Saltwater Buddha

Surfing and our relationship with it can provide

amazing life lessons.  Those of you who are regular

(or irregular) readers know that looking for and finding

those lessons is a passion for me.  Seems I'm not the only

one.

Just finished reading Jaimal Yogi's book Saltwater Buddha:

A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea".  It's a good read

for sure.  Jaimal chronicles his journey's as he attempts to

run and escape certain aspects of life, learn and live in Zen

retreats, and become a surfer.  Becoming a surfer is different

than learning to surf. One is a lifestyle and philosophy, the 

other a sportlike pastime.

Saltwater Buddha is the kind of book that contains little

pearls here and there. Lessons from an observer who becomes

a participant.  That's always a good thing to do in life, jump

in participate rather than always observe from the sidelines.

What are you watching from the sidelines that you really should

be doing?

Hesitation

I never seem to tire of hearing clients tell

me how they have learned lessons from their

experiences in the surf.  It is amazing how surfing 

and the ocean can present us with important

insights into ourselves.

A young client of mine recently told me 

he'd discovered that when surfing he

frequently finds himself pulling back, hesitating

when finds himself at the ledge, especially on steep

waves.  " I never seem ready to push

myself over, to take that last stroke and drop in.

It looks too steep... I feel afraid,  doubt myself,  and end up

going over the falls...You know, I think

I do that a lot in my life too" he said almost as a sidebar.

" I never get barreled" he added.  I could almost

see the light bulb go on in his head.

Pulling back when you should go for it based on fear

can prevent us all from achieving our life's goals and our

own dreams.  How do you pull back?  How has hesitation

kept you from the barrel? From the joy of the tube?

A car filled with bottlecaps

Do you have any idea what over 50,000 bottle caps

look like?  Right now, after a winter's worth of

collecting, there are 17 large, clear trash bags filled

with bottle caps filling my Honda Element.  We

counted the caps in 1 bag and realized that there

were about 3,000.  The 50,000 or so caps

in my car are going to "meet up" with the collections

of others.  I'm excited, afraid, and a bit disgusted when

I try to imagine just how many caps I'll see all in 1 place.

Clean Ocean Action is a New Jersey based non-profit that

for decades has been doing great work.  COA and it's members

have labored long and hard to educate, lobby, protest, and help

bring light on the issues related to "our mother ocean".  Today

they are having a big beach party to help further fund the good

work they do.  One of the highlights of the event will be the

gathering of the bottle caps.  I hope this overwhelming collection

can serve to illustrate the nature of our impact, the thoughtlessness

of our actions, the needlessness of our country's plastic addiction.

Everything you and I do has a significant impact on our oceans and

our planet.  Please stop thoughtlessly using plastic.  Check out the

Rise Above Plastics web site, look at the movie Synthetic Sea, lobby

your local and state officials.  We all must act to stop the insanity

that is our use of plastics. 

Next time you go to the beach look around at the plastic on

the beach.  Next time you surf look at the plastic in the water.

Next time you snorkel look at the mess we have made.  We made

this mess, we can stop messing up and take steps to clean it up.

Making the match

I love putting people together.  It is a real

good feeling when I can help make connections

that work.  Today was such a day and I've been

smiling all afternoon.

Jon is a friend and fellow dog walker with surfing

roots in both North County San Diego and Montauk,

NY.  He rides and values boards shaped by the masters.

He's got killer boards from both Donald Takayama and

Toby Pavel.  You know, the kind of boards that you stop

to admire and seem compelled to hold imagining how they

might feel on a wave.  

Scott, aka "the Mopper", is the kind of surfer whose smooth

understated style gets attention both here in NJ and in

Rincon PR where he spends his winters.  He is equally

comfortable and owns boards for  2 foot mushburgers

and  macking 20 foot Tres Palmas.  Scott also has an

amazing collection of vintage boards some so rare that

even the Surfing Heritage Foundation has been coveting

one or two.

Jon was telling me about a 9'0" Pavel gun that he had made for

Todos Santos but has never ridden.  It was an aqua colored 

beauty.  Not too many people here in NJ can  truly appreciate

or ride that board or the waves it was intended for.  Scott needed

to replace a favorite big wave gun since breaking his beloved 9

footers this winter at Tres.  "Jon this is Scott, Scott this is Jon" I

said knowing that they'd be stoked to meet and talk story.  Of

course I knew that Jon's Pavel was right up Scott's alley.  That's

all it took to make 2 friends happy, to connect 2 great guys, to make

the match.  Made my day!