The Art of Procrastination

So you’ve checked the surf forecast for the next few days, and what’s this, the conditions look favourable at the reef/point/beach you like to surf. So you probably check with few mates and make a plan to head there and check it just before the tide is right. The day comes and the swell has arrived the wind is looking good; you load up your surf vehicle and head off to check it. You get there and things are not what they should be, the reason could be any number of combinations, the wind isn’t quite in the right direction or is too strong, the tides are too big for the place to work, swell direction isn’t quite right, the banks have changed or it’s busy as shit. The bottom line is that this spot doesn’t inspire you and you and your mates talk each other out of going in. The procrastinating begins.

Usually one bright spark within the group pitches the idea that the reef/point/beachie round the corner worked last time it was like this…sound familiar?

Now this scenario only really begins once you’ve learnt to surf and you’ve had the pleasure of surfing a variety of waves. On some of those occasions you’ve had the best session of your life. You know the days, when the conditions have played ball and you’ve surfed for longer than you should have but you can't bring yourself to go in because it’s that good. Your arms hurt and you can barely paddle into a wave but some how you keep catching waves and making it. You emerge from the surf with a grin from ear to ear.

So you head off in search of better conditions and this usually results in what I like to call 'the big drive around'. You don’t often drive that far to check several spots, but you need to spend 10 or so minutes when you get there waiting for the sets, procrastinating the finer points of not going in! During the search and with every spot checked you become less inspired by each location, (unless by some miracle you find the perfect wave) you’ll be wishing you had just jumped in at the first break.

So once you’ve wasted a couple of hours, probably procrastinated about the who’s on fire and likely to win the next WSL event, you're more than likely to end up back at the same spot you checked first. I’ve done this many times. Sometimes the sun has come out and made it much more inviting or the crowd as thinned out or any number of combinations that may have improved the break you discounted in the first place.

I’ve have done the big drive around procrastination many times in the past and thought I’d got past it. However, on a recent trip to Portugal whilst staying with a friend, I thought it best to go with the flow and spent a lot of time procrastinating checking very spot between Peniche and Ericeira. We gave up procrastination, had lunch and explored the streets of Ericeira, this was the first time I’d visited there so not such a bad thing. All was not lost though, we ended up back at the first spot we checked for a very enjoyable, if not paddle sapping, rippy surf 8 hours later.

So my advice when faced with these days, well it’s a hard one; sometimes the big drive around pays off, but I’d get in at the first spot even if it's for half an hour. Better to have had a little surf before the drive around than wish you had. After your little surf, hydrate and have a bite, that way if you stumble across spot going off you’ll have some energy to enjoy it. Another alternative is to look at the set waves, see if there’s a section you can hit and practice your top turns, hacks, or just enough section to try and perfect your bottom turns, most of us could probably benefit from that.

So as summer approaches and the water and weather are warming up, the surf will be more crowded as most people will ride anything if the sun's out, I do feel my search will be to harder to reach surf spots in hope of scoring waves to myself. Thanks for reading; I’ll leave you with a little clip of surfing less than perfect conditions. Looks all to familiar no?