Surfing: A Personal Comment

[RonPrice]

SURFING

The sport of surfing exploded in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s when cheaper, more manoeuvrable, and lighter boards made of fibreglass and foam became available. The teenaged war-babies and baby boomers headed to the beach in droves to enjoy the manoeuvrability and stunts made possible by the new boards. Surfing has a unique and often powerful appeal which derives from the confluence of several elements: adrenalins, skill, and high paced manoeuvring which are all set against a naturally unpredictable backdrop and an organic environment that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable. Surfing is often viewed as less of a sports activity and more of a lifestyle. The surf culture found increasing expression with mass-production of surf fashions, of related music and, later, with the booming surf magazine and movie industries in the 1960s. There is often a fanatical enthusiasm found in surfing’s devotees. Surfing Magazine, founded in the 1960s when surfing had gained popularity with teenagers, used to say that if the surfies were at their offices of employment and someone yelled "Surf's up!" the offices would suddenly be empty.(1) -Ron Price with thanks to (1) Peter Eglington, “The History of Surfing,” internet site, 13/2/’10.

The activity, the vocation and/or avocation of writing exploded into my life in the 1990s and 2000s. I was on the cusp of the war-baby and baby-boomer generations, born as I was in July 1944. The leisure-time activity of writing really got going in my life after I retired from FT, PT and volunteer/casual work in the years 1999 to 2005. I did not head to the beach as the surfers did in droves back in the 1950s and 1960s to enjoy the manoeuvrability and stunts made possible by the new boards; I headed to my study to engage in: reading, research and independent scholarship as well as to enjoy the pleasures of solitude and writing.

Writing has a unique and often powerful appeal which derives from the confluence of several elements: adrenalin, skill, and a possible high-paced manoeuvring of words which are all set against a naturally unpredictable backdrop and an organic environment that is, by turns, graceful and serene, as well as violent and formidable. The violence, of course, is subtle and the formidable nature of the exercise is unlike that of surfing. Writing is often viewed as less of a leisure-time activity and more of a lifestyle. A writer’s culture has found increasing expression since Gutenburg made possible the mass-production of books and as modern history advanced century by century with the print and electronic media making the writing industry a more pervasive and a quintessentially global phenomenon. There is often a fanatical enthusiasm found among writing’s devotees. That is certainly the case with me especially in the last decade as I have been able to surf the net. -Ron Price with thanks to (1) Peter Eglington, “The History of Surfing,” internet site, 13/2/’10.

[naniekso]

i didnt' read it i just wanted to post this here to increase my post count

[Supafly]

i didnt' read it i just wanted to post this here to increase my post count

ROFLZ

[essex sucks]

i didnt' read it i just wanted to post this here to increase my post count

haha lol sort of thing i used to do

there's to much to read for me will fall asleep

[captain mainwaring]

SURFING

The sport of surfing exploded in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s when cheaper, more manoeuvrable, and lighter boards made of fibreglass and foam became available. The teenaged war-babies and baby boomers headed to the beach in droves to enjoy the manoeuvrability and stunts made possible by the new boards. Surfing has a unique and often powerful appeal which derives from the confluence of several elements: adrenalins, skill, and high paced manoeuvring which are all set against a naturally unpredictable backdrop and an organic environment that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable. Surfing is often viewed as less of a sports activity and more of a lifestyle. The surf culture found increasing expression with mass-production of surf fashions, of related music and, later, with the booming surf magazine and movie industries in the 1960s. There is often a fanatical enthusiasm found in surfing’s devotees. Surfing Magazine, founded in the 1960s when surfing had gained popularity with teenagers, used to say that if the surfies were at their offices of employment and someone yelled "Surf's up!" the offices would suddenly be empty.(1) -Ron Price with thanks to (1) Peter Eglington, “The History of Surfing,” internet site, 13/2/’10.

The activity, the vocation and/or avocation of writing exploded into my life in the 1990s and 2000s. I was on the cusp of the war-baby and baby-boomer generations, born as I was in July 1944. The leisure-time activity of writing really got going in my life after I retired from FT, PT and volunteer/casual work in the years 1999 to 2005. I did not head to the beach as the surfers did in droves back in the 1950s and 1960s to enjoy the manoeuvrability and stunts made possible by the new boards; I headed to my study to engage in: reading, research and independent scholarship as well as to enjoy the pleasures of solitude and writing.

