The longer I surf, the more convinced I am that getting older does not have to mean getting worse. In fact, I think age can become one of our greatest advantages if we know how to use it.
Look at Peter Mel getting one of the best barrels ever ridden at Mavericks at 51. Look at Clyde Aikau competing in The Eddie at 66. I’ve shared heats with legends like Ross Clarke-Jones in his late 50s, still charging with more stoke, better positioning, and commitment than surfers half his age.
That does something to you. It makes you question the story we’ve been sold. What if surfing does not have to be a slow decline? What if the experience we gain, reading the ocean, managing fear, knowing when to go, knowing when not to go, understanding our bodies, can actually make us better?
That is the heart of surf longevity. Not surfing harder. Surfing smarter. Not trying to be 20 again. Becoming more skilled, more efficient, more aware, and more connected every year. Because at some point, effort alone stops working. You can’t out-muscle bad technique forever. You can’t ignore recovery forever. You can’t rely on youth, adrenaline, and stubbornness forever. But you can build a system.
A system for keeping your body ready. A system for making better decisions in the water. A system for moving with efficiency instead of force. A system for staying calm, confident, and joyful in the lineup.
That is what this column is about. Mindset: how we use age, experience, patience, courage, and self-awareness as strengths. Habits: the small maintenance rituals that keep us mobile, resilient, and excited to paddle out. Technique: the ways we waste less energy, find better position, make cleaner choices, and get more out of every session.
Because the goal is not just to surf longer. The goal is to enjoy surfing more. To keep learning. To keep laughing. To keep surprising ourselves. To keep getting those waves that make us feel like the whole world just opened up. I believe our best surfing can still be ahead of us. But not by accident. By design.
Stay tuned right here in the weeks and months to come as I dive into the subject of surf longevity and how you can get the most out of your time in the ocean even as the years fly by.