3月 11, 2026

The Question That Changed My Surfing

Are You Surfing for Yourself or Everyone Else?

What if you went for a surf and you could never tell anyone about it, ever? Not your friends, not your partner, not even your Instagram. What if there was no story to tell, no photos, and no proof? How would you surf?

That’s the question Cliff Kapono brought up in a recent conversation and it stuck with me. It’s simple, but it hits deep. Without the pressure to impress or to perform for others, what choices would you make in the water?

Would You Surf Differently?

Would you surf bigger waves because you’re no longer afraid to fall in front of people? Or maybe you’d actually surf smaller, mellower waves because all you really want is to glide and enjoy the ocean without the stress. Maybe you’d ride a longboard instead of forcing yourself to rip on a shortboard just because that’s what’s considered “good surfing” by the masses?

How Ego Shapes Our Surfing

Most of us build our surfing lives around invisible rules. Rules that are based on ego, fear, and insecurity. We surf certain boards, go to certain spots, and chase certain types of waves, not always because we love them, but because we think that’s what we’re supposed to do. We worry about looking like a kook, we worry about falling, and we worry someone is watching us.

But the truth is: no one is watching you. In actuality, everyone is too busy thinking about how they look. The pressure you feel in the lineup isn’t real, it’s just your own internal dialogue and everyone has this. That voice is your ego, and it’s probably holding you back more than it’s helping you improve, and it’s making you sad for straightening out rather than being stoked you made the drop.

So ask yourself again: “How would you surf if no one else was watching?”

Would you start experimenting more with your equipment? Maybe ride a twin fin, an asymmetrical, or a mid-length because it looks fun? Would you stop caring whether you scored or not? Would you finally drop the pressure to do big turns and instead focus on just having fun?

Where Would You Actually Surf?

Would you stop battling for waves at the most crowded breaks just because that’s where the “real surfers” are supposed to go? Would you start surfing lesser-known spots, maybe even with worse waves, but waves you could call your own, waves where you could try new things, make mistakes, and figure out what kind of surfer you actually are?

Would you still book that trip to the Mentawais? Or would you look for surf in places no one talks about like the South Coast of Java or the quiet corners of New Zealand? If you couldn’t tell anyone you were going, would your destination change?

A Simple Challenge

The point of this thought experiment is this: when you stop surfing for other people, you start surfing for yourself. In doing this, you might rediscover what made you fall in love with surfing in the first place, you might start having more fun again, and you might also find your own style, not one borrowed from clips or social media, but something original, honest, and is truly your own.

Achieving this doesn’t require a total life change, though it would probably also help in other aspects of your life. However, you can start by asking yourself this one simple question the next time you go for a surf, “Am I doing this because I love it or am I doing it because I think I should?”

Enter the Basis Paddle Trainer.

I've gone months without surfing and rolled up to pumping swell and surfed 3 hr sessions, multiple times a day, day after day after day, by using the Basis Paddle Trainer.

Train anytime, anywhere, so you can catch more waves and have more fun.

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