscles) and helped establish a flow for him (and this session I was back in a hooded 5/4mm suit, 7mm mittens, and 7mm boots). D. picked up some gems before he ended his session.

An empty right Monday, April 27th. Going right in NY is a good bet for the social distancing surfer.

After that I surfed the next jetty over with Luca. There was only 1 guy out there and still a few nuggets coming through. I was pleased to see how much progress he has made in our past 3 sessions. He is one of those guys that has a skate and snowboard backround and hopped straight to a shortboard too early. We have been working on smoothing out his paddling form — legs together, no kicking, deeper strokes — and figuring out gliding entries. We surfed together without filming for an hour, then I came in got the shot of his last wave. Luca is riding his wife, Giuli’s, 7’8” CSC “Potentia” hybrid, which is the best board for a surfer of Luca’s level. It’s floaty, fast, and responsive. Catches anything and turns on a dime.

We’re both pretty sure Luca came down with Covid on January 30th after our first session together in NJ. Luca describes it as, “The worst flu I have ever had.” He was extremely fatigued, ran a fever of up to 104, and when he was “recovered” he still felt very tired and lacking in strength. I may be wrong, but I think the night after our first surf together he either went to the hospital or was almost in hospitalizable condition. His wife, Giuli, also came down with it. Obviously until tests come out we won’t know whether he has antibodies or not. Nor whether I have them. That day — Jan 30 — we were not distant at all. I gave him treats that Sophia had made after our surf. He reached his hand into our tin of cookies. It is also possible that Dante had Covid in late February. He had the worst cough I have ever heard and it simply would not go away. He went to his doctors and tested for the flu and bronchitis and came up negative for both despite this gnarly cough that lasted weeks. He also recalled to me while we were doing a virtual coaching session that during that time his lungs hurt and he was short of breathe on his runs. It’s so wild.

Testing both for carrying the virus and for having antibodies, as most of us know, is still not wide spread. Many of us in NY have received emails from City MD that they’re starting to be able to administer tests there, but many of us are also wary of going into public health offices. Hospitals seem to have treatment under control, but people are still getting crazy sick and dying as a result of the virus. Tensions are very high between those who feel they are doing a better job than others of observing the new social distancing and mask wearing norms and those they perceive who are not. I, for one, have lightened up my attitude towards people, especially surfers, who are not making proper space. I just stay away from them. At this point I am close to convinced we cannot get it while surfing, but I’ll be the first one to announce should I fall ill and suspect surfing is the cause. As this blog post attests, I am keeping myself accountable for the times I leave the house, the people I come into contact with, and the surfaces that I touch.

I haven’t lightened up on any of my protocols. No one has been riding with me in the van. I am still wearing a mask to check the surf, not touching railings or public objects, not stopping for food or water, and since I’ve limited my surfing to Rockaway, which is about 6 miles from my house in Central Brooklyn, I don’t get gas very often. The protocol at the pump is pretty easy: wipe down the pump machine buttons with an alcohol pad, use gloves to pump the gas, discard gloves when done, wipe down steering wheel and shifter and radio controls, and iphone with alcohol pad, drive off.

There are more people surfing on the east coast now than usual in April. There are two main causes for this: many of people are working from home or not working, and there has been a lot of swell. In general when there are waves on the east coast, people make the time to go out. But we are not having the problems that people are having on the west coast. The most surfers I have counted at one break at one time was 30. This is a lot, but that is the most I have counted. Mostly I’m seeing crowds top out at about 10-11 surfers. I am seeing images of 100s of surfers at certain breaks in CA right now. They have been having lots of swell and nice weather. Things look like they have only gotten worse there with partial beach closures in certain counties, which makes surfers travel away from their home county to surf. Beaches are filled with sun bathers. Sustained contact with other humans is the way that this thing spreads, so if people are going to beaches to do anything other than surf and get out of the water, it’s a public health hazard. I am not sure what is going on in terms of public habits of buying food and gas and eating in public on these outdoor excursions that people are having. One thing is for sure, the fact that many people are not working is a mess on many levels. I do not have a solution to fix the mess. I can only say what it is.

One thing keeping us able to surf here in NY is that our weather sucks. It’s cold and drizzly and not fun to be on the beach. And also we have the east coast notion that our beaches are technically closed to the public this time of year already. This has always been a weird concept for me to wrap my head around, but generally the inlanders will not flock to beaches unless there are lifeguards on duty, which is only Memorial Day-Labor Day. That is “the season” for going to beaches by the public at large. I imagine beaches will remain “closed” for the summer, but I am not sure what this will look like for us NY and NJ surfers. I don’t even know if Cuomo and De Blasio know we exist.

Another thing I will say is that I notice a change in myself in my level of anxiety and fear. As my anxiety decreases I feel less passionate about policing others. The higher the anxiety the more I am on red alert to lash out at others. All I can do is be accountable for myself and for those that I come into contact with. The only person I have had a face to face, maskless, less than 6ft distant, conversation with in the past 6 weeks is my partner, Sophia. We go grocery shopping 1x every other week, and do laundry in our laundry mat 1x per month (yes, the piles are intense in the house by week 3).

I feel fortunate that I have figured out new ways to reach out and support the CSC community with new virtual educational opportunities, and with continued light coaching at the beach and in the water. My surf theory 101 course is still in creation mode, but I hope to have a full program designed by June 1. Same goes for a kids program, and continued re-tooling of packages to contain the virtual coaching sessions at home. These work. They really really do. Please reach out whether or not you’re in a package to get one under your belt. Guaranteed there are things you can do at home that you’re missing to help you surf better when you get back in the water.

