Dan Hull asks, “Hey Chris, my friend and mentor on quite a few things whether you know it or not: (1) When did the blogospshere ‘height’ happen, anyway? (2) What stage now? Interested in what you have to say.” I am going to use a surfing analogy since I am from Hawaii.
The best surfer can catch just about any wave and is always very discerning as to the quality of the wave and how much life it has in it. Shape, rideability, etc.
Well, the truth is, most surfers can’t even read a wave — not to mention the ocean — with such perception and understanding.
The expert surfer watches from the beach at all the garbage surf that the beginner is willing to catch. Shore break and already-breaking waves. Crap. These experts are offended by this sort of behavior. Both the short board shredder and the long board big-wave rider would look at an East Coast “surfer” and see a poseur. Those aren’t waves.
Truth is, in terms of the height of the blogosphere, it isn’t even a wave yet. A few people have caught the wave already, but it is just forming. It certainly hasn’t crested! It is far from curling. The wave is still only accessible to the top 10%, but the real market is always in that 80%.
This is a great time to start paddling but if you get up to quickly you might not get the wave. Spend the time working on your form, working on your skills, waxing your board.
Actually, you need to do what real surfers in Hawaii do before they even pick up their thruster and enter the chop:
Sit there and look at the waves. Sit there and get to know the sets. Sit there and see what other people are doing and learn from their mistakes. Make your own mistakes but in smaller surf on a longer board. Practice before you even get into the water. Pipeline is dangerous but really rewarding but any error is mortal. Make your mistakes in Waikiki on 2-4-foot sets. And wear your sunblock.
Now is the time to take to the waves even though lots of people were up and out even before sunrise. And just because they’re telling you not to even bother, always question their motives.
Question their motives because they might just want all the waves for themselves. At the end of the day, their motives might not be pure.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Dude–Thanks for the response and analogy which I get. Like my first college roommate–a grand master chess player with 800 math boards from Malibu with a disconcerting twitch and a thing about Fay Wray–used to say: “Keep your eyes out of the sun, be yourself–and watch out for the Gnarly Ones.” Dan