How good it feels

How good it feels to have surf hair again! How good it feels to watch the pink of a sunrise reflect of the wet sand and sparkle in my eyes. How good it feels to have fingers sticky from waxing …

An Open Wave

My time is about to get a whole lot sweeter. My days will be finally be open for surfing after next week. My dad is retiring so I won’t be working every morning with that job. I am over the …

Summer crowds and summer drowns

It’s summer here in Victoria, Australia. YAAAY. Kiddies are out of school and parents are off work, and they’re all at the beach. I haven’t surfed yet this summer. Oh, boy. You must hate me. I hate me. Quite simply, …

Level and calm

I went back to South coast NSW because I loved it so much when I visited in June. I spent all my time in the water, on the water, looking at the water…yeah, you guessed it. I was in paradise. …

Getting back in the surf

I didn’t surf for pretty much three months. It’s awful, isn’t it. The more I put it off, the more anxious and depressed I got about it. I’ve been busy with university, my job, my placement, competing on my horse …

Time out of the water and the real reason why it’s hard

It’s very disappointing when we don’t get the time in the water that we want (and we convince ourselves we need). I haven’t tasted a good wave since I got back from New South Wales, over a month ago…Erm…wait…Make that …

Why Georgia Why

Whenever anything isn’t quite right, I either eat a lot or go to the beach. I much prefer doing the latter. Days go by so quickly; it’s challenging to stay afloat. Coping and dealing are two ends of a management …

Go Micko

Can we all just look away from the media hype of Mick’s tassle with the legrope-tangled shark for a moment to just appreciate how amazingly calm he stayed? I’m a huge shark lover, but boy howdy, I’d be a wreck. Social media told us to “hug a surfer”. Well, I’m hugging you all virtually. Stay safe out there in the water.

Great news

I have great news. I went to the doctor and finally got my ear checked out. I was worried about possibly developing surfer’s ear because my surfs are excruciating in this winter wind. Actually…if I am completely honest, it even …

Already brave

I wonder how people jump off cliffs with their surfboards to get to great breaks. You know what I mean. It’s in almost every surf film. Surfer courageously takes the drop and then joins with their surfboard on their way to their next great adventure together. I really wonder if bravery is something one gets from surfing, or if one is inherently brave to begin surfing.

Are we brave as surfers or just brave surfers?

I constantly hate myself and my surfing because I am anxious, cautious and timid, and my surfing suffers from this. I talk myself out of waves all the time and I have unfortunately been victim of too many panic attacks out in the water to admit to. But people that don’t surf look at what I do and tell me they could never do that. There’s a four-foot wave about to break in front of me. I try my hardest to duck dive and try to get through. A wall of ugly grey water surges up behind me. I’m in the wrong spot (as usual) and I am about to be chucked over the falls. I either pull back (if I can) or I just relax into the tumble of the “hold-down”. Other people wouldn’t even step into the water.

So I suppose that is all I have to think about the next time my anxiety gets the better of me. Just by entering the water, I am already brave. I got this.

The sea scares me but I love it too much to stay away