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So I post a Wave Check photo nearly every morning. Typically it is at, or near the pier. Now I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but personally, I feel like the waves usually look pretty fun in those snapshots. That is done on purpose.
This may come as a surprise to you, but the waves are not fun every day. In fact, you can be assured that for every Wave Check photo being posted, there are at least a handful being deleted. From big closeout walls, to fat, high-tide burgers, small, inside, blown-out shorebreak; no matter the conditions, I do my best to snap a photo that shows a little potential. Because there usually is potential. That is the origin and purpose of the Wave Check photo – to show you all that there is (almost) always something out there to ride, and you should always Go Surf.
As you may know, I’ve been judging contests for the last 3+ years. One thing that I have learned to appreciate through this journey is how a good surfer can make bad conditions look fun to surf. How they make it look easy when it’s difficult. They are able to see, find, and tap into that potential I was talking about; the potential I try to get a photo of in the Wave Check. The second wave of the set that happens to be a little cleaner, a little less bumpy than the first. The small wedge runner with a double up line through inside. The sneaky tube that looks like a complete closeout. These are the moments that I constantly remind myself of.
That’s just the word isn’t it? – moment. That’s truly what surfing is all about. You can sit there and stare at the ocean for 14 minutes and 50 seconds, but if you happen to look away for just 10 seconds – a phone check, a look down the beach, talking to a friend, taking off your shoes, rearranging your umbrella, your chair, putting on your wetsuit, paying for parking, etc. – you’ll likely miss that guy or gal on the longboard way outside, scraping in early and hanging all 10 toes off the nose, before then straightening out on what you swore was some shitty closeout. You wouldn’t catch that dude punting a huge frontside straight air the next peak down. And you might not see that doggy door tube that grom just snuck out of.
Such is life.
Look away for a minute, nay, a moment, and you just might miss something special.
So many distractions nowadays. So many responsibilities and priorities and things to do and wants and needs and distractions, distractions, distractions. But life keeps moving, it keeps coming – like the ocean, like the waves.
So in your Wave Check today, and the next, no matter the conditions – try and find that moment of potential. Try and tap into it. Be a good surfer in bad conditions. Make it look easy when it’s difficult. Make it look fun.
Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield