Being a beginner sucks. There’s nothing worse. If you’ve managed to survive to adulthood while preserving even the tiniest, most minuscule shred of pride, it’s gone the instant you step out on a limb and become—God forbid—new at something.
Kids, on the other hand, can learn anything in five minutes and be smug little jerks about it the whole time. Mandarin Chinese, the violin, algebra, gymnastics, whatever. And, of course, surfing. Kids are infuriatingly good at learning to surf in the blink of an eye. Makes sense—they’ve got all the advantages. Bodies made of rubber. No fear of failure. Delusions of superhero-like invincibility. And, most importantly, their sole responsibility in life is to learn new tricks. That’s it. You fully fledged adults out there have nothing going for you should you foolishly decide to roll up your sleeves and learn a new physical skill. You’re comically out of shape, you’ve got a time-eating job, and you’re burdened with a massive ego that will do anything to keep you from looking like you don’t know exactly what you’re doing at all times.
None of that mattered to Elissa Steamer, 38 years old [at the time of this writing] and the greatest female skater in history. She’s a four-time X Games gold medalist and the only female character in the first five versions of the Tony Hawk: Pro Skater video game. But, as far as I’m concerned, a far greater accomplishment than those is that she’s also a newly minted surf rat who traded in her skateboard for a thruster just a couple of years ago. Even crazier, she did this at Ocean Beach, San Francisco, a truly terrible place to learn to surf that nails each side of the pain-in-the-ass surfing trifecta: punishing waves, freezing conditions, and uptight, surly locals. We’ve surfed together a bunch of times, but only recently did we talk about what it’s been like for her to adapt to a wholly different physical challenge as an adult.
Those of us…self-congratulating hardcore surfers typically ignore the experiences of adult beginners in surf culture even though their experiences are every bit as valid as our own. Same is true for most outdoor “sports.”
“Surfing was scary,” was the first thing she told me. This from a woman who gleefully hucked herself over all kinds of concrete doom throughout her career. “I remember thinking at first that, OK, paddling is hard, but once I stand up on this thing it’s on. But it wasn’t like that at all. Most of the pro skater friends I know who tried surfing got frustrated and quit.”
Yet, like every surfer before her, she loved how riding waves felt, so she kept at it, pushing her old skater life farther and farther into the past. When I asked how often she skated, she instantly responded, “Jeez. Hardly ever.” And how often does she surf? “Oh, almost every day. Today. Yesterday. Wait, did I surf yesterday? Sometimes I surf twice a day, three times if it’s super good.” Steamer may be relatively new to surfing, but she’s as much of a surfer as someone who caught their first wave when they were in kindergarten. [Ed. note: Since this piece was originally written, Steamer, an icon in the skate world, has jumped back on board the skate train in a really big way, and well into her 40s, is ripping skate parks alongside kids a quarter of her age].
We should probably be applauding people who have the iron will it takes to learn how to surf as adults. But usually we don’t. Instead, those of us who’ve been surfing since we were kids—us self-congratulating hardcore surfers—typically ignore the experiences of adult beginners in surf culture (unless we’re yelling at them because they’re carrying their boards incorrectly), even though their experiences are every bit as valid as our own. Same is true for most outdoor “sports.”
It’s as if we think that cold-shouldering adult learners will shrink their numbers, though we see them every Saturday, streaming like ants into surf schools across the country. Most lifelong surfers seem to think they’ve got a monopoly on surfing, believing that if somebody didn’t grow up at the beach, that’s it, they blew their only chance to become a real surfer. The scowliest stink-eye at your local break will go all gushy watching a toddler scramble to her feet on a soft-top to catch her first wave. Yet if that same toddler’s 35-year-old dad shows up at the beach and makes the mistake of trying to learn how to surf himself, his pasty-white ass becomes fair game for every pissy local’s vocal frustrations about overcrowding.
*Steamer, above, nicely slotted for a surfer who hasn’t been at this all that long. Gnarhunters is her skate/surf brand.*
It’s tempting to assume that because somebody hasn’t been properly shacked, they aren’t a real surfer, and it’s too easy to dismiss the enthusiasm of newcomers who get stoked on clean 2-foot days. I suspect that deep down inside we’re just envious of the neophyte’s easy stoke. Bummed out by the jadedness they reveal in us. Regardless, he’s got just the same right to learn to surf today as you did when you were a grom. Even if he is putting his leash on the wrong foot and tripping over it on the way to the water’s edge. Oh, beginners.
And groms have it so much easier than adults when it comes to dealing with beginner status. No emotional hang-ups about entering a world where they know they’re a bottom-feeder. Just imagine how that insecurity is magnified by being a world-class athlete in one sport and then waltzing into another as a sheepish newcomer.