Life will not be “normal” for quite some time. Surfing feels therapeutic, but there is still the risk of injury. I have been conscious of this and am not taking unnecessary risks in terms of wave judgment. Wiping out is fine. Needing to take a wave when someone is in your path is another thing altogether. Just don’t do it. To those that still want to say it’s a selfish thing to surf when everyone else is staying at home, I hear you. I know that there will also be waves in the future. But, per my Aristotle article, I still believe in a middle path. Overall I think it’s going to be more highly reasoned and self regulating solutions that will help get us through this thing and beyond. We need widespread testing and contact tracing. I recommend that most people keep some kind of “plague diary” of where you go and what you do so that should you fall ill you can be contact traced. Mine is a calendar hanging on the fridge.

Like many others, I will continue to read and listen to new reports. I will continue to cook and experiment in the kitchen. One of my favorite new things is to make stuff that normally comes packaged like tortillas, crackers, and above-mentioned pierogies. Gotta keep up the yoga practice, the writing, and even try to read some actual physical books from cover to cover (that may be a stretch). And I assume that for quite some time the only places I will go that are not my house will be the grocery store, the laundry mat, the local park to walk the dog, and to the ocean for salt water therapy.

Surf Video Review: The Present (2009) by Thomas Campbell

The other day Juan texted me this YouTube link of Thomas Campbell’s 2009 The Present. I saved the link as usual to view for later, but then Juan sent another text of him watching this on a big computer monitor — Dave ‘Rasta’ Rastovich doing big, arcing turns on a twin fin on some huge right hander. “Ok,” I thought, “I’ll give this one a watch.” I first watched without sound — well I was listening to a podcast about why Bernie Sanders lost — and was immediately blown away by the first section in Sumatra with Dan Malloy, Chelsea Hedges, Sofia Mulanovich, Ry Craike, and Danny Hess. This was the first time I’d ever seen women and men thrown together on the same surf trip, in the same heavy waves, riding the same heavy tubes with perfect technique and gusto. “I have to share this with the CSC peeps,” was my next thought. As the Indo section moved into boiler plate interstitial shots — again, I had sound off — I became bored, and was like, “Well I’ll post it on the blog, and let people watch.” Then, yesterday, I said to myself, “Just put your headphones on and watch the whole film Dion. Write a review.” And so I did. And I am glad I did. Here it is.

The Present is, one the one hand, a standard surf movie, or surf ‘porn’, in that it adheres to a time-tested formula of surf filmmaking: film great surfers surfing great waves both at home (or in their home environments) and abroad. Loop in a bit of travel narrative, some interstitial shots of sunrises and sunsets, breaking waves without people on them, and people of local cultures doing their everyday things, set it to music, and voila. But in response to many surf movies, especially the white-male-short-board-centric films of the 1990s and early 2000s, Campbell has a bit of a ‘political’ agenda, which is manifested in the film’s title, The Present. Campbell’s goal in this film is to redefine surfing’s “present” — 2009 — as marked by the “ride everything surfing ethos", which incorporates a larger historical view of surfing culture and aims towards a more inclusive approach to presenting the skills of “wave-sliders” of both genders by incorporating women and a variety of board types into the overall action of the film.

The point of The Present is to see how any given moment is always shaped by the past. It makes the point that it is important to incorporate ideas and techniques from the past that are worth saving, and to discard or transform those that aren’t. In Campbell’s case, he thinks the use of 16mm analog film, and voice overs ala Bruce Brown’s epic, albeit colonialist, racist, sexist, surf film The Endless Summer (1966) are worth retaining for the rich aesthetic and educational information they provide. Also like The Endless Summer, Campbell wants to bring you a “long form” surf film. This one ends up at 1hr and 14 min, so plan time for it — make some popcorn (which happens to be my favorite “junk food” both pre and post pandemic — I pop mine on the stove), crack a beer or a La Croix, and sit back.

The film begins with a montage and Campbell’s philosurfical cosmic musings about what surfing “is”. In answer to the question, “Which meaning of the ‘The Present’?” he answers, “Actually, both in definition. The idea of this film is to express a collective wonderment  for the occasion we all participate in on this vast functioning earth . . .” Interestingly ‘wonderment’ or ‘wonder’ is something foundational that surfing and philosophy have in common. Both are infinitely engaging because of a continued reproduction of this sense of wonder at the world we find ourselves in — wonder at its beauty, its awesomeness, but also wonder at the gross injustices and inequalities. Campbell is not blind to both of these forms of wonder. The film has a a bit of a sustainability message, although not completely worked out, and it also tries to redo the Africa narrative of Brown’s Endless Summer by celebrating rather than denigrating the local black culture.

Chelsea Hedges threds a throaty backside tube in Submersion 1: Sumatra.

The Present is organized in chapters Campbell calls “submersions”. Submersion 1 features insane tube riding in Indonesia/Sumatra and stars Dan Malloy, Sofia Mulanovich, Chelsea Hedges, Danny Hess, and Ry Craike. Dan Malloy narrates this section and explains why Indo is so damn good and worth traveling for. Not sure what travel looks like in our current ‘present’ and in the future ‘present’, but Indo will remain one of my own desired places to visit. Campbell and Malloy succeed in giving a picture of local life without the element of voyeurism and orientalism that is common in, among others, the Taylor Steele movies of the 90s and 00s. The tube riding by Mulanovich and Hedges is extraordinary, and Malloy remarks that he was astonished to see women surfing the tube this well, and that this gives him great hope for the future of women’s surfing. I think most women surfers would probably tell you that women have always been surfing well, but due to some intricate cultural factors have simply been left in the dark through the late 70s on through the 80s, 90s, and 00s. Kudos to Campbell, however, for seeing that surfing’s future does include more women — because that was the case with its ancient past. Hawaiian queens were central to early surfing culture, so it would make sense that any full blooded, well rounded surfing “present” includes women. It can and should include more women than are in this video, but this is a great start.

