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The Middle Aged Spectator goes (to the) Surfing


I was born in Melbourne (no surf beaches there), and within a few months my family had moved to an inland area of southern Victoria. Since then I have lived inland, and have only visited the coast for holidays. As a child my family went to Queenscliff, a Port Phillip Bay town with no surf. As an adult, I have taken my own children to the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, but the opportunity to learn to surf never really eventuated for me.

As a middle aged spectator on the southern Gold Coast beaches I have watched with some envy the many, many recreational surfers doing their thing of an early morning. My big chance came at a primary school beach camp a few years ago when the group of children I was supervising (I was Deputy Principal at the time) had surfing as one of their activities. I enthusiastically took part in the various beach exercises, theoretically learning how to go from lying on the board to standing. But when it came time to enter the water, I was assigned a task: I was to be a buoy, indicating the point  which the children (who were all trying to surf and having fun) were not to go past.

And so it came to be a couple of weeks ago that I happened to be in Coolangatta for a birthday party (yes, it was mine; thank you) when we discovered that the World Surf League was in town for the first round of the 2018 World Championship, and the event was occurring literally just around the headland from where we were staying.

Now, I am known for my love of sport spectatorship, and there was no way I was missing this. So on the Sunday, the day after the party, and the first day of the Quiksilver Pro (Men) and Roxy Pro (Women) competitions, we made for Snapper Rocks. The day was squally, but warm, and as we walked through Rainbow Bay to get to the competition site, there were far more people walking away than going to. Some concern: was the surf too poor due to the weather? As it turns out, the crowd was leaving because the men’s heats had finished. Which meant when we arrived the women were just beginning, and although lots have people had left, there were many, many, still there on the beach, rocks and foreshore watching the Roxy Pro begin. In the couple of hours we were there we saw three women who between them had won the previous eleven world championships: Carissa Moore, Tyler Wright and “local girl” Stephanie Gilmore. So, that was a bit of a treat.

I have watched surfing on TV many times, and have to say I especially enjoy watching when it is cold and rainy where I am, and these athletes are competing in California or Maui or Peniche, or some other warm and exotic location. But watching live is, of course, a different experience. The first two things I noticed were the speed these surfers generate, and that they stay on their boards for a really long time (compared to ordinary weekend morning surfers).

So, reflecting afterwards on why all this enthralled me so, I believe the sports I most enjoy watching combine a very high level of skill with more than an element of bravery. It’s why I prefer diving to swimming, and motor racing to golf. Surfing certainly fits the bill.

Surfing, as an activity, is really interesting. Most people who take it up have no intention of competing. It’s done for the exuberance and the rush of the ride; for the enjoyment of being alone on the water. You don’t need a team or a set of rules (yes, I know there are understandings which everyone is supposed to follow on a busy break) and you don’t need an umpire. You just do it. So to make a competitive sport out of a really vigorous type of water exercise is a bit of genius.

The best moments in sport are the breathtaking, unexpected things. Think of Benji Marshall’s look-away pass to win the Wests Tigers a premiership in 2005, Jonathon Brown’s mark running headlong into a pack in 2002, Sally Pearson’s 2017 World Championship 100m hurdles win. Add to that list Mick Fanning surfing through a tube (or doing just about anything).

There is an aesthetic beauty, almost poetry, in the best of sport. Consider these:
  •          In MotoGP as the field becomes a conga line through the turns, watching the riders leaning from side to side while travelling at ridiculous speed
  •          Downhill skiiers – basically skiing off a cliff and keeping control
  •         Baseball double plays – the skill and beauty of the motion is exquisite
  •          The Australian Football high mark

Add to that list the surfer coming down the front of the wave and then controlling their speed and position on the wave to perform their point-scoring maneuvers.

There is so much more to sport, especially for the spectator, than winning and losing, and a sport like surfing emphasizes that fact.
 
Tyler Wright doing her thing off Snapper Rocks



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