Day 5: Kelly Slater - The Science of Surfing

Hi Everyone...

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I had not heard of Andy Irons nor Kelly Slater since I'm from the Midwest and well surfing is just not a big thing here! HA! I first learned about Kelly Slater recently when he was interviewed on StarTalk, a show I love & record. :-) I thought I would share the episode with you in case you have not seen it. (I don't see any way to share the video in the post and you'll have to pick your service provider.) 

Kelly starts off talking about living near Kennedy Space Station & his mom working there. He too felt the shuttles were kinda common place/routine events yet feeling his house shake when the Challenger exploded. He said he watched until that launch, but Neil never asked him why he didn't watch after that? Interesting! I too remember being in college and each night sitting in my bed watching tv and for several days they would scrub the launch due to weather. I also remember the day it exploded. I was sitting on a bench just outside my class waiting for the class before mine to leave. I had my headphones on and I thought, "If you were going to die today, would you know? Would it seem different?" I have no idea why I thought that. I mean ya, I was heading in my Psych class (Psych major) but it wasn't like it was a Philosophy class or even Death & Dying Psych. I went to my class and when I finished I headed to the student union to meet one of my friends for lunch. I walked in and there was complete silence, yes you could hear the pin drop! Normally you can't hear someone next to you it is so loud. I went to see where everyone was and they were all watching the projection tv, the ones with 3 different colored bulbs. Men were even crying. It was very different on campus for quite some time after that day.

Ok, now back to the water, surfing & Kelly! :-) So at about 11:35 into the show Neil & Kelly discuss how surfing is emotional, spiritual..."a moving zen" and some even say it is like "revisiting the womb." :-) At about 16:30 Neil asks William Finnegan, writer, what it feels like when you are in the barrel of a wave. Mr. Finnegan explains, "it is usually intense joy...time is indelible...all the moments in time imprint...what you saw & also what you felt...a moment when you have to have absolute concentration, everything else out of your mind and focus so much on what you are doing." Now that gets the Psych going in me! :-) Now I understand the "addiction" of surfing! To me they are explaining "Mindfulness" and we know how Mindfulness, of anything really, is a great way to "Turn Your Blue Mind On!" :-) 

You know it is funny, Kelly says he got a D in Geometry & as he is explaining barrel pressure and Wave spitting and the force propelling you out of the wave,  I'm thinking man if my geometry & physics teachers/professors used surfing as an example, I probably would have been more interested and understood it better. Ha! 

They show Kelly's Surf Ranch & how he is trying to create the perfect wave. Now my brain starts to go DEEP! Ha! And this from a Non-Surfer! Part of me does understand the idea of why you would want a perfect wave, for all the benefits described, but at the same time, I also think, like in life, things are not usually perfect and I'm not sure I would want them to be perfect. To me, there is something to being able to surf an imperfect wave (life). Maybe that comes from the part of my personality that loves challenges? Hmmmm! 

At about 35 min, Kelly discusses staying in Blue Mind when you "Wipe Out" so that you can wait the wave out and Neil and him joke a bit about getting stuck in a vortex. Lots of metaphors for life here as well. 

In the last segment William Finnegan explains how surfers can experience "peak moments which are so thrilling, so moving, so rapturous on any given day on any given beach," but he says most surfers don't do it for the peak experiences, rather "for the practice, the Buddhist sense, the doing it everyday in all conditions and how that makes you feel both on the day & over the long haul." Now that I can totally understand. That would be true of any similar activity, be it Tai Chi/Yoga/Qi Gong/Meditation, biking or some other activity. Kelly then explains those who dedicate their lives to surfing find it "a profound experience and a spiritual experience." 

I love how Neil ends the show by explaining how understanding surfing from a mathematical and scientific perspective does not take away but rather adds to the experience and the appreciation of the sport. 

After watching this show, I find myself wishing I had the opportunity to try surfing when I was younger. Maybe we need to get Kelly to create Surf Ranches in the Midwest! :-)