In terms of surf form in this section you watch for knee down (folded under) technique and slight tube adjustments backside and frontside, backside pig dog technique, rail grabbing cutbacks, how much time they wait before placing maneuvers, going from rail to rail with patience and purpose — this is called “holding a line”. 

Submersion 2 takes places in NZ and stars modern legends of longboarding Kassia Meador, Devon Howard, and CJ Nelson. Campbell defines “logging” as riding “heavily weighted longboards”. Watch for: use of the tail to set up the nose rides. How they walk towards the part of the rail engaged in the wave to keep it locked in as they go up to the nose. How they do the nose ride in the critical section of the wave. Low or quiet arms and hands. 

This is followed by an interstitial skit starring Rob Machado and Dane Reynolds as sports forecasters for the “Express Your Inner Monkey Expression Session.” Costumes and names of contestants are pretty hilarious. This cuts into Submersion 3, which features Dane surfing at home in Ventura, CA. Dane is outspoken about not feeling like he totally fits into the pro surfing mold, which is why Campbell highlights him as one of surfing’s great weirdos.

Submersion 4 strings together all the previous interstitial build up of phone calls between Al Knost and Michel Junod. This is the Africa trip that is meant to update The Endless Summer. Al and Michel don suits just like Mike Hynson and Robert August did and check into the airport counter holding boards not in board bags. They meet up with Rasta in Africa and they get together with some local musicians to play drum music. They score an epic right hander and run into a “feral” alaia rider named Jacob Stuth. In order to portray Jacob as “primitive” they cake mud on his face for the shot, which is probably not so cool in hindsight. What to look for: Al Knost’s paddle ins. He takes his time and establishes glide. Cool intergenerational feel to this section too with Junod’s solid, clean surfing. Frontside pop up and hand placement techniques for regular foots. Wave touching. Use of tail for control. Staying close to the power source of the wave. 

Submersion 5 is a feature on Joel Tudor and how he has influenced the “ride everything ethos”. Campbell gives a lion’s share of the credit for this new way of conceiving of surfing and surfboard design to Tudor. I think Tudor is an incredible surfer and extraordinarily influential, but I am wary of pinning any great historical shift in anything to one historical actor. As a follower of Tudor’s IG account, I can’t say I hold the highest opinion of his intellect or abilities to reason on land. He is an absolute genius in the water, no doubt. In this section Joel claims that 4 surfers initiated modern surfing: Phil Edwards, Gerry Lopez, Tom Curren, and Miki Dora. But as the section progresses, other surfers are blended into this mix. I am grateful that the part on Miki focuses on his surfing rather than his untenable political positions. It is clear, however, that Tudor idolizes Miki as an “everyman” of surfing who would “do anything to keep up the lifestyle.” I am extremely critical of Dora’s actions and views, and am willing to admit to his charisma and great surfing, but I think that overall he should be seen with a bit of an asterisk next to his name. I think it’s really important to think about how surfing well does not necessarily make one an imitable human being. Yes, to be a good surfer one does have to figure out how to have enough time to do a lot of surfing, but I hope that for most of us that doesn’t look like stealing your friends’ checkbooks or pulling off credit card scams.

Jacob Stuth alaia trim in the Africa submersion.

The last full submersion, Submersion 6, looks into surfing history and takes it back to its birthplace in Hawaii. Central figures in the film, Rastovich and Malloy, newly inspired by ancient Hawaiian designs, decide to ride alaias in large Hawaiian surf. The alaia is a thin surfboard made of wood with no fins. They were the main kind of surfboard used by ancient Hawaiians, as they were accessible to all class backgrounds, unlike the heavy olos, which could only be ridden by nobility. With these thin wooden boards you basically have to swim into the wave, which is incredibly difficult in terms of positioning and strength. They go very fast because there is literally no friction. I have one and love to surf it in clean peeling surf (not the right equipment for closeouts except as a a long boogie board). One drop Rasta pulls at Waimea is insane. Overall this is an incredible medly of hot alaia surfing. Notice how high the chest must be upon entering the wave, and how the back rail needs to be engaged because the board is so flat and the nose dips easily.

In classic surf film formula, it ends with another montage of the great rides, and Campbell solidifies his point that as surfing moves forward, it needs to include all the kinds of shapes and designs of surfboards that people can have fun wave sliding on. “Riding anything that floats your boat is the way to go depending on what nature offers up.” It is certainly not cool to negatively judge people solely on their choice of equipment, but it does matter whether or not you are able to achieve glide, flow, and efficient sliding on the tool(s) (or lack thereof) that you choose to engage with. I love the term “wave-sliders” because that really does get more towards what anyone who engages with waves is doing. It takes the emphasis off standing, and puts on waves, and sliding on them, however you achieve that. I hope that as more time goes on, more surf films will feature wave-sliders of various genders, age-groups, ethnic make ups, and identifications are featured surfing a variety of surf craft in grace and harmony together. That’s a constant ideal present that I’d love to see manifest for us in the future.