I suspect that deep down inside we’re just envious of the neophyte’s easy stoke. Bummed out by the jadedness they reveal in us.
Steamer again: “I’m pretty self-conscious, but when I’d be at the skate park, I was always oddly comfortable. But when I’m in the water, it’s not like that at all. People will be paddling around me and be like, ‘Get outta the way, lady!’ and I’ll be thinking, ‘Oh yeah, I’m just a 38-year-old woman in the water. I’m not at the skate park. Nobody knows me. People just drop in on me and don’t give a damn.’”
Your average 30-something accounts manager who was so pumped after seeing Chasing Mavericks that she went out and bought a longboard and hits her local beach break every day before work isn’t all that different from Steamer. Maybe she wasn’t an X Games star, but, for a big chunk of her time, she’s giving up her comfortable, confident adult self to jump into a world where she lands smack dab at the bottom of the social pecking order. And you know what? For that, she deserves your respect.
One of our favorite books about an adult jumping feet first into a sports culture not welcoming to newcomers is Daniel Duane’s Caught Inside: A Surfer’s Year on the California Coast.
Photo: Gilles Lambert
I have been thinking about learning to mountain bike for years, maybe this is the kick in the but I need.
Kiteboarding lessons coming up at age 64 later this week!
You should! I am a mountain bike coach and I have clients who are in their 70’s, it’s truly a lifelong sport and can enjoyably be done at all levels.
Get out there Josh – it’s a fun sport.
Couldn’t agree more. Think I have tried at least one new sport at least every decade of my adult life and I am 69. Starting adventure racing when I’m turned 50 and did that for 5 years before tolerance for that kind of suffering waned. Not sure what will be the one for my 70’s.
It’s hard, but in a good way.
Learn a new sport, esp if what you’re doing now is starting to get old.
We’ve got a guy named Bob in Kansas who started a bike club and has grown it to more than 50 people by treating every new cyclist with great respect , seeking out easy and safe routes for the newbies and making it fun. IWe need more Bobs
This speaks to me on a buncha levels. Like to try Kitesurfing maybe out at Sunset Beach (N. Huntington). Then have my chauffeur or my dog drive me to Lucy’s El Pat. I hear that people in Iowa, Nebraska Snowkite on massive cornfields. Probably best to start in water then move to the ice.
Thank you for this. I started learning to surf when I was 40. Now I’m about to turn 50, and I’m still terrible. But last week my 21 year old son and I took our longboards we just finished making on a roadtrip to the coast of Northern California, to our favorite nondescript vacant cove, and shared some wonderful cold water stoke. It is indeed hard to try something new, but so worthy.
So true. I started skiing in my early 50s and am so stoked to still be improving and enjoying it at 62.
This. Learning a new skill as an adult is like finding the fountain of youth. Thanks for sharing.
Took up Kendo at 47. Skiing at 50. Now paddle boarding at 53. My kids are like, “Dad, you suck!” I’m like, at least I’m doing it! I can still kick their ass at most other things. Go out and do it. The only person stopping you is you.
I love being a kook. The elation of pulling off the most basic of surf maneuvers is hard to describe.
Elissa is the best. Future historical badass for sure. Hope Adventure Journal does another piece on her.
It would never even occur to me to think I was too old to try surfing. I learned at 39 and am now 56. It is such a common refrain to discourage/invalidate/decry/mock those who try new things, especially surfing, at an older age. I belong to a few surf groups and the women over 50 seem almost APOLOGETIC about learning to surf, as if they are being frivolous when they should be doing something more important like keeping house or looking after grandchildren. Our culture in some ways is amazingly backward even in the 21st century.
There’s actually a fair bit to unpack here, especially as commenters weigh in with their personal experiences. My take on it is that a former pro skateboarder getting into surfing is not quite the same as a 60-year-old triathlete wanting to take up mountain biking. At 38, Steamer still can tap on decades of exceptional experience to try a sport that is tangentially similar to skateboarding, wakeboarding, snowboarding etc. Surfing (from what I’ve heard, I’ve never been lucky enough to live near a break) doesn’t suffer fools gladly (at least, not on the green waves that are worth riding). That’s a tough mountain to climb (another outdoor metaphor) if you don’t live close to the ocean and can only ‘get wet’ a couple of times each year. As (if you’re normal) you progress in your career, have a family and honor its myriad commitments, it’s hard enough just to keep up with the sports that you previously were active in! Also, sadly, injuries suck, they can happen at any time, and it’s harder to recover as you grow older. If experience teaches us anything, it’s to “choose wisely.” Good story and great comments!
