PHILOSOPHY OF SURFING
The explorer and captain James Cook, was the first ocean dancer on the sequoia board in 1778 in Hawaii. He wrote in his journal he assisted a He'henalu session on the Pacific coast, meaning " become one with the waves '' in Hawaiian. It is therefore a danse on the foam, an ancestral practice in which men and women initiate to the ocean beauty contemplation. A century later, some notorious writers got to know about it, such as Mark Twain and Jack London who made surfing popular, and developed the esthetic dimension of it.
Jack London, Hawaï at the end of the 19e century.
According to Alain Gardinier, Surf Culture's author, those two writers were in Hawaii and marveled at watching Kings on wood board. The author Kem Nunn created a real surf literature, with Surf City and The dog of winter. On the big screen, Hermosa beach is the movie which made surf become part of the pop culture, but The Endless Summer is the movie which gave surfers the will to ride perfect waves all over the world. This is how " surf trip" was born and the philosophy that came with.
How can this extreme sport be assimilated with philosophy ? And especially of philosophy of reconciliation of dualities, of paradoxes ?
A Philosophy of beauty
Philosophy of surfing is before all a philosophy of esthetic and of beauty apology. First, body's beauty to start, of harmonious surfers bodies who are like those of Greek athletes. The environnement of the practice is also like that: waves and sun who caress their faces, colors harmony and the song of ocean. Just check the video of the free surfer Alex Knost, qui should remind you of the Japanese wave of the painter, Hokusai.
The surf culture is nothing else but a hedonist philosophy, the search for a simple happiness, where we give ourselves to the ocean in every possible dimension. The Surf Art is one of the other components. the longboard culture, style, colors, songs are all over instagram, if not on everyone's t-shirt. Kim Churchill and Jack Johnson are both surfers and singers who sell millions of albums.
Nature Power
But surfing is also a meditation on the wave when we are completely immersed in the ocean. Time is suspended, and you can think about nothing else but the coming waves, ultime and transcendent moment of communion with Nature to which you are totally submitted. Into this violent immersion, we are forced to meditate, to become one with the wave. This is where dualities appear: the surfer contemplates in a passive mode but he is also in the active mode, not to miss the wave. The contemplation of the environnement is both fearing and sublime, and let us become fearless, and even unconscious of the dangers. Who has never been surfing with fear in the belly, knotted throat to become proud of yourself as a warrior after the fight ? The surfer goes to the ocean, armed to face Goliath, stronger than him. Yet, there are more and more David on the surf spots. "The nature of surf, its fundamental principle, its purity finds an echo in the philosophy and a pantheist vision of the world. Surf lifestyle, literally located at the marge and essentially based on nature, started to derive from a reject attitude towards competition and merchandising promoting values such as freedom of spirit, brotherhood and pacifisme" the anthropologue Jim Heimann said.
A smack of humility
In fine, the dualisme of surfing gives the miraculous chance to walk on the water and also to " take series ". It's a way to remind Humankind that he 's a " low reed", as the philosopher Pascal said. The adequation state with the wave is a way to learn how to slow down your ego, where we are all equal against adversity. It's also a way to become wiser, more careful through good and bad sessions. Surfing is therefore a philosophy of accepting failure. Each session allows us to become more and more philosopher. It's like a love practice of waiting, we are waiting for the swell, the good wave…
To ride further:
L'entente du mouvement - Gibus de Soultrait
La petite philosophie du surf - Frédéric Schiffter
Hawaiian Surfboard -Tom Blake
Voice of the Wave -Tom Blake
Surf city - Kem Nunn
https://blog.franceculture.fr/raphael-enthoven/philosophie-du-surf-5/
https://www.cairn.info/revue-sciences-sociales-et-sport-2011-1-page-11.htm#
Imagine if more women would surf! The impact it would have on our social wellbeing, self-esteem, and quality of life taking time to ourselves to chase waves and spend more time in nature.
Nature of Surf Women is a first-of-its-kind, immersive book that will take you on a visual and audio journey with women surfers in Nosara, Costa Rica.