renewal may seem like nothing…
Where I was raised in Texas, we didn’t do a lot of Surfing…. but we did do a lot of water skiing. As I was graduating from High School, my parents bought a small “fishing shack” on a local lake – including a “ski boat.” It BARELY qualified, and I spent more time working ON the boat than USING it… probably 10 to 1 😉 Like Surfing, the basic principles are the same – a surface gliding on top of the water, and unlike Surfing, you lean back. Slalom skiing is the closest to Surfing, and requires a lot of balance, strength, and, frankly, guts. For the first few seconds, the water hits you right in the face until the ski hits “planing” speed – where you pull yourself up, lean back, and off you go…
… and as discussed yesterday, you have to make a lot of mistakes to make that look easy 😉 While I was studying and running around the state on the Debate team, my friends were spending weekends skiing… so I had to catch up fast. That made it easier for me – a clear competitive goal – hard work – was easy. And I quickly found that the best time to ski was very early in the morning or late at night when the water was like glass… no waves, ripples, and once you are out of the wake… very peaceful. Gliding along with the water supporting you, leaning back, pushing your hair back (I saw that snide look – yes, I DID have hair) was so amazing. And… if you then turn, pull hard across the direction of the boat, you double your speed, and throw up an amazing amount of water…. IF you can hang on…
… until it is the only thing…
The Endless Summer was released in 1964 and again in 1966 worldwide. It was based on the suggestion of a travel agent that in that era: the cost of a ticket from LA to Cape Town was only $50 cheaper than a trip circumnavigating the world. Add to that the idea that Summer is relative based on which hemisphere you were in, and there are waves everywhere… and you have the seminal Surf movie. I remember when the movie came out, and we had several Surf parties at our house with the College Kids, and this music was quickly the soundtrack of many Polynesian evenings in the summer of 1966. The Theme song is by The Sandals – another group of high schoolers mimicking The Ventures 😉 Like many of our other Surf bands, this was their crest…
… and in my era, great ski boats had very little “wake” – the big ridges that follow the boat… and feel like huge BUMPS when you hit them with the ski. The first time you hit it, if you don’t pull back on the tip of the ski, it digs in and you submarine into the water, which is not much fun. But once you get it, you prepare for it – glide through it – and the speed on the other side is amazing. After going back and forth 5 to 10 times, you are “wiped out,” you simply let go… and coast to a slow sinking into the water. That renewing effect on me has been hard to replicate. The physics of the ski slowly losing speed, and the weight/momentum coasting to a slow pause and then sinking into the water – the exact opposite of the violence of getting up and on top of the water/wave…
… when will you Surf into renewal?
Boats can now add water to their keel, to make their wake BIGGER… so you can Surf off the end of the boat… and to stick with the metaphor, an Endless Wave. You drive the boat in a gentle arc and never have to end the Surfing…. assuming you can get up 😉 And I am going to take my advice – and try to Surf. What could possibly go wrong? On this Sabbath day, I hope you can visualize your own calm renewal in the waves around you. There are many sizes, shapes, depths, and powerful waves, but visualize Surfing them with the calm support and momentum that comes if you look for it. And the eternal promise that one day, we all can have the perfect waves, calm, and the renewal of our Endless Summer.