CSC Profile: Norva Bennett

I have wanted to do CSC profiles for a long time, but just like everything else, too much surfing got in the way of my productivity. “If you’re working in the business, you’re not working on the business,” is the old saying that Barry Green of Centered Surfing reminded me of the other day when we were on a call about a podcast he’s been working on (and which will feature yours truly — stay tuned). The first CSC profile features Norva Bennett. Norva has been a CSC mainstay. She is fun to work with because she really gets the holistic picture of surfing. By day Norva owns, runs, and practices holistic healing at ShenShuAcupuncture. Here’s an interview I did with her this week:

D: What brought you to surfing? How long was surfing on your radar and what pushed you over the edge to make it a part of your lifestyle? 

N: I have always loved the water. I was the first kid in and last out of any pool or lake. The year I turned 40, I decided to travel for one week every month, to do things I always wanted to. So I did some research and booked a Surf with Amigas trip. I always wanted to learn and finally had the financial ability to do so.

There was this one paddle out on the trip I which I totally messed up the timing and truly was smashed set after set. I had no idea how I was going to make it but I had no choice. The ocean was bigger than me ..... so I had to show up in that very moment completely. That’s when surfing became a part of my heart.

D: What has your practice and progress been like from your perspective? 

N: Well I was never in a sport before, so my progress may be on a bit of the slower side yet I feel I make up for that in the time I put in practicing. There is no finish line I’m working towards. It really just about having fun, getting proficient, and doing something that is just for me. When I’m out in the ocean nothing else matters, I can just be free.

D: What is the thing that you're currently trying to work through the most in your surfing? What is difficult about it? 

N: That’s a tough question, timing I would say. Just getting the timing down and what makes that difficult is that it will just click one day. I can’t force it yet I have to keep going out and surrendering to the process. This makes this difficult because I have to practice patience with myself.  Also New York is so inconsistent . . .

D: Do you supplement your surfing practice with any other kinds of preparation? 

N: Workouts, stretching, visualizing balance boards, yoga. Even bought a long board skateboard which has been fun to play with.

D: Who are your favorite surfers to watch videos of or to follow on instagram? What do you like about their surfing? 

N: Lola Mignot — dances with the sea. It’s how I want to surf with ease and grace; Carissa Moore — insert mic drop — because she is just amazing; Giulia Manfrini — between surf and skateboarding she is fun to follow; and Tiara Jones — she is a surfer that does not fit into the normal box. I don’t think she is a professional, just someone being authentic.

D: Do you have a favorite session or trip you have had with CSC? Why was it memorable? 

N: My trips to Costa Rica. Truly everyone equals a huge breakthrough. Literally just practicing everyday, focusing on one thing in every session and then accomplishing it to move on to the next. It’s a magical place.

Norva nailing a bomb in Costa Rica.

D: How do you think body type affects one's surfing progress? Have you come to learn things about how your own body reacts with different boards and waves? 

Body types totally affect surfing. It’s all about weight distribution. I’m a curvy gal, you put me on a nine foot board and someone who weighs 95 pounds on the same board the wave is going to carry us differently. Height and weight to matter as it changes the center of gravity. When we are surfing we are literally balancing ourselves on the wave.

Not only that there is the length of arms/torso/legs. All of this comes into play when learning.

D: Do you have a favorite surf buddy or two? Why do you like surfing with them? 

I do. Surf buddies help motivate you and push yourself to get better. They help you motivate in cold temps to even get in the water, see your progression, have compassion for yourself.

D: Where do you see your surfing in five years? 

N: Well besides being better I just want to keep having fun. Maybe in five years I’ll be able to hang 5. That would be totally fun.

D: Any advice or words of wisdom for other adult beginners? 

N: Remember to just have fun. If surfing was just about popping up on a board everyone would do it. But it’s about so may different dynamics. You have to learn the break, the waves, the wind, your board, keep control over your board, lineups, how to surf with others, the list goes on forever. If you ever feel stuck, surrender to what you’re working on and change you focus.

“No finish line”: just empty lineups!

CSC Is About Community: I Always Remember You

There are many things that people who engage with Conatus have in common: they want to learn to surf “the right way”, they are concerned with how their practice affects others (don’t want to get in the way, hurt others, or hurt self), and they want to connect with other surfers who have a similar mindset. I have always argued that part of what is ‘sustainable’ about the way I mentor people into surfing is the community aspect. Surfing is not a solitary activity — being human is simply not a solitary endeavor. All human endeavors, surfing included, entail other people, and are enhanced when we connect and share with others in a meaningful and intentional manner.

Another common refrain I hear in follow up emails — these are usually far after our first session or group of sessions — is, “You probably don’t remember me, but . . .” Give yourself more credit! I remember everyone! I usually remember the conditions of our session, the particular things you have to work on, and 9.5 times out of 10 I can put a face to your name. On the one hand, I may have something like a photographic memory — back in a former life as a fine dining restaurant server I didn’t write down multi-course orders — and per the Aristotle post, learning languages like Greek and Latin does come a little easier for me. On the other hand, I have a deep respect for anyone that comes to me either to learn to surf from the ground up or to gain new skills in their already established practice. Your dedication to self betterment and your humility in searching after a coach, guide, mentor, philosopher person (whatever you want to call me) are exemplary. So many of you come from interesting walks of life, have different things to work through in your surfing, but the thing that ties you all together is tenacity, focus, and a love of life long learning. All this said, when you email me next time just say, “Hey Dion, it’s ________!” I am always happy to get updates from you and to field questions.