Writing has a unique and often powerful appeal which derives from the confluence of several elements: adrenalin, skill, and a possible high-paced manoeuvring of words which are all set against a naturally unpredictable backdrop and an organic environment that is, by turns, graceful and serene, as well as violent and formidable. The violence, of course, is subtle and the formidable nature of the exercise is unlike that of surfing. Writing is often viewed as less of a leisure-time activity and more of a lifestyle. A writer’s culture has found increasing expression since Gutenburg made possible the mass-production of books and as modern history advanced century by century with the print and electronic media making the writing industry a more pervasive and a quintessentially global phenomenon. There is often a fanatical enthusiasm found among writing’s devotees. That is certainly the case with me especially in the last decade as I have been able to surf the net. -Ron Price with thanks to (1) Peter Eglington, “The History of Surfing,” internet site, 13/2/’10.

what a load of bumcome, writing is nowhere near as popular as it was a couple of centuries ago AND there is no way writing can be compare to surfing.

[captain mainwaring]

its ok guys, i did read it, its tosh, complete tosh, i had time to read it because i dont waste my time writing bumcome like that.

[captain mainwaring]

i needed two strong expresso's to keep me awake through it though

[esonscar]

Surfing: A Personal Comment

" Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (splosh) ! "

[billie_morini]

Ok. Ron from Taz: why did you do it? Post text, that is.

[kitesurfer]

what a load of bumcome, writing is nowhere near as popular as it was a couple of centuries ago AND there is no way writing can be compare to surfing.

Ron is entitled to his opinion just as you are but we don't need the kind of language you are using in your posts on this forum.

KS

[captain mainwaring]

what a load of bumcome, writing is nowhere near as popular as it was a couple of centuries ago AND there is no way writing can be compare to surfing.

Ron is entitled to his opinion just as you are but we don't need the kind of language you are using in your posts on this forum.

KS

ok mister big, if you wish to be antagonistic,what language are you talking about, enlighten me

[captain mainwaring]

oh right, a simple slip of keys, buncome or the dictionary spelling buncombe, meaning rubbish, tosh, meaningless dribble. i do appologise master of the mouth, er sorry "wave"

[kitesurfer]

[quote="captain mainwaring" ok mister big, if you wish to be antagonistic,what language are you talking about, enlighten me [/quote]

It isn't about being antagonistic, its the fact that this doesn't have an attiutude or a culture of slating people on their posts (well most of the time, there have been one or two occasions) and it would be nice for it to stay that way. There's always MSW for those that want to fight.

KS

[captain mainwaring]

[quote="captain mainwaring" ok mister big, if you wish to be antagonistic,what language are you talking about, enlighten me

It isn't about being antagonistic, its the fact that this doesn't have an attiutude or a culture of slating people on their posts (well most of the time, there have been one or two occasions) and it would be nice for it to stay that way. There's always MSW for those that want to fight.

KS[/quote]
well thats funny, ive read plenty of slating comments on this site, do you have a moan at them too Kitesurfer?

[kitesurfer]

[quote="captain mainwaring" ok mister big, if you wish to be antagonistic,what language are you talking about, enlighten me

It isn't about being antagonistic, its the fact that this doesn't have an attiutude or a culture of slating people on their posts (well most of the time, there have been one or two occasions) and it would be nice for it to stay that way. There's always MSW for those that want to fight.

KS

well thats funny, ive read plenty of slating comments on this site, do you have a moan at them too Kitesurfer?[/quote]

Use the search function, thats what its there for.
KS

[tree4]

game set match to KS

[wendoricho]

LLLLOOOOOOLLLLLLL!

[jaffa1949]

What all the reviewers of Ron's post might notice is the comparison of baby booming surfing and its subsequent explosion across the world and his discovery of writing ( with its thrills and excitement) then the explosion of internet surfing .Ron is rightly joyous about his new activity and wishes to share it with us In all this we remember that he comes from Tasmania.

But here's the rub and it's different but pertinent to the comparison. In Surfing there are sharks, reefs, and always at whatever level of skill WIPEOUTS.
In surfing the net there are only trolls and scams to be wary off.
But Ron like a literary pink slip of rejection, this Sir, is for you is a WIPEOUT.
What you do next is don't take the wipeout personally, get back on board, paddle into the next set wave and see how you go.