Absolutely also true. I tried to learn to surf in my 50s. Took four days of classes in an easy break. Had an absolute blast paddling around and playing in the ocean. Never got up – partially because I’m old and fat, but also because I’m broken (various spinal and lower leg injuries). I just can’t move and react fast enough. I might be able to figure it out, but four days was enough to learn that my time was better spent elsewhere – I wasn’t going to be committed enough to get to the beach every day or cute enough to not be hassled by the other surfers.
I guess I’m a “never winter” guy instead of a “never summer” guy. That lesson is worth learning.
Bah. That should be “never summer” not “never winter”. I’d ski every day of the year if I could afford it.
This is exactly the reason I don’t ski (other than xc) or snowboard. I don’t care to spend a week gaining the barest competence while falling on my ass knowing I don’t have the time or resources to devote myself to improving fast enough to progress beyond “guy who took a week of lessons once.” I’d rather xc ski, or snowshoe.
I also often tell people in their 40s that they’ll likely have more fun learning to mat surf or ride a bodyboard. You get close to same thrills and there’s no learning curve of trying to stand up. 90% of learning to surf is reading the ocean and understanding the very complicated dynamics of how waves work. Learning that AND how to stand all at once is so difficult.
I know people who learned to surf (and stand up) in their sixties. That type of limiting advice is not helpful.
As do I. Don’t misunderstand, I’d never tell people that they shouldn’t try to surf, I simply explain that they can have just as much fun, much faster, riding waves in other ways. Standing up is great, but surf culture places way too much emphasis on that aspect of it. To each their own.
Many sports (& other aspects of life, when you think about it) center performance not only on strength, but BALANCE. Learning how to ride a bike, surf, ski. The big hurdle is balance. I forced myself to learn how to ski because I truly wanted to crouch & go fast.
Touched upon in Justin’s article – allow the non-critical part of the brain to take over, study on the process of elimination of what works & what does not work, rest up & continue.
As to the territorial aspect of surfing – heck, it’s surfing, not West Side Story (“Yo youse on my toif”). As long as you are not placing others in eminent danger, than everybody needs to lighten up. When ya get down to it, there are MANY folks in this world that need to lighten up & get over themselves.
Surfing and guitar are the two activities I have always wanted to learn. But too many other hobbies and noise, in addition to the challenges highlighted in this article. One day. Cheers!
Justin, I totally understand. I used to think skiing was stupid and stuck with XC and snowshoeing. I got guilted into skiing by a group of friends. In retrospect, I spent a season gaining acceptable competence to not fall on my ass and ski with my friends, another five developing advanced coping skills that looked like good skiing, and then another two years actually learning to ski. But … it’s been so much fun. And it’s something that I can do for the rest of my life (as long as I keep moving to where the snow is).
I’m going to add a final comment to Justin’s thought provoking comment about mat riding and body boarding. At the end of the day, it’s all about feeling the pull and power of the wave, or the force of gravity – whatever. There’s a real BLIND SPOT in the way surfing instruction is presented to beginners that’s similar to skiing. Those long, narrow blue softtop boards you see out there? They actually SUCK when it comes to learning to wave ride. I probably had a half dozen lessons and at least a dozen rentals and I was useless (OK, I was in my 50s, with little core strength and simply could not ‘pop up’ onto the board). I took a SUP surf lesson in San Diego thinking that might be the ticket, but despite the wider, floatier board, I could not paddle, stand, and surf at the same time (I have since read that SUP surfers who learned traditionally say that it’s at least as challenging as non-paddle surfing). One day, in frustration, (and not wanting to rent a board) I took my rented SUP and thought, ‘hmm, maybe I can catch a wave on this thing.’ The big board easily floated on the very first wave… I started to pop up and at that point where a trad board would buck me off, I stayed on and had enough time to actually stumble to my feet! I had done it! Since that time, I’ve returned to Tofino, BC, on numerous occassions and can get a five second ride on even the junkiest waves. I have some ideas on surfboard design if you know any shapers out there. At our group’s last Tofino outing, someone rented a five-foot Catch Surf board and now they’re selling like crazy; they are short, stubby, floaty and can be ridden standing or prone. It really is all about having fun. All of those years I went without catching any waves, I just bobbed peacefully beyond the shorepound. I felt the vast emptiness and primal energy of the ocean. Best of luck to all of you.
I taught myself to surf when I was 30 years old and I felt like I was reborn. I’m a lifelong skier and perform at such a high level in that sport that I find I get less joy out of it then I do continuing to progress in surfing as an intermediate.