Later in life beginners

[Buttertoes]

lol!

I'm glad I found this thread! My friend and I took our first lesson last fall when I was 39 and were hooked. I've been going on about it so much it convinced my husband to give it a try

We are trying hard to do something respectable with breaking waves. I'd have never guessed this would be so fun, challenging and frustrating, yet completely addicting! We get out anywhere from 2 to 4 times a week, whether conditions are bad or not hoping to make progress, and we're meeting some pretty interesting people along the way.

btw, POW= pathetic old women. Hope to become less pathetic the older we get


I guess I missed some details- I never knew that surfing really existed around here when I was younger. Add to that I've always been a freshwater kind of person. I took the lesson expecting to enjoy it the same as I enjoy kayaking, canoeing or downhill skiing, but it was so much more fun than that! My friend and I are both people who have always found athletics came fairly easily to us and expected the same from this. Quite wrong! Because we don't know any other surfers we have been wondering if we are progressing slowly because we suck, or are old, or because it's just that tough. I'm going to hold onto the latter

[cheftod]

I live in Florida looking for someone to surf with, I am 42 and friends I grew up with that surf dont anymore, anyone interested contact me todhess68@yahoo.com

[surf patrol]

lb_logo_decal_lge.jpg (18.45 KiB) Viewed 3769 times

[surf patrol]

(& Gals)

[IMinCA]

Love the picture

I just started surfing too. I can't say I'm later in life b/c I just started pushing 30, but being a responsible mother and wife does limit my ability to go surfing . I've surfed a total of 5 times, b/c of lack of time plus none of my friends would even toy with the idea of surfing.
Any thoughts or ideas to help my husband try surfing? He is older than me and feels that he's too old to surf

[greg2935]

Love the picture

I just started surfing too. I can't say I'm later in life b/c I just started pushing 30, but being a responsible mother and wife does limit my ability to go surfing . I've surfed a total of 5 times, b/c of lack of time plus none of my friends would even toy with the idea of surfing.
Any thoughts or ideas to help my husband try surfing? He is older than me and feels that he's too old to surf

There is a guy I've spoken to at Witsand bay who is pushing 74 and still surfing. I also used to do competitive swimming up until last year; and have seen 80 year olds have to be helped to the starting block but man they move in the water!

[RonG]

There is a guy I've spoken to at Witsand bay who is pushing 74 and still surfing. I also used to do competitive swimming up until last year; and have seen 80 year olds have to be helped to the starting block but man they move in the water!

I did olympic-style weightlifting competition for a few years as a post 40 year old. I watched the brutally strong 20-somethings share the same platform with 75+ year old people, men and women both, who were still competing. Nothing to make you shut up and stop complaining about "middle age woes" as seeing an 80 year old grandmother do a clean & jerk with the same intensity as someone 1/4 her age. Certainly not lifting nearly as much as she once could have, but still lifting nonetheless.

I refuse to let something as subjective as "age" dictate what I can and can't do. My body may not have all the flexibility and bounce-back ability it once did, but I like to think that age imparts the experience, wisdom, and patience to overcome or work around those things. It's a good theory, anyway

And unfortunately, being a kook knows no age limits

[jaffa1949]

And unfortunately, being a kook knows no age limits

A long experience of surfing doesn't prevent LOKE in your life, Late Onset KooK Events.

Symptom, a common one, a full pacific ocean sinus drain in the company of your sixty year old non surfing contemporaries

[NYVikesGuy]

Youngsters!!!

I'm 52 and just started this past summer. Have wanted to surf my whole life. Recently got a place near the ocean (NC), took a lesson, and was hooked. Get down there just about every weekend, and surf 3-4 times. Still figuring it out, and my paddling sucks, but the improvment has been great. There is nothing better than getting out on the ocean with that board. I don't care what the waves are like.

[surf patrol]

at 39, I'm starting to feel pretty young. Welcome to the site NYVikesGuy!

[dklay]

I just started this season at 45. Last year I started SUP'ing on flatwater (marshes, lakes, ponds) and decided I really had to get on some waves but didn't want to take my 11' tank SUP on them. I took some lessons from James at Zapstix in Seabrook NH and some lessons from several of the guys at Summer Sessions at Jenness Beach in Rye NH. Been having a great time. Great shops and great instructors... both come highly recommended.