I can’t provide an image of everyone that I have surfed with in the past 6 years, so here is a smattering of stoked CSC crew from 2019/20. Love how these images display a variety of locations and weather scenarios. Nothing stops us! I am working on some posts that feature different students and should have one ready for you soon.

Max Giraldo and I discuss not getting womped by set waves on the best day we had in July 2019.

Kevin Roberts scored the most epic sunset on his first surf in Costa Rica April 2019.

Deb Altman stoked after a scorchingly fun session in Rockaway July 2019.

Karen Ingram and Tracy Obolsky psyched on our call to press go on this evening session August 2019.

Chris Slover and I in NJ, June 2019, just before he made the big move to CA.

Karen Shih and her gorgeous Tyler Warren board on its maiden voyage in Cape Cod April 2019. What you see to the right of her is the memorial for the kid that was eaten by a great white shark while he was boogie boarding in the fall of 2018.

Brant Weil in his ride the lightning suit — he has a pretty close connection to Metallica — fall 2019.

McNair and Mariza, Santa Cruz, CA February 2020.

Zac and I at the start of a great session July 2019.

Sonny, me, Dante G, and Andrew Dolan at the Moss Landing Cafe February 2020.

Me, Soyoup Lee, and Izzie the dog. Rest in peace Izzie!! She was the CSC Costa Rica mascot and will be sorely missed (eaten by a snake unfortunately).

How Spinoza Helps Us Do Away with Mind/Body Dualism and Why We Should Endeavor To Do So

I have been enjoying writing these posts that exhibit how I incorporate my philosophical work into my surfing practice. This — surfing and philosophy — is the topic of my PhD dissertation, which I hope to turn into a book or publish as a book soon after I defend it. I was going to defend it this spring, but due to my health insurance coverage through graduate school, I’m going to wait until the fall so that I have health insurance throughout 2020. Seems like a pretty critical year to have health insurance.

As some may know (from reading the ‘About’ page), the name of this thing I have created — Conatus Surf Club — comes from the philosophy of Benedict (or Baruch or Bento) Spinoza. I dedicate a whole chapter to his theory of the ‘conatus’ and how it pertains to surfing. One of the difficulties I am having in finishing that chapter — I have 4 versions of it so far — is getting tangled up in trying to explain everything about Spinoza’s philosophy. I want to fill out all the nuanced ways in which his ideas intersect and interlock with one another. It’s a classic writing mistake! There really is not a way to cover all the bases, but you can come up with some interesting interpretations. If you’re not satisfied with them down the road because you discovered something new, you can update them to your new understanding.

I find Spinoza’s philosophy interesting for so many reasons, but one of the most pivotal is the way that he collapses any hard and fast distinction we may want to make between the mind and the body. One difficulty, evidenced by what I just wrote, is that this dualism is baked into our way of speaking about what it means to be the kinds of beings that we are. It is simply difficult and near impossible to differentiate between mind and body. What is most therapeutic about this dualism is the way that it makes it easier for us to comprehend our existence, even at the cost of not apprehending reality in all of its intricate depth. Mind/body dualistic thinking has roots in ancient Greek thinking starting with Pythagoras and in Judeo-Christian theology. The Pythagorean formula, “The body is a prison from which the soul desires to escape,” has dominated or insinuated itself in Western thought since at least its first utterance. That it was uttered at all is proof that it preexists Pythagoras and his sect. Plato took up this idea with relish, and to some extent so must have Socrates, in his theory of forms which holds that all things that are are only shadow images of ideal forms that exist on a transcendental plane — the realm of pure ideas outside of the cave. We may still want to inquire into the relationship between the cave — the world of the flesh and body — and the realm of pure ideas — the world of the mind. The hard and fast separation and the need of subjugation of the bodily realm by the mental realm is rooted ultimately in misogynistic and racist thought patterns. These thought patterns are especially insidious because they are ontological and metaphysical at their core. This furthermore means that a majority of the time they operate unconsciously. The basic thought is that the flesh needs to come under the subjugation of the mind. Or that whatever is bodily is necessarily in need of suppression and control. This amounts to a correlation between earth and sky or heaven and the idea of a soul that is more connected to this transcendent or upper realm, which is then distinguished from the material world in which bodies are born, live, and die. In Christian theology, the very notion that “the sins of the flesh” hold the soul back from reaching heaven is emblematic of this division. Hence the premium placed on virginity and celibacy — sex makes you less “pure” because it involves bodily pleasure. So too the idea of original sin in the garden where woman — Eve — and food — the apple — lure man — Adam — to deny god’s commandments. This embeds, even if unconsciously, an alignment between body-woman-food-sex-evil-punishment within the culture that holds such a myth to be foundational for its self understanding.

This bad dichotomy is not just bound to realm of religious or spiritual thought — it has also insinuated itself into scientific thinking (which is evident already in Pythagoras’ use of it). Rene Descartes, of “cogito ergo sum” fame, worked to ensure that the scientific community treats the mind and the body separately from one another. In his Meditations he writes things like: “. . . Our soul is of a nature entirely independent of the body . . .” He used such formulations to prove that this means that we can treat animals, which for him are all body, as if they don’t have souls and thus subject them to mutilations and experiments in the name of science. Spinoza took issue with much of Descartes’ method, and we can say with some confidence that he composes his Ethics with an eye towards overturning the problematic notions of both Cartesian rationalism and Judeo-Christian metaphysics.

