Kelly Slater is now an older surfing head of state. If you read up on ‘Slats’ you’ll have noticed how committed he is to a healthy lifestyle, therefore there’s a good chance his twilight years will indeed be spent doing the thing he loves most – getting tubed.
But what about the rest of us?
While we may not be a surfing world champion there are many lovers of various outdoor pursuits, all wanting to hit old age running (so to speak) and continue surfing, windsurfing, paddling or whatever it is that floats your boat? We all have lots on than simply having to go surfing. Being healthy and in some sort of good physical shape is the key. But it can be tricky to maintain that balance.
Work and family commitments do their best to minimise your surfing time. There’s plenty of other distraction as well. Physical pursuits are demanding when we’re young, let alone when age creeps up. There’s no question a healthy lifestyle will benefit your continued enjoyment of surfing though. Although if you’re lucky enough to surf regularly then this in itself will keep you firing on all cylinders.
Another point to consider is switching up your surfing experience. It may just get to a ppoint where your body won’t allow you to pop up for instance. So surfing suddenly looks like being off the menu. Joints and muscles can seize and it not be possible to ride a surfboard. But there are plenty of other options if you’re open to them.
There’s a tendency in this situation to stubbornly rally against any other kind of sport or ways of wave riding. OK, so you may not be charging macking 8-10ft barrels when you’re older but grabbing a longboard and reacquainting yourself with flow and style is one way to reignite thye stoke and keep sliding. Many surfers pooh pooh SUP but being already stood up takes one element of riding waves out of the equation. And there are plenty of fringe surfing aficionados who’ll bend your ear relentlessly as to the benefits of bellyboarding, mat surfing and bodysurfing for instance.
Getting older doesn’t have to mean stopping the things you love. It may just be you need to readjust your view and adopt something that mightn’t have been on your radar a few years back. Here at NCW we’re big fans of all things watersports (not just surfing). We also get the whole becoming older thing. We’re not getting any younger ourselves! Aging doesn’t need to be a bleak prospect, however. Give us a shout if you want to talk about anything watersports related and how switching things about can keep you in the water as you get older.