Broken Dreams Mended
I’m not a very good surfer.
I don’t mean that literally, although that too is true.
I mean ideologically. I don’t get all frothy and stoked out much anymore. I’m not running around spewing the gospel of 'ocean potion' as a cure all for all manner of metaphyical ailement. Sure I’ve parroted the, “Yeah, better than not surfing” response when passers by ask how my session was, but a lot of the time I’m lying. A lot of the time, probably most of the time, I find surfing an exercise in frustration. Time, crowds, conditions, winds, swells, banks, aches, pains, routine. Pick your poison.
Spring, well we all know spring is a special kind of fuckery. Dribbly swells. Northerlies. Upwelled cold and grey water. Onshore before 9. Fuck you, spring.
I laid in bed and made all of the excuses this morning, but this was the first morning with a light offshore in a fortnight, and probably for the coming fortnight. Maybe there’ll be a bit of fun to be had somewhere?
Incorrect. Weak, cross-shore, cold, should have stayed in bed.
I start driving along the dirt track towards the highway and home when a message notification in my surfing mates group chat pops up.
“Joel ahead in his semi!!!” accompanied by a link.
Joel is Joel Taylor.
Joel Taylor. Aspiring pro bodyboarder in the early 2000s. Absolute ripper. Surfed every single day (and sometimes at night to not break the streak) for a period of three and a half years during his grommethood.
Then in 2001, Joel broke his spine surfing Pipe on a building swell. Blasted by the shockie, driven feet first into the reef and folded. “The instant pain and the realisation I was paralysed before I reached the surface”.
He didn’t go in the ocean again for twenty years.
He did other things. Fought dark days, partied, enjoyed life, started the successful clothing company Unite, got married, had kids. Kept on living.
Then, after lots of encouragement from friends and family, Joel got back in the water. Began competing in parasurfing. Placed second in the Prone 1 category in 2022, won the Australian title in August of this year.
Right now he’s at Huntington Beach competing in the ISA World Parasurfing championships and absolutely slaying it. Hasn’t dropped a heat, throwing up 8’s and 9’s every heat and has an absolute groundswell of support from the Australian bodyboarding and surfing community behind him.
I started watching the semi-final on my phone. I pulled over and stopped driving. Joel threads a left hand barrel, scores a 9.63 and books his place into the final at the top of the leader board. In second place is another aussie, Kai Colless. I turn around and drive back to the beach.
It’s still weak, onshore, and cold, but now there’s only one guy out. It’s Mark. Mark is in his seventies. A bull shark took a chunk out of his leg twenty years ago and date of birth injuries have slowed him up; hips, back, shoulders and whatnot, but he still surfs as much as he can. For Mark, the day when he won’t be able to surf is closer than not.
I misremember a quote, something along the lines of: “Failure is not where people are trying but falling short, failure is when people are strong but not bothering.”
So, I went for a surf. It was as shit as it looked. The sun didn’t start shining, the waves didn’t start pumping, Dolphins didn’t have magic sex right next to me. It was weak and onshore and cold. I caught two waves and went in, but that wasn’t the point. This morning I surfed because I could, because we can never know when it will be when we can’t.
// DAN DOBBIN
Postscript: Joel Taylor won the world parasurfing championship Sunday morning, Kai Colless came third.
Comments
10/10 Dan!
Love it Dan, thanks for sharing. I remember first reading about Joel’s injury (Riptide mag) at the time, watching as he succeeded with Unite, and my thoughts occasionally returned to him over the years, always wondering how I, and others, would have responded in the same circumstances.
Inspirational
Wow. Weak, cross-shore gurgled crap here, I'm going for a surf. Thanks Dan.
Good read Dan. I have those thoughts before I go out, "can I be stuffed putting on my wettie" , "can I be arsed checking another spot" but as soon I get out it all melts away. Still have bad surfs every now and again but somehow usually there's some little aspect of the session that makes me happy
Great Comment david 24, Your not alone......
Yup
nice comment, a mate reminded me recently, 'there's no such thing as bad conditions, just poor equipment choices and a lousy attitude'. Great article.
Thanks Dan, nice perspective. Always surf, even if it is a grovel
That was simply awesome. Made my day, Stoked for you Joel, unreal.
Great stuff Dan. Now that I am closer to 40 than 30, I really love hearing about people still surfing in their 70s and beyond and realizing I could have another 4 decades of waves ahead of me if everything lines up.
Yeah, Joel! You are a shredder man. Congratulations on the win!
with you all the way
Awesome write up, i'll be back out there tomorrow no matter what the conditions are. Thanks
Nice one mate. I'll stop complaining now
Awesome write up, i'll be back out there tomorrow no matter what the conditions are. Thanks
Put's things in perspective doesn't it. Inspiring read that was.
I read more than comment on this feed but I have to say that was a good read and the golden oldies out there are really good company.
tore off all my ham strings on broke nerves on right side of body, continued to skim,, tore off all hammy and knee left side of body if both Separate cases i had to hike and climb 150ft cliff... lost all my will to continue.. in a very destructive stage in my life cause i live near the beach. thank you brother for a change .
Excellent!
Thank you!!
Good read. Congrats Joel.
Nice article
Beautiful stuff, at 61 I've got more waves behind me than ahead of me. All the more reason to get out there and treasure every moment. Congrats Joel and everyone who competed.
Nice piece Dan!
Congratulations to Joel for his title, but more importantly for not giving up & for getting back in the ocean. Must've been so hard.
Congratulations Joel! Very inspiring. Must admit I thought that was me for the first couple of paragraphs. Good to know I’m not alone in my thoughts of my surfing these days too. Also kicked my arse to stop whining and just get out there! Thanks for the read.