Spinoza begins the Ethics with a geometrical proof for the nature and existence of “God” (Deus in the Latin). He wants to get this out of the way at the start since it is the largest question that ties all the other questions together. Following Anselm of Canterbury, for Spinoza “God is that which nothing greater can be thought.” There are multiple ways we can conceive of this “eternal substance”, but he wants us to strive not to think that whatever God is that it does anything with a particular eye to or care of human beings (such interpretations are superstitious, foolish, and lack evidence). We are merely one of its manifestations, as everything else is also a manifestation of it — or in Spinoza’s language everything is a mode or an attribute of what he will later call “God or Nature” — Deus sive Natura. We may also view this eternal substance as an activity: God godding or Nature naturing. We and the world around us are products of this activity — in the Latin we and the world around us are natura naturata — real material things constituted by an eternal process. Already here we can see how this basic natural theology starts to undo a strong distinction between ‘spirit’ and ‘matter’. The other upshot, I hope you can already see, is that it undoes hierarchies of being — we are all in this together, inextricably connected through nature to one another and our world. The philosopher Etienne Balibar calls this a concept of transindividuality.

The second chapter of the Ethics is titled “Of the Nature and the Origin of the Mind”. And guess what? It begins with a definition of the body: “D1: By body I understand a mode that in a certain and determinate way expresses God’s essence insofar as he is considered an extended thing.” “Extension” is a scholastic philosophical term that means literally that — a something that is extended in spacetime. If you’re being you have extension. Just look at your hand. There it is. So it is not mind first that “gives” you being, but extension or being bodily extended in spacetime. This is literally the opposite of Descartes’ “cogito ergo sum.” Extension, furthermore, is necessarily an attribute of the ultimate reality, God or Nature, by virtue of its very existence at all. Again, have a look, listen, smell, or feel around — we exist in a world. Our particular bodies also come equipped with these organs called brains and we perceive that we have thoughts or that we think. For Spinoza this capacity to think must preexist us in the natural world from which and into which we emerge. A mind is a physical/extended thing that thinks. It is affected by its environment, history, and the words and actions of other beings.

It has been a convention in philosophy to call Spinoza’s conception of the interrelation of the mind and the body “parallelism”, but I think this is a misnomer. Things that are parallel run alongside one another and what Spinoza is suggesting is far more radical than this. He is suggesting that the body and the mind — extension and thinking — are completely intertwined, interdependent, and enmeshed with one another. The adage “mind over matter” must be thrown in the trash bin. Instead we may want to phrase it, “Mind with matter, working together in the unified existence that they necessarily entail.”

The ‘conatus’, as the basic drive for continued existence, joy, and homeostasis, can be seen as a principle of unification of these modes of existing. In Chapter 3 Of the Affects, Proposition 7, Spinoza defines the ‘conatus’ as the essence of our existences: “The striving (conatus) by which each thing strives (conatur) to persevere in its being is nothing but the actual essence of the thing.” And in Proposition 12 he shows how this striving links the body and the mind together: “The mind as far as it can, strives (conatur) to imagine those things that increase or aid the body’s power of acting.” And it is not just us human beings that have this conatus. Everything that nature natures or god gods — all of natura naturata — has a conatus. Waves have conatuses. Sharks too. Trees. Viruses. Everything desires to persist in existing with all of its being. We are particular in our awareness and ability to reflect on this fact. Reflection and imagination, too, are bodily.

Surfing is an exemplary practice that forces us to consider the truth of Spinoza’s claims. It is impossible to separate mental and physical activities from the surfing practice, and in fact one’s surfing improves the more one is able to integrate their reading and judgments of both the ocean waves and their dynamic interrelation with the land vis a vis the bottom topography or bathymetry and the social reality of any given surf spot on any given day. Combine this with an increasing ability to enter and navigate waves successfully and gracefully, and you have the image of a flourishing surfing practice. But there are plenty things that will attempt to thwart the conatus. When a person yells at you for getting in their way that affects your entire system. Fear and anxiety radiate through your limbs, inhibiting physical ability to move more quickly and effectively. Same goes for when you’re looking down the face of a scary wave and every signal in your system communicates a variety of fright/flight responses. This is not a hallucination. Your initial thought that putting yourself into that position with your whole being has the capacity to bring you greater joy — because it will increase your body’s power of acting — is correct. But other parts of your system communicate the idea that if you fail you may die, which goes against every fiber of your being — on the deepest unconscious level you want to continue existing. But overall, you endeavor to exist with ever increasing powers for acting. If you learn to see the wave and enter it, to take time on your entry, and direct your being in different ways down its path, you will increase your powers for acting and for joyful existence. Your example also illumines the path for others to share in this joyful existence.

This concords with Spinoza’s theory of knowledge. He lists three ways that humans come to form knowledge or universal notions: 

1. Opinion or imagination. We get this kind of knowledge from random experience and from simply coming into contact with things (ab experientia vaga). This kind of knowledge forms memories and helps us imagine, but on its own, i.e., w/out reflection, it cannot provide us with certainty. 

2. Reason. Reason comes from common notions and adequate ideas. Does not need to go as far as seeing the common source of all things, but does constitute basic pattern recognition, reflection, and projection of future feeling. 

3. Intuitive scientific knowing. This is the kind of knowing and acting that is able to trace all things back to Deus sive Natura and the interconnectedness of all life. 

