I would give up wine forever, and relinquish my cellar if I could regain the arm strength and time commitment it takes to surf again. Nothing compares.
Great post! From your pen to God’s ears.
What a great analogy and so true. Used to jones on every last offer and after 20+ years finally starting to see the light. Another stellar offer is only a click away. Same with waves. Have to admit my board is full of cobwebs and pretty much gave up on it in SoCal but try to get out whenever we travel to places where there are waves.
I love the fact that wine is a continuous journey that never ends - even after that 67 La Tache! And surfing never ends even after that head high tube in Bali.
Great post and more analogies to come!
Love the beach and wine. I’ll greet you on shore with a bottle or two if this ever happens. Nice essay.
Matthew - It’s 2am and I’m up with my 20 hour old daughter and first child…this post gave me appreciation for those unknown spots and regions that come into our lives. Great post bruddha…if you ever want to come to North County SD, I have a board and bottle to share.
Amen Brother.
Very enjoyable read Matthew
Fwiw, I’ve also had a great experience with an 04 Rousseau CdlR.
Awesome post. Thanks for taking the time to post it.
Cool post, and compliments from a bonafide landlubber!
Great post, Matthew! Having grown up landlocked, I never got into surfing but I certainly see other obsessions of mine which can be used as comps, specifically bass fishing and mountain biking. There are days where the conditions are perfect and all is right in the world so of course there are days where newbs and jerks abound or the equipment fails, and struggles insue.
Again, nice read!
Great post and analogy Matthew, thank you. Wonderful story telling about the human condition - our foibles as well as our opportunities for greatness, wonder, and pleasure. And I think these ideas could apply to almost any passionate pursuit - golf, hiking, music, business opportunities, restaurants/food, back roads biking, motorcycling, etc. etc. I’ve never surfed but this resonated with me.
enjoyed the read- thanks sending it to a surfing wine friend not on the board
I grew up surfing the Sebastian Inlet in FL! That was a very cool read. And those were really fun times.
Brave to surf Banzai without a board. I got plenty of cuts even with a board.
Very nice! Thanks for posting.
I liked the side note.
It’s weird how so many people who grew up in such an open-minded, positive, inclusive culture have become just the opposite. They’re not all like that, though.
Nailed it!
Such a fantastic post!!! I’ve PMed you about re-working it a bit to have it posted as a blog entry on the site’s static pages, to get more broad exposure, it’s so good.
As for the surfing/wine offline, we ALMOST had one during BerserkerDay in Socal some years ago, but all the attendees flaked out except Philip Robert, who paddled out with me.
Sounds like we could get a handful of people out. All in favor of a trip to the warmer waters in SoCal, but if you guys want to come up to Santa Cruz, could have a fun one up here too.
I’m unabashedly a fair weather surfer - no way I’m getting in that freezing Santa Cruz water!!!
A bunch of photos of winos on surfboards holding prized bottles of wine while on the waves would be fantastic PR
The water is unusually warm in the SF Bay Area. El Niño or whatever, but no wetsuit needed lately. May remain like this for awhile.