Barton Lynch: Surfing as a Journey of Self-discovery
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In this episode of the Basis Surf Podcast, we have Barton Lynch—former world champ, Pipe Master, WSL commentator, and coach. He’s worked with pros like Sally Fitzgibbons, Kolohe Andino, and Team Australia at the ISA Games, but he also spends a lot of time helping everyday surfers. We get into the mental side of surfing—learning to trust your intuition, getting out of your own way, and surfing for the feeling. We also break down vertical backside re-entries, style, and how his drive came from a mix of total desperation and then learning to not care at all.
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Chapters
02:10 Key to Success in Pipe Masters: Desperation
07:40 Passion as a Motivator
09:15 You Fail for a Living
10:30 Value and Commit to Yourself
11:25 Story with Kelly Slater
14:10 Make Yourself Happy and Help Others
16:15 Light-bulb Moments Back in the Day
21:04 Video as a Tool
23:34 On Mastering Vertical Backside Reentries
26:15 Shift from Competitive Surfing to Coaching
27:30 Emotions When Coaching
30:35 No One Approach Always Works
31:07 Learning from Surrender
32:35 Competing Against Tom Curren
34:40 If You Can’t Imagine It You Can’t Do It
35:45 On Style and Surfing for the Feeling
38:34 Drill: Surfing in First Gear with 50% Energy
39:55 You Need to Mentally Rehearse It
44:33 Method Acting and Surfing
46:26 The Intelligence that Comes from Feeling
48:58 Stop and Be Grateful
55:24 Relying on Intuition
59:56 Surfing or Me?
01:02:37 Surfing Video Game
Subscribe for more interviews with pro surfers, coaches, shapers, and everyday surfers like Tom Carroll, Zeke Lau, Victor Bernardo, Matt Parker of Album Surf, Matt Meola, Ryan Lovelace, Eric Arakawa, Noel Salas of Surf n Show, Parker Coffin, Dane Gudauskas, Kassia Meador, Clayton of Ombe Surf, Dylan Lightfoot, Derek Dunfee, Magnum Martinez, and more!
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