BUSTIN' DOWN THE DOOR by Wayne Rabbit Bartholomew

In today’s arena, there is no single best surfer like there was a decade ago when there was only one Nat and one David, but now, on any given day, any one of ten people may stand out as having the most positive session, and no current day champion can claim to be the greatest, just because he gave the most outstanding display on the contest day, because the very next day he might fail to relate to the ever-changing mood of the ocean, while the guy who placed 16th yesterday, might today be off on a different tangent, striking perfect chords with the rhythm of the ocean’s fickle majesty. Certainly, everyone has a different interpretation of who and what they consider to be great, and many leading surfers have claimed to be, “the greatest,” but the funny thing is that they are all accurate evaluations because each hot surfer is the best in his own direction.

Surfing is such a simple expressive act, and yet at the same time it reflects all the complexities of the modern-day man, and can be as deep, mystical and undefined as the ocean itself. Varying levels of consciousness are displayed whilst surfing; for example, some people don’t care to make any explanations in relation to what a wave represents, but rather just take it as just take it all for granted, while others see waves as the end result of all significant elements of energy created within the earth’s atmosphere, while yet another person may relate to a wave as being a direct link to his or her concept of God, and on a fifteen-foot day at Pipeline, it’s quite easy to relate to waves in this way. It has been claimed that the meeting point between the ocean and the land is the highest point of the untapped energy on the earth, and surfers seem to be the only group utilizing this energy and successfully tapping this organically electrified current.

To a non-surfer, it is virtually impossible to visualize surfing as being anything other than a physical expression, but many of today’s more advanced surfers are approaching the ocean on the spiritual plane, and they are comprehending and absorbing all of her pulsating rhythms, and their surfing reflects an extremely deep relationship. They’re delving further into themselves, and whilst surfing, they become so self-centered that they often appear to be in a hypnotic trance, where the surfer, the board and the wave become as one, and they can actually dominate and alter the flow of a wave by total concentration and mind projections. I swear I’ve seen it happen and experienced it. I’ve witnessed Shaun, Ian, Gerry and others actually make a wave change to suit their flow and I know it’s possible for someone to mentally command a wave situation to instantaneously materialize by being so one-pointed, or self-centered that they actually become the wave, by seeking the wave’s power nucleus, and becoming as one with it.

Some professionals are developing their own mind psychology, becoming their own gurus, reaching naturally altered states and learning when and how to switch off certain parts of their mind, which is interested in everything except the here and now. Not many guys are into long hours of meditation, and yet by surfing upside-down, around and inside waves for hours, they are experiencing weird spaces, with the only difference being that there is no guru or roshi present to tell them what’s happening while their performances are getting better.

When one is surfing really big waves, total concentration is demanded, and your perception and awareness is extended to the point where every movement of the ocean is seen, and not one ripple of bump escapes your attention and one becomes totally harmonized with the present moment; you completely shut off all ego-centered thoughts to the point where your mind is dancing with the waves, and as you concentrate on the contours and subtleties on the wave’s face, the wave’s whole motion seems to slow down. This is simply the altered state which some people get to by meditation, and others get to by using a chemical.

A more down-to-earth example of this process is experienced when going to surfing on a 12- to 15-foot day at Pipeline, and on this occasion, I’ll go surfing, and you can come along for the ride. I’m sitting in an obscured spot amongst the bushes in front of the line-up house, and for the last fifteen minutes, though it seems like hours, my attention and concentration has been on nothing but waves. From this point of slight elevation, I’ve been able to observe sets moving in from miles out to sea. The swell begins as a long line stretching from outside Rocky to outside Waimea, and as it moves towards shore, it appears to begin focusing on one reef along that stretch, namely Pipeline. Banzai reef is such a dominant face on this day that it has literally magnetized this giant line moving in from the horizon, and has centered the total energy of this swell on this perfectly one-pointed pinnacle peak, which is being used as the takeoff spot by the surfers already out there. After battling out through the insanely heavy shorebreak sweep, I begin paddling towards this peak, which from my viewpoint, now appears to be a series of giant open-mouthed, roaring caves, which, after a cyclical process of turning themselves inside-out, send hissing vapors out the now partially closed off entrance.

My perception and concentration is intense, and I’m totally mesmerized by these liquid energy streamers. I reach the takeoff point during a lull, and line myself up with the exact spot that I know the wave that I’m after will soon be roaring through, and I wait. I’m at a spot a little further out than the peak, because not only can’t I let my concentration be taken away by speaking with others, but I know the biggest and meanest tubes can be picked up from where I’m at, and now I’m watching a large west set approach the outer reefs. I paddle over the first two in waves which twist and wrap onto the inside reef, and the third one rears up. I turn around and make about eight positive strokes, and I’m into it, dropping down the vortex of this giant cylinder whose sole intention is to suck every bit of spare water up its face, and then fire it all back down again in one heaving, cyclical motion; and yet, I’m in total control, I’m even in a relaxed state of mind, because my perception is at such an extended height that it appears as if the wave and everything around it is moving in super slow motion.

I know this sounds ridiculous but I have this giant, thick hungry, hollow tube exploding all around me, wanting to bury me into the nearly exposed coral bottom, and to me it’s like watching and participating in some beautiful, mystical ballet. I’ve got all the time in the world, time is standing still, I’m backside, and my instincts tell me to move NOW, and I feel that inner click, that feeling you get when you know a shot’s good before you throw it, and I move up into a perfectly shaped cylinder, get totally tubed, and as I’m spat out the end I give freedom to some of my inner emotions that I’ve been holding back and disciplining for the last hour.

Of course, every surfer has a different physical, emotional and intellectual breakdown, but that was just a first-person indication of how one could approach big-wave surfing, Every hot surfer, and there’s about thirty super hotties, all incorporating a different psychic technique to build up a big-wave session, and most good surfers reflect their wave consciousness in their various modes of living and their daily routine, and it is the combined energies of all the past and current personalities and characters that is developing surfing into one of this world’s most progressive activities and definitely our spaciest sport.