How long you've been surfing ? years versus seasons

[waikikikichan]

I once rented a board to a Japanese tourist. He told me how he'd been surfing for 10 years. He then asked " what's a good board? ". I said "shouldn't you know since you been surfing as long as me ". The wife told me later that he comes on vacation once a year for a week, and that's the only time he goes surfing. So basically he has surfed for 10 weeks in the last 10 years.
One should not gauge your surfing level by the "years" but by the seasons you surfed. Some areas you can only surf half the year. In Hawaii, surfing for 1 week equals 1 month for a surfer in Japan. Maybe we shouldn't even ask, because it's more quality than quantity that matters. But saying you surfed 10 years when actually it's just 10 weeks is misleading.

[jaffa1949]

I can agree with that about the years and seasons. I've been lucky enough to build a life around surfing since 1958 sneaking away from school and university and gaining a job to give me a lifestyle and lots of surf and good finances.
Does it take me beyond being a good average surfer?
No not really, only in my commitment.
At 66 I can hold a reasonable place in the foodchain, that's about it.
I have to laugh when I'm asked how long I've been surfing ( often longer than the age of their fathers). Also using my pension card to get a discount into a surf movie

[oldmansurfer]

I know that the first time I started surfing I spent more hours in the water in the first two weeks than I did for a whole year the second time I surfed. I did surf better after 1 year of 26 hours of surfing than I did the first time around with 40 plus hours in two weeks time. But I did learn to surf much faster the first time around in terms of years. At about 5 years of surfing the second time around I am about where I was after 1 year of surfing the first time around. Now then if you include body surfing I body surfed for 5 years prior to paipo boarding for 5 years then I started surfing. I surfed for 26 years then quit for 12 years then been surfing for about 5 years. Since when I surf it's all year long there is no season. ( realized I got the numbers wrong and corrected it)

[Big H]

I have an app on my phone that I installed when I started surfing that I log my sessions into swell, period etc a spot will work. It's also fun seeing comments and looking at my development & milestones (first time out back....beach seemed miles away) and the like. Anyhow, I've been surfing for a year, with the first six months liberally peppered with h big blocks of time I would not go....waves too big, confidence in tatters, board in shop for repair after said confidenice shattering incident....finally about 5-6 months in I became a little more purposeful and committed between 20-40h per month. All told now to date I have surfed 163 sessions for a total of 234 hours. I'm st oping up the program now; what used to limit me was wave size and ability level....the more I improve the more breaks I am able to surf on more days.

[Big H]

BTW....that's 234h and 163 sessions in Balinese waves (and Balinese currents) AND I still consider myself a beginner. It is probably the high standard among the locals that I mainly surf with, but I am green compared to them and have a long way to go.

[BaNZ]

In my first year of surfing, I tell people I'm new but I surf 2-3 times a week. I get a huge ego boost when they praise me for catching green waves.

Now on my second year of surfing. I only surf 1-2 times a month and sometimes everyday during my surfing holidays. However I'm embarrassed to tell people how long I've surfed since I haven't improved much since then.