The Quiet of Surfing

Do you have a quiet, introspective place that brings you inspiration? It can be a space that’s physical or mental. For me it’s surfing. Most writing or videos on surfing emphasize a strong man, shredding as he flows through a series of cutbacks, bottom-turns, and aerials while riding out the length of the wave. Yet 90% of actual surfing consists of sitting around or paddling out to the break, and not being up and riding the wave. 

Surfing is my community, my challenge, and most of all my quiet replenishing place. There is a camaraderie of nodding to each other as we change in the parking lot, checking the waves from the beach & discussing the perfect paddle out spot, and always a search for the best wave in the best conditions for right now. Depending on my mood, I can be a chatty Cathy while bobbing on the lineup, exchanging a congratulatory smile after someone shoots left down the line or commenting on the beauty of the morning surrounded by the pelicans, the whales or the dolphins. I can also quietly float solo, taking in the energy of the water, the sealife, and nature moving all around me. Surfing is my challenge, continually a new dynamic experience. On large days, padding out through the break can be a fatiguing workout taking tens of duck-dives to successfully make it out to the quiet beyond the breaking waves. And when I’m my worst surfing self, it’s been described that you can hear cuss-words and screams of frustration up and down the line-up as I loudly fail to catch waves or shriek in fear as I fall down the face. Surfing is my place of quiet rejuvenation.

Where is your quiet? 

Quiet is the place where you go to replenish your energy. Even the largest extrovert will need an internal or solo place to reflect & create a solid foundation for the crazy of life. This place is needed as a cornerstone to remind you of a place without multi-tasking crazy-busy schedules. And in this place, when your mind stills, it makes room for serendipitous inspiration and creativity. I’ve practiced keynote speeches sitting out far from the break, solo, with only the seagulls as my audience. I’ve cried out deeply-hurt salty tears that mix with the ocean salt and eventually been soothed through my grief and come out the other side. I’ve had ridiculous breakthroughs and insight with product problems or strategy when I simply let myself be in the quiet. And I now know that I need to be in the ocean weekly to keep myself centered. 

For many people I work with, their quiet is found in different places:

  • Getting outside and changing your environment. This could be a walk around the parking lot as a mid-day break or a bigger excursion to a park. 

  • Noticing the nature around you, whether it’s the vastness of the night sky, the rustle of leaves in the wind, or the gorgeous daily sunset show

  • Losing yourself in the notes of a piano sonata, either playing or listening to the music

  • Waking up before everyone else to have the precious hour of quiet with coffee and a journal

  • A daily gratitude practice or meditation

  • The rhythm of a run or a vinyasa flow and perhaps the post-exercise relief of quiet stretching or the peace of savasana

  • Another place of quiet for me is the isolation with strangers of an intercontinental flight. It’s long uninterrupted thinking time with no connectivity. 

What is your quiet? How might you experiment with the different places to add more quiet to your life? Find your quiet and you’ll find your inspiration. 

Wanna surf? Some resources

  • Wahine Kai — the community of female surfers that I fell into in Huntington Beach, now expanded to northern California

  • Traveler surf club—a welcoming club with warm showers & community, originally started in my home break of Pacifica and now expanded to Malibu

  • Bay Ladies Surf — a Facebook group that coordinates outings together

  • If you’re a woman near San Francisco and curious about surfing, HMU. I will gladly take you out for your first session. 

  • I often surf with a group of mainly designers, largely Facebookers who coordinate via a Facebook messenger thread. HMU and I’ll happily add you. While it was started by Facebook designers, everyone is welcome!

Tutti Taygerly