We can think about the three kinds of knowledge in the experience of the surfer: 

1. Surfing ab experentia vaga. When you first start surfing there are so many “external objects” affecting your senses for the first time. You see waves breaking but you cannot tell the difference between lefts, rights, and closeouts. You see the ocean and waves but you do not yet recognize patterns in them. You see a surfboard and you have a vague notion of how you’re supposed to paddle it out into the lineup, but you have not yet tried to do it so you’re only relying on your imagination of watching Blue Crush when you were a teenager. You lay down on the board and realize you have no clue what to do with your body. Then you start getting crushed by waves. There is simply too much information bombarding you at once for you to make sense of it. You are going to make bad decisions simply out of ignorance to the common notions that are everywhere around you, but that you cannot yet recognize as such. 

2. Surfing ex notiones communes. You have had more experience, hired a teacher or found a mentor, and learned how to name phenomena that you have been experiencing — waves, peaks, channels, lefts, rights, closeouts. You start recognizing patterns and this makes it easier to navigate the environment. You can accurately guage the possibilities for catching waves in terms of their frequency and the amount of people in the water and their adjacent ability levels. When you make an error of judgment you reflect on the situation and try to see where you went wrong so that the next time something similar should happen you will do the better thing. You can see many other sources of danger and strive to avoid them. You start experiencing more confidence in your practice. You will still have confused ideas, especially as regards your own body and its interactions, and you may still even developed confused notions about your entitlement to the waves and your relationship to others in the water.

3. Surfing as a scientia intuitiva. You have reached the point where all of your actions are informed by a body mind integrity that expresses the understanding that you have of Deus sive Natura. You recognize patterns extremely well through your finely tuned mental-physical memory. Your ability to see waves emerge ahead of time is advanced and for this reason you are not persuaded by waves that will only drain you of energy and thus will not help you add more power and joy to the world. You give waves to others out of your awareness of the eternity of time and your connectedness to all others within this eternity. Even with this kind of knowledge you still err — part of this knowledge is knowing that no matter how hard to try to live virtuously, you will continue to err. You are constituted by striving not by arriving. 

For the fun of it, I wanted to illustrate body/mind integration in surfing with some images. I will start with the image of me about to take off on a wave from this January in CA. I think from the initial image the connectedness of my whole being is evident. I used previous pattern recognition to pick that wave, find the place of entry, and trusted in the capacities I have developed to enter my being into its curving wall. It is of note that I have chose a wave without another human on it — this is a great skill to develop for becoming a surfer with scientia intuitiva. I follow this with images that show potential paths I could take on this wave to show how a surfer with scientia intuitiva uses his past experiences to project real imaginative possibilities into the future. Check it out.

Here I am at the peak, looking down the line, considering possibilities with my whole being. Pic: Richard Mattison.

Here is a potential scenario where I imagine myself doing a top turn, then an end section hit.

Here is a simpler line, which is always an option. Here I would take a mid line and aim for whatever that end section has in store for me.

Here I imagine a roundhouse cutback, where I race to the shoulder, making sure I have plenty of speed and room to do the turn, redirect back to the white water, rebound off it, then aim for the end section.

In this scenario I am considering one big “cut down” maneuver before dealing with the end section. I’d take an angled path, slight bottom turn, then just before I arrive at the lip, I direct the whole board back down the face with just enough force to complete the turn, but not so much force that I skip out.

In the Spinozist spirit this kind of practice isn’t “mind surfing” but instead is conative memory and imagination surfing. Here we simply may want to substitute ‘conatus’ for 'mind/body complex’. Our conatus is our essence, that part of us that endeavors to push ourselves to see and to gain new powers of acting joyfully. We rely of the help and guidance and examples of other conative beings to show us new possibilities. It doesn’t mean that we can all become Italo Ferreira, but it does mean that we can strive to become the best version of ourselves possible. In one of his most famous lines Spinoza writes, “We don’t even know what a body can do.” Ethically speaking, more bodies that realize their integration and connection with other bodies, the better the overall political body is capable of functioning. Surfing, as a human practice, is by nature political, which means that like all political endeavors, it works better the more reflective and imaginative its constituents become. This is what drives the CSC motto “more waves, more joy.”

Obviously there is much I have left unexplained here. I cannot possibly do the entire Ethics justice in one blog post. For this reason I am offering an 8 week seminar on Spinoza on Wednesdays from 7-830 starting April 22nd. To get involved simply email me, order a copy of the Ethics (linked above), and we’ll get started soon. I am also offering private consultations where we can go through similar conative imaginative practices with your own surfing — I will guide you through a “surfing meditation” — so that you can learn to integrate your overall surfing practice into the very fabric of your being. And once we can go back to our usual program of physically distant but socially responsible surfing, you’ll be able to put this into practice. In closing, I want to urge you to keep considering the ways in which your mental and physical state of being is completely intertwined and to resist interpretations that urge you to consider them separately.

Step Inside: Physical Isolation Surfing

As my content of late has revealed, I have been thinking a lot about the ethics of surfing during a pandemic. When I first arrived from Costa Rica and was on quarantine in my room I was in state of extra heightened anxiety and determined that surfing had to be out completely. After 12 days my gills started itching and I was flopping around my room like a fish out of water. I broke down and went for a surf, and it did relieve my stress. Then I wrote the post on Aristotle and Akrasia, coming to the conclusion that whatever you decide to do you need to go through a thoughtful and deliberative rational process in order to justify your actions. In the Aristotelian vein, I have decided to take the middle road and surf in moderation. I have developed rules for myself:

1. Wear a mask when not inside the van or in the water

2. No giving rides to friends or clients (major bummer of Covid times)

3. Limit all conversation, and if I talk to a friend, client, or acquaintance, I do so from a safe distance, preferably both of us wearing masks