After trying several boards in lessons... foamies, 8'6" and 9' BICs, NSP 7'6" funboard, and a 9'6" Oxbow log I bought myself a 9'2" performance longboard. Perfect size and shape.... having a blast on it.

After getting out at least once or twice a week all summer, I feel like it's starting to come together. This past tuesday I went out on a pretty sizeable swell (chest to head high plus waves!) and cought a couple of really great long and fast rides from 100 yards out right to shore!

[JohnG]

You would never know this by looking at me since I weight-lift, run, do judo, surf, play, tennis, hike, but in 2003 I almost died from a rare lymphoma. After all the chemo I am fine (for now!), but the one thing I have noticed is my balance is not quite the same. Though I have been surfing for over 20 years, I still get dizzy sometimes, which explains why I went from shortboarding to longboarding. However, I have been having a blast longboarding.

@NYVikesGuy,
Paddling is hard work, it's like running except with your arms and shoulders. Cardio is a must. It takes practice, tides and the place you are at. Malibu is the easiest place in the world to surf, but other places I go I still have trouble getting out there on bigger days. A few weeks ago we had a swell and I went to County Line and I went out with no regard to the sets and went out when the set was coming in (About 5-7ft). I ended up getting blasted back at the beach after a failed paddling session of 15 minutes trying to get out there. I was so discouraged I got to my car as quickly as I could and went home with my tail between my legs. It happens to the best of us at times. And knowing "when" to go out will save you time and energy. Time the sets, walk out as far as you can and than paddle. This will save you wasted energy unless you just want to up your cardio!

[NYVikesGuy]

SP, Thanks for the welcome.

Malibu, Thanks for the encouraging words. It's nice to know improvement is coming.

Back at the beach this weekend. Hoping to get out a bunch whether the weather cooperates or not.

[nightwaverider]

Hmmm I got into it when I was a teen but didn't take it up again until recently (I'm in my late 20's). So I guess that's not 'late in life' but it's later than many probably.

[gabrielbali]

hi everybody, I just found this site and I guess I'm definitely one of the oldest guys who started surfing in such a high age and I didn't just start very late but I also continued surfing over years... now I'm 62 and I am still on the waves, surfing almost every day (or at least four times a week)

I left my country (Austria) 15 years ago and I moved to Bali, to one of the most perfect places to indulge the passion of surfing...

Aloha

[surf patrol]

Hi gabrielbali, welcome to Surfing Waves!
That's good going, what age did you start at?

[gabrielbali]

I started surfing age 47, 15 years ago and now I am 62 still surfing a 6-2

[jaffa1949]

I started surfing age 47, 15 years ago and now I am 62 still surfing a 6-2

Grüss dich Grossvater, Selamat Datang, Bapak yang baik untuk melihat dan kuno satu pergi untuk ombak di Bali.

[surfsadhu]

Hello. First post.
I started at 35 and I'm now 41 and Love surfing when I can. It did not come easily and I still don't "rip" but I go every chance I get, which is usually around 3 times a week. I live 15 minutes by bike from my home break in NE Florida, but work and an active family life with a wife and three kids takes priority.

I came to surfing as a T'ai Chi student trying to get my skatebaording son to try T'ai Chi. He said he would try it if I tried skateboarding. So I did. I got worked...alot...still have some injuries from the beginning (learning to fall on concrete or asphalt has since saved my neck in many beachbreak wipeouts ). Skating kind of led to surfing, which I found more apealing because of the concept of harmonizing with and using energy from external forces that surfing shares with T'ai Chi.
For me, fitness and flexibilty have been the main hurdles but it's getting better all the time. I went from struggling to catch anything prone on a 10' longboard, to catching waves on a big 7' fish, to now starting to get rides (even on small days) on a 6'8" shortboard. I have alooong way to go but I am definatly enjoying the learning process.

[surf patrol]

Hi surfsadhu, welcome to Surfing Waves!
I'd been skating for a few years before I first started surfing, and still enjoy getting back on my skateboard. Surfing's a lot less high impact, that's for sure.