Excellent read, I can relate like so may others. Surfing can be such a fruitless pursuit at times, full of frustrations and selfish behaviour. But it can also remind us how truly fortunate we are to have the opportunity and time to spare to even try.
The other thing about surfing junk, is that it is helping you maintain for a good day. Nothing worse the being in decent waves and not feeling fit enough for it.
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. I skipped heaps of surfs due to just off winds, tides etc. Went to the doctors and ended up on dialysis shortly after and endured years of watching pumping La Niña point breaks from shore. Now I don’t miss a surf, regardless of how shit it is- it could always be the last one.
In my 60s but still run if I see good empty waves and get excited when an empty peak with a long wall comes my way.
Not much else in life will make me run.
I pick and choose my days and times to avoid crowds. Quality waves still have a scarcity value - i am not world weary and spoilt by too many indo trips.
Most of all I am super thankful for my health. Can surf sort of like as in my 20s in good waves but with a less rip tear board choice (6'2" but thick and wide) for paddle and trim speed imposing its own limits
So many tales of backs, knee, shoulder problems and.... MTB injuries! A guy I know tallied up 7 bad injuries among his peers!
I almost joined the list yesterday on a simple corner on a gravel track - but thankfully with no trees in my direct path after I flew over the handlebars. And I just ride casually on a local path or two - just reinforced that pushing it seems high risk for wrecking surfing maybe forever.
Caution on bikes and in the gym is important these days.
But i was a little astonished when one of the few old mates who is still fit, seemed not the least interested in going surfing - just something he used to do.
I said "it's still heaps of fun" but that just went through to the keeper.
It can be a.mental switch that people choose to switch off. Some have good reasons but not all.
To their huge loss i reckon.
With more time on my hands I have had multiple "wow - how good is this" sessions in recent months.
:)
full warrior spirit joel.
Awesome article
Going through the same wondering about how much I value surfing amongst other life priorities. Fitness (lack of) and hence value for time plays a huge part. Sailing filling a big part so what’s next is yet to be seen. Can sail on a nice boat (for me) because i work hard but less likely to surf because I work hard. Conundrum.
I enjoyed the Midtown music insert RW.and cracker of an article again Dandob
Beautifully said Dan - I think you hit a powerful nerve there based the comments!
Awesome Dan. Small world, my uncle and aunt, by marriage, live next door to Mark.
I had an injury that kept me out of the water for 8 years. With the encouragement of my brother, i added a surfboard to my bodysurfs in the Surfers Paradise beachies. Couple months later my bro pushes me to come surf pumping Straddie....I resist, but then gun it. Sickest break ever! A few months later i'm in Indo surfing Ulus, then less than 2 years from initial steps - back to Hawaii! Can't believe how far I came,, i'm paddling into big Rockies and Pupakea on a fresh Arakawa. It's amazing what we can achieve with someone dispelling all the self doubt
I was at the Aussie Para titles in August with you own competitor, mingling and forming friendships with others. It really does put it into perspective. Joel and all of them are legends.
I've had the fortunate opportunity to be able to be involved and see a couple of the paraplegic community catch their first wave since becoming less able bodied. There's simply no value or words that accurately describe that feeling. Then to go a step further and be trusted to build a custom purpose built board, specific for them to continue to enjoy the water into the future..
A very humbling and inspiring journey.
Great piece Dan, it's nudged me back into a golden perspective on surfing I thought I'd never experience again.
I have the same struggle living in Perth.
Perth is definitely the worst place i have lived for surfing and sometimes it takes every bit of motivation to paddle out.
I will think of your perspective next time I'm looking at 1ft crowded backwash closeouts.
I can't see any value investing time heading to coast when its clear the waves will be marginal at best.
I prefer to wait until the forecast charts are showing promise that my favourite isolated and rarely breaking spot will be on the pump. Then I arrange my working week around that.
I probably only surf in the ocean about 15 times per year, but it's quality of experience over quantity for me.
In between, its regular swimming for maintenance of my 60 year old carcass and visits to the Tulla Tube Tub, which is extremely convenient and an amazing amount of fun!
Great write up Dan much appreciated..I surf as much as can to keep fit and sane ..your whole attitude sometimes can change after a surf good or bad ..this article is a testament to that ..thanks again
Very nice, Dan. Loving your work. Like Gra Murdoch, you have a nice way of putting yourself in there without putting yourself in there. A human perspective.
Not surfing much these days but that could turn around. I have kept my connection with the ocean, body surfing and swimming, and know that I’ll have some fitness when the opportunity presents. It has been some pretty average times though, shit banks up most of the east coast for months, then huge sand build up, a winter that didn’t really give much and weird Spring events where it has, but I can’t paddle out in a crowd and teabag anymore. Those days are gone pretty much. Has to be up or down the coast, Sydney is for body surfing. Good luck to all.
Tks Dandob, a well-observed perspective I needed. I had a surf-ending injury nearly four years ago but after a series of unexpectedly successful surgeries I'm ready to try again. I'm waiting on a Gath 'cos I need to protect my only good eye and keep the dings out of my titanium plates. It's getting very crowded at my locals which is the real risk to me - and them. But I can just stroll down Main and find a bank to myself while I work back to what has lifted my life since I was 10. I owe surfing a lot; time to give back.
Good on you mate, get back into it!
Whitey and co chatting about Joel. Whitey was on the beach filming the day Joel's injury happened.
I've been a long time subscriber to the 5 wave theory which I first saw in tracks mag about 20 years ago. Essence of the theory is if you go have a look, than no matter how bad it looks you just go out and catch 5 waves. Works a treat for me. Usually it's not as bad as it looks, plus you always feel better for getting wet!
Good moral to the story!