4. No stopping for food or coffee — I was already prepared for this as I always bring my own

5. Only surf where I can surf mostly alone — this means a lot of checking around and low expectations — if there are 1-4 people out and it looks like I can keep clear of them, seems acceptable to me — if I can’t find a surfable uncrowded area then I am prepared to drive home or wait in the van and check again

6. If a peak I have decided to surf gets crowded, find another peak or simply go in

7. Have shorter sessions in general — get my wave count in then exit the water to make room for other surfers

8. Pay particular attention to etiquette norms and observe them in a heightened manner, especially because it is not a good idea to talk through any beef you might have with someone in the water

9. If for whatever reason surfing does not feel fun or satisfying/anxiety reducing, go home and stretch, meditate, and write

10. Aim for off windows of time when it may be less crowded

I follow many of these rules — 4., 5., 6., 8., 9. — when surfing not during a pandemic. Because I’m coaching and some of my clients aren’t totally in control of their equipment and wave judgment yet it is imperative that we stay away from other surfers. If you’re going to make mistakes — and if you’re learning anything you’re going to make mistakes — it is crucial that you surf around as few people as possible. When in coaching sessions with me, we practice lineup rotation and turn taking. In pandemic times, this is still possible, except we just need to keep a larger distance now while waiting our turns.

I see the arguments against going surfing altogether right now — the largest proponent of these on Instagram is Santa Cruz pro turned Volcom sales rep, Ken “Skindog” Collins, @skin_dizzle. Santa Cruz has had a bit of surfing crisis since people have been flooding in from “over the hill” — Los Gatos, San Jose, Silicon Valley — to surf while they’re working from home. Many of the spots there have only small take off areas, so in those kinds of situations social distance surfing is simply not possible.

Coaching video session with Brant Weil last week. This is proper isolation surfing. Brant surfed completely alone. We never talked face to face. I filmed the session, edited it at home, and communicated with Brant about his form and wave judgment via texts and email.

With beach breaks we have the advantage of searching for empty peaks and spreading out since the waves do not only break in the same place every time. To those people that feel the absolute need to bunch up at the tips of jetties right now, I get that that is a fun wave right there, but you may want to think about how to space more while waiting your turns. I know that in non-pandemic times people out here have little to no etiquette, so for those of us that want to try to surf a little for sanity and not catch or spread Covid, it’s probably just best to avoid those kinds of people full stop. Forgive for they know not what they do, but stay far away from them as well.

The mask is a must right now. Thanks to Luca for this stylish one! And I’m adjusting my glasses here — all my glasses are prescription and currently stretched out. They fall off my face. Not ideal, but also I can’t get new ones at the moment.

Skinny’s overall logic is sound: if a majority of humans stay home altogether for an extended period of time, the better chance there is of crushing this thing. But I think it’s not just about staying at home — it’s about limiting contact with people who do not live with you. In every case of Covid contraction I have read about, it’s human interaction or touching surfaces, not washing hands, and then touching the face. Staying at home ensures that this stuff doesn’t happen, but I also think that some people are self regulating and self controlled enough to move about — go for the occasional bike ride, run, or surf — without interacting with other humans or touching things, all while wearing the proper protective gear. Saying everyone must stay home is a very cynical view of human nature and also not an economic reality for many — I see road workers still on the grind on my drives to and from the beach. As inessential as some may think a surf coach might be, I am a small business owner and still need to do what I can to stay afloat — this means getting in some coaching versus none. I rely on myself and my clients to be self regulating, self controlled human beings, which is why they hire me in the first place — to get their shit together vis a vis surfing so that they are not a danger to self and others.

No need to surf with other human beings when waves like this are breaking in isolation.

Obviously we do not have enough room at our beaches should everyone decide to go surfing right now, which is again why I want to emphasize moderation. Limit expectations. Have shorter sessions. And turn around and go home (with your mask on) if it’s just too crowded. Sorry that other people are ruining the fun you might have, but you’re doing the right thing by taking precautions and not opening yourself up to infection or contagion.

I must say, however, that complete anti-social surfing is less fun. I miss riding out in the van and having conversations and rocking out to music with my friends and clients, which is why I made the above video. I made it for two other reasons: 1. To share some music with you; 2. To show how it is possible to get from home to car to beach to car to home again without coming into contact with other human beings. In all of those “to’s” we’re talking about a 1-2 block walk with a mask on. Big ups to my client, Luca Ackerman, for sewing me the mask worn in the vid! If you like the music you hear go follow me on Spotify: Doctor Dion. This playlist is called Obsessions. I am into goth, new wave, and ambient music. I used to DJ in goth clubs — I had a night in SF called Ceremony and one here in NY called Natura Morte. Part of my quarantine work out regime has been goth dancing alone in my living room at the end of the night. I know I don’t have the most gothic aesthetic but I love the music and the dancing style, and really appreciate how members of that subculture commit to their look.

Feel free to follow me on Spotify (I don’t have any followers yet lol)!

While it remains impossible for me to coach at the volume I have been pre-Covid, I am available. We need to establish a dialog via phone, text, and email in order to determine the proper course. I am developing a few online workshops and seminars, which I’ll announce in upcoming newsletters. In closing, moderation, caution, conscientiousness, joy, and sharing from distance are the keys to surviving this thing. I was careful here not to say “in order to to keep us healthy in mind and body” because in Friday’s post I will talk about how we need to do away with mind/body dualistic thinking altogether. Stay tuned!!!