Night Surfing

Yesterday, as the sun was getting close to setting here in the Pacific Northwest, my two Robert August longboards arrived. One of them is a 9 foot red and white stripped Wingnut longboard, a high performance model and it is so beautiful. The other one is also a 9 footer and it is a blue and yellow stripped What I Ride longboard which is a noserider. I also got travel bags for them, a few extra fins and Wonderbolts,  and a few leashes along with some other surfing items.

I am so very excited. In fact, I actually spent most of last night awake, just looking at my new boards and getting used to them. Which, since it was such a dark night, got me thinking of night surfing.

Sure, night surfing is dangerous and not many do it but the thing is, if you really want to hone your skills to perfection, it is something to consider trying if you're up to it. You see, when you can't see, your other senses kick into overdrive to compensate and thus each of your senses become much more highly tuned than they'd ever be if you didn't practice such an exciting and adrenaline surfing rush.

With night surfing, it's all about the feel. And, by night surfing, I'm referring to when it's blacker than black out. Granted, most night surfers do it on a full moon, and, I'll give you that, it's truly a beautiful time to be on the ocean or at the beach, but if you really want to push your envelope, you need to go when it is  darker than dark. For then, it is all about your residual senses other than sight.  And that's when your skills can really kick in.

You'll notice, if you do this, that your balance seems much more sensitive. In fact, you'll feel downright tippy just standing there let alone really giving a wave a go. So this type of training takes time. You'll need to chalk up lots of hours under the darkest of nights if you really want to feel and interestingly enough, see, results.

Personally, I love pushing the envelope. I've always felt that way about no matter how I train and no matter what I am doing. My goal is to constantly test myself and explore a little bit deeper than I've ever gone before. And by doing this, I've found that it has brought me to places in training that few would ever even imagine exist.

One of the ways to begin this is by focusing on one primary sense at a time. Say for instance, the sense of sound. How do the waves sound to you. Can you hear them approaching as you sit in what should be the line-up, except, probably, you're all alone. Which, by the way, is not safe so don't do it. In fact, quite frankly, if you're reading this and not out on the water  instead, it's probably best for you to not try night surfing either. It takes a kind of sensory development that is like totally beyond anything you'd ever even imagine it could be.

The key to this kind of training, for those of you who shouldn't be reading this because you're actually out on a wave right now (you know, we so need waterproof computers for this kind of thing), is your breathing. Just as it is with any chi gung kind of skill that you'd learn to help you explore your personal surfing level at new depths. The idea here is to breath slowly and softly and quietly. Calm your adrenaline, even though it is rather trippy to be out in the dark all alone.  Relax. Breath. Feel the rhythm of the ocean. At first, this might seem like a simple exercise, yet, as we explore it more in future posts, you'll see that there really is no end nor mastery of it for one can always go deeper into this, which is the cool part.

Bodaciously  Stoked,

Lily of the Valley