u/occhilupos_chin

I just erased my whole rant.... I'll keep it concise.

Hearing Steve RInella read ads for Mountain Dew is the most sell-out, embarassing BS the show has ever done. Oops and then the "Mountain Dew trivia questions of the week."

I was hoping the gambling ads would never come, but this was a real surprise.

I'm finally embarassed to tell people I'm a fan. It's obviously not just this, I'm actually even more embarassed that I held on for so long. But the Meateater I fell in love with and learned so much from over the last 10 years is finally dead.

I was responding to the guy asking about his wacky inflatable tube man arms and thought I’d share some experience and advice for our up and coming rippers.

1. While I don’t often want to quote him, Joel Todor has one of my favorite and most inspirational lines in surfing: “Surf like you’re in slow motion”. This single mindset shift improved my surfing overnight. You also have to look at Skip Frye. He is 90 years old and surfs the same as always. Nothing radical, only subtle weight shifts to stay in the pocket, looks like he’s in slow motion. It really helps on a longboard but translates perfectly to all surfing. Slow is smooth smooth is fast, in other words.

2. You can’t add power to the wave. This is maybe the #1 thing that outs someone as an average surfer and not a “good” surfer. Average surfers muscle through turns, try too hard, pump too much, and try to force actions out of every part of the wave. Good surfers use the wave to get to the position where there is the most power, and do a maneuver there.

2.a. Use the right tool for the job. Slow wave = slow board. You dont have to be a longboarder but the 5’6 fish is going to feel better and move easier than the 5’10 pocket rocket HPSB at your local beachbreak, most days.

2.b. The wave is the engine of your surfing. Let it do its thing. Imagine being towed on a wakeboard, or going down a groomed slope on a snowboard. You dont have to do anything to move, but you can move how you want to. Thats surfing. Relax. Let the wave move you, and take some detours along the way.

3. The person having the most fun isnt the best surfer, sorry. It is way more fun to be good at surfing than to be mids. And being good at surfing is to be able to use all the free energy the wave is giving you until its over. That means being in the pocket, that means feeling like you are floating on your board, it does not necessarily mean sending 10’ spray and huge power turns. The amount of people I see in the water that are just there for the vibes and cant even ride straight down the line… theyre not even trying.

4. Go to a relatively empty (sandy) beach and surf without a leash. It is the #1 thing you can do to improve. It is not to be cool, it is not to be a hipster, its not because so and so does it. It will change how you think about everything from wave selection to how to bottom turn, how to kick out, and how to maintain CONTROL over yourself and your board at all times.

5. TLDR: you arent trying “too hard” you are focusing on the wrong thing. Try really really fucking hard to learn where to sit, how to paddle, how to catch a wave, how to pop up….. then stop trying so hard. Just ride the wave. Try to position better on the next one. You dont need to do anything. But you will never reach your full potential if you leap frog all the early steps.

Again, watch Skip Frye. A lifetime of mastering the art of Trim and Control. It looks so easy… so go do it. But if its harder than you thought and you cant surf like Skip…. you will never be able to do a turn like John John