Sunday, February 1, 2015

Winter Stash: Winter Wash

There's little one can compare to a session in solitude with Nature. Let alone in a habitat that may turn dangerously hypothermic if things go wrong. A fin rips your suit, fresh hole in a wetsuit and perfect waves for hours. All while soaking in sub 38 degree F. You feel the cold creeping in each and every failing seam in your suit. But you stick it out. You grind out the cold waits between sets. You'd be crazy to leave now after travelling so far and enduring so much cold already. There's plenty of people out there that call it crazy. In my mind, there's nothing crazy about it. When I surf, there is one goal, one idea. That's to be alone with Nature. Yea, it's not the smartest thing to do from a mom's standpoint(hell, there are some surfers in Cali that have NO IDEA there are waves on the Right Coast!!), but I've been doing it for nearly two decades. The cold desolate climate easily makes up for the crowds on the Left side of this country. Surfing has fused itself into my spiritual existence for good. What better way to wash out some negative vibes than immersing yourself in chilly water. In the hopes of snagging a few double overhead bombs, you wait for the sets to wrap into a sheltered cove and peel for over 200 yards. Alone. No one. Just you, yourself and the mind that you've constructed yourself. This has and will always be my time alone with "the creator". Whatever it is that fostered human existence, this is my devotion to that source. Enduring the cold to ride perfect winter brazen waves, ALONE. Practice Yoga all you wish. However you will. Your first mistake would be to confine Yoga to a mat in a classroom. YOGA actually means (in a rough sense): Personal alone time with God; the creator. The book, No Man Is An Island states, "True solitude is selfless. Therefore, it is rich in silence and charity and peace. It finds in itself seemingly inexhaustible resources of good to bestow on other people." This explains so much about why I love to surf alone. It says so little at the same time. A beautiful explanation of my spiritual transformation when immersed , alone, in Nature; surrounded by perfect 12-14 foot bombs raking over a granite reef I've never ridden before. But I'm not alone. I am with Nature, I am with so much more than any average person can even begin to understand.