We don’t do a lot of SEO work around here. Hopefully this character flaw (virtue?) doesn’t lead to our premature demise but attracting hordes of people googling for advice on their “pop-up” isn’t getting us up in the morning — and that’s not to say we don’t want you here if you’re still working on that pop-up. In fact, welcome! We actually believe we can make you a better surfer, but it doesn’t start with bending your knees or watching YouTube.

I’ve probably received three pieces of technical advice that have made my surfing better in 35 years of riding waves. I will share.

The first came from my dad.

“Scoot up,” he would say over and over as I paddled around with the nose of my board embarrassingly high in the water. It takes a lot of burying the nose to find the delicate balance you’re after but it does help you catch waves and paddle faster. Chest placement and paddle posture follow once that nose is grazing the water just so.

The second and most recent came from Brad Gerlach and is part of his Wave-Ki program. He wrote about it for us here. Learning how to “not to throw spray” has legitimately helped my surfing.

The third was from Andy Irons. He said, “Wax the top of your feet before you surf Trestles.” Done and done.

The rest has been observation, cultural foraging and the most fulfilling game of trial and error there ever was. Immerse yourself and skip the shortcuts.

But the real point of today’s note is that in looking at the last few weeks of posts on Inherent Bummer, I realized there’s not a lot here that’s going to help you look better when the wave of the day is heading your way and everyone is hooting at you to go, that’s on you, but there is quite a bit here if you want to be “a better surfer.”

Being a better surfer is about connecting. To people, cultures, communities, and your surfboard. Be it Archy at the cliffs, the locals of Saquarema or understanding what’s behind artists like Chippa Wilson, Frida Kahlo, David Bowie, Cormac McCarthy and Craig Anderson (all artists). We believe that if you put them all in a shaker, you’ll pour out the greatest surf cocktail of your life.

Shortcutting your way to better surfing on Google is not the answer. But watching Bruce Irons parts over and over while noting hand placement and reading literature while the tide drops most certainly is.—Travis Ferré

[Above artwork: Etel Adnan, Untitled, 2017, oil on canvas.]