Oxymoron – a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.
I just heard the best oxymoron I’ve ever heard in my life, and it came from someone commonly referred to as “off”. He’s also widely called one of the greatest surfers of all time. Tom Curren recently joined Sterling Spencer on his podcast ‘Pinch My Salt’, and if you have an hour to spare, I highly recommend it.
Sterling is one of the funniest characters in surfing right now. His personality, his comedic outlook on surfing – and life in general – bring out a really funny side of Tom. It seems like the two really enjoyed each other; it makes for a great listen. Sterling’s got the editing and social media clipping down to a science too. I see his clips on my Reels page everyday. He’s always trending amongst the surf ‘community’.
They riff on some of Tom’s history, surf culture, soft tops and board design – which is where things get really interesting. Sterling brings up a clip of Dane Reynolds riding one of Tom’s personal boards, a clip in which Dane is bogging rail really hard on two attempted turns.
“He can’t even bottom turn! He’s digging rail!” exclaims Spencer.
“It could have been that wave was too good for that board.” – Tom Curren
Excuse me, what? What the fuck did he just say? The wave… too good, for – the board?
What does that even mean? Do I now have a perfectly good excuse to use for any wave, nay – any maneuver that I blow?
Dig rail, miss the section, foot slipping off, poking the nose – ehh, that wave was too good for this board.
Dude, what? What did you say? You fuckin fell !
Yeah, but that wave was too good for this board! Tom Curren even said it’s a thing! This board works in Crummy Waves!
Thanks Tom. And thanks Sterling. Keep up the great work.
Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield