21st Blog - 3 minutes

I love how surfers have all these methods for predicting the waves when it is blatantly obvious that no-one has any idea how it all works. "3 days after a storm is when the swell comes". "When it is flat and glassy the next day the swell will come". "If it rains out on the ocean the waves will come 2-3 hours later". "If my grandmother wakes up on her right side and eats crumpets for breakfast the waves will be big......" Well people, whatever the weather or the sleeping habits of grandparents, today the swell is finally here!Quite choppy and windy, but we had a great surf and I stayed in until my arms wouldn't carry my weight anymore...and then I stayed a little longer! Even Alvaro, who is a machine when it comes to paddling, admitted to being a little tired at the end..

So, on a particularly slow day in the water I started counting up the amount of time you are actually actively surfing a wave during a session.... In 1 1/2 hours, if you are lucky (and fit..), you can catch about 15-18 waves. You probably spend on average about 10 seconds on each one which gives you under 3 minutes of surf time...3 MINUTES!!!! In theory, it seams insane to quit your job, move half way across the world and spend 3-4 hours a day working your butt off for..... 3 minutes! Yet I sit there, waiting, willing, hoping to see a block of water starting to rise on the ocean's surface so I can get my 10 seconds. I'll sit for hours if that is what it takes, because in practise, being allowed to feel alive for 3 minutes a day is, as mastercard puts it, priceless.


However, it is now pretty clear why it takes years and years to become an accomplished surfer. Can you imagine learning to ski if all you had was 3 minutes of turns a day at your disposal?! And the humbling part is that there is nothing you can do about it. I can't make the waves come more often or get on a "lift" to take me out to the breaking point quicker. Nature allows me 3 minutes and that is that. I keep getting frustrated that I am not "snapping" or "floating" or doing aerial acrobatics yet (like my friend Durby on the photo) but when you think about it, the fact that I am now managing to surf a big boy short board (not kiddin', that is what the tiny Costa Ricans call a 7 feet board here..) on 4-5 feet waves and at least look like I have some idea of what I am doing is quite an achievement in one and a half month of 3 minutes.