I'm not a very accomplished surfer. I've had some good waves on occasion. I've done some pretty hectic stuff too, but these are the exceptions, rather than the norm. If, like in other competitive sports, you're only as good as your last performance, well, then I'm not very good at all.
But I have been barrelled. I've even made it out occasionally. But, I'm not at the point where it's happening consistently, or where tube rides are more my own making, rather than fortiutous alignment of circumstances - conditions, me being there, and getting everything spot on right.
So, it's weird then that most of my best rides, and all of my tubes, I can barely remember. They exist in my mind like a dream. So real one moment, and then a smudge of a memory a moment later. There's the elation, but once that's gone, it's only a few flickering images that you're left with. And an insatiable hunger for more.
It's hard to explain why. Perhaps, you're just so focussed in the moment, that all other brain functions shut down. Your brain's recording switches off as all that's important is the now. Maybe it's the adrenalin that cuts off the memory. I don't know.
That fact of the matter its so much more than a visual experience. I do know that much. Clark Little has made a career out of recording these images. It's great. They're very pretty and it's about as close as most people will ever get to the real thing. But it doesn't begin to explain what's going on in there.
Reading an article in an old mag the other day and they were saying how the best written words and post surf banter doesn't measure up to a good video section. And they're right, mostly I guess. Shadow puppets to flesh and blood. But, like the Allegory of the Cave, there's always another level up that we can't imagine till we experience it.
But I have been barrelled. I've even made it out occasionally. But, I'm not at the point where it's happening consistently, or where tube rides are more my own making, rather than fortiutous alignment of circumstances - conditions, me being there, and getting everything spot on right.
So, it's weird then that most of my best rides, and all of my tubes, I can barely remember. They exist in my mind like a dream. So real one moment, and then a smudge of a memory a moment later. There's the elation, but once that's gone, it's only a few flickering images that you're left with. And an insatiable hunger for more.
It's hard to explain why. Perhaps, you're just so focussed in the moment, that all other brain functions shut down. Your brain's recording switches off as all that's important is the now. Maybe it's the adrenalin that cuts off the memory. I don't know.
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| Some of Clark Little's magic. It's even better when its your own...I think. |
That fact of the matter its so much more than a visual experience. I do know that much. Clark Little has made a career out of recording these images. It's great. They're very pretty and it's about as close as most people will ever get to the real thing. But it doesn't begin to explain what's going on in there.
Reading an article in an old mag the other day and they were saying how the best written words and post surf banter doesn't measure up to a good video section. And they're right, mostly I guess. Shadow puppets to flesh and blood. But, like the Allegory of the Cave, there's always another level up that we can't imagine till we experience it.
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