The Absurdity of Surfing
I have a liking for lost causes: they require an uncontaminated soul, equal to its defeat as to its temporary victories.— Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
It was like 2 to 3 feet and howling straight offshore, blowing way too hard for the size of the waves to be any help. Not quite breaking out the back so I hunted and pecked in the shorebreak, looking for miniature miracles. But the reality was clear: it was shitty. Novelty, fun and pretty…but shitty. Shorebreak closeouts with beautiful plumes of spray in front of blown over trash cans in the sand. But worth it to rid your hair and fingertips of the static electricity supplied by the Santa Anas.
The un-miraculous surf I had this week revealed something “absurd” to me. I may have found enlightenment pulling into quick, hopeless little visions on repeat. There wasn’t a single one that I paddled into thinking I could make. I was a salmon spawning with no hope but to reach the end of the line with a nice little vision before the end. The waves weren’t even big enough to provide my weathered soul with much of a thrill, but I found myself scratching into wave after wave, grabbing rail and enjoying the split second view before the underwater sandstorm hit. I came up after every one and paddled back out to look for more lost causes. Why was I doing this?
Through this repeated pattern of “failure” I revealed something important to myself about the silent metronome that keeps us trudging through the inherent bummers of daily life in search of momentary tube time. I realized that’s actually it. The journey back out is the thing. It’s not the kick out or the ones we make, it’s the paddle back out for more in the face of more of the same failure.
And it’s for that reason I would like to make this a quarterly printed magazine. I want Inherent Bummer to deliver you a printed copy every 3 months in addition to all the other “stuff” we do because surfing needs an epicenter. It needs surf photography. It needs advertisements that matter. And brands that matter. And surfers who are interesting.
It’s a guaranteed closeout, but I think we should take off anyway. You never know, we might actually make one. But if we don’t, at least we’ll know that’s not why we did it anyway.—Travis Ferré
