By Butch Freedman
Just got back from an early morning session in the surf. Was out there all by my lonesome; not even another soul walking on the beach. That solitariness, just me and the waves, is one of the main reasons I love surfing. I’m going to be 82 in a couple weeks, so I’m probably on my last legs. Though I hope not, I’d like to make it to 85 at least. But, mother nature is sending out warnings. Sometimes it will take me a day to recover. Today I got pounded; the waves were bigger than normal, so spent most of the time jumping over or under the pounders. Wiped out twice, maybe three times. I can’t remember. Did catch a few good ones, and that always makes it worthwhile. There are no bad days surfing. Only good ones and gooder ones. I know, don’t correct my grammar. The thing is, I always feel renewed by the time I get back on shore.
I body-board now, rather than long-boarding. I did a bunch of that when I was young. Some surfers consider body-boarding lesser than stand-up surfing. One guy I know said to me, when we were commiserating about stormy weather making it hard to get out, “I’m almost desperate enough to boogie board.” And that dude knew I was a body-boarder. I took it as an insult. I don’t at all care for the term, boogie boarding. It’s dismissive, and reflects a misunderstanding of what body-boarding actually is and what it requires. I told him to check out You Tube videos of body-boarding, watch some of these young guys catching 20-foot waves and doing flips on them. There are national and international body boarding competitions and high schools in Hawaii and California have body-board teams that lots of kids compete to be on. I told my friend all of that. But I don’t think he got it. Doesn’t matter. I know how challenging boarding can be. And how satisfying. That’s what counts. I don’t care what you ride—a regular surf board, a shorty, or a stand-up paddle board, a rubber raft, a canoe, a body board — if you’re out there jumping on a wave and riding it to shore, you’re a surfer.
I started body-boarding because my knees were messed up from years of running and playing basketball and all the other strains we put on those joints. When I decided to get back into surfing in my seventies, I knew after the first session, I’d be very limited on a long board. So I went out and got myself a good wetsuit, warm enough for these chilly Pacific waters, and a quality board (yes, there are all levels of boards) and fins to use when I couldn’t get far enough off-shore or wanted to surf in deeper water. (Think Short Sands—if you live in these parts.)
I’m glad I did decide to be a body-boarder. It’s been keeping me healthy and happy. And these days I even have a few good friends who go out with me. I mostly stay now on my home beach, though when I first started I’d travel up and down the Coast looking for good spots, good waves. Recently my daughter asked why still didn’t travel to those other beaches. After thinking how to answer, I said, “I guess I was more adventurous in my seventies.” She laughed. Both my daughter, and, of course, my lovely wife, worry some about me going out boarding at my age. But they don’t try to stop me. They know that wouldn’t work, and, anyway, I think they know how happy it makes me. And at my age, that’s worth a small fortune. My goal is simple, not even truly a goal, but I’ll state it anyway. It’s plain enough—keep on keeping on, old man.
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