The All-Time Best Surfing Quotes
When you become a surfer and you really catch the bug, there is no coming back. You check the forecast every few hours hoping it’s gonna improve and believe in the most optimistic one. Just to sit around at the beach for hours repeating to your buddies that “it’s building up, can you see that dark line on the horizon? It’s definitely building up”. It’s a feeling only we know. No matter if you’re a pure surfer, kitesurfer, windsurfer or SUP’er. We all share the same passion for the ocean.
I’ve got asked recently what’s really the driving force behind getting me out of the bed on a rainy Sunday morning. What’s pushing us to drive for three hours to score a two-hour session in the middle of the winter. It is really hard to explain unless you have experienced it yourself. Others tried to put this to words. Here’s what I’ve found.
Kitesurfing and Surfing Quotes
“It’s like the mafia. Once you’re in – your in. There’s no getting out.”
Kelly Slater, SurferToday
“Out of water, I am nothing”
