EPIC WAVES Brah!!!

Wow, so the North Shore is THE happening place to be. 45 foot, awesome :) I'm so stoked for everybody who is there. The Eddie, what a dream of dreams. Just to feel the power of that swell, wow, that must be utterly bodacious.

It has got me thinking of training. Epic waves, of course, give a much longer ride and thus take skills beyond those of what most of us would ever dream. The power, the strength, the feel, oh my gosh, it just makes a girl want to scream. For those blessed few, chosen to ride, this smile's for you.

I love pushing myself in my surfing training and to me, everything is about feel based on movement, even when that movement is stillness like on a flat day or, as in this case of the North Shore right now, pure power. So it's fun to think of how I would even go about training for something like this. It makes me think back to the days of the big wave pioneers, our heroes of yesteryear. Such guys sound truly inspirational for they had in abundence ingenuity, physical perfection, and pure bravery. Thrill of thrills, you know, just thinking about those brahs. And, about the champions all, out there yesterday. My heart still races over such thoughts and moments.

Surfing is about the stoke, and the more stoke there is, the more one can feel it, embrace it, be it. When it's just you alone on a wave, the stoke comes from within. And from the sea around you. And as you start adding more surfers, their stoke comes to you, penetrates you, fills you, and becomes part of your stoke too. And then add in people watching and their energy fills you too. And, on top of that, you add, in this particularly awesome scene, 5 years of dreams and waiting and hope, well, everybody explodes just like the sea did.  It's all about chi. The more there is, the easier it is to feel. And, the more you feel it, the more your stoke. The secret to stoke, of course, is to find the level you thrive for no matter the external conditions, and, to do that, one merely has to hone their sensitivities to stoke. That, of course, is what my blog is all about. For we each have it within us to ride out stoke to any level we dream. And that's the beauty of it. That's the fun of it. That, is the stoke. You know.

Bodaciously Stoked,

Lily of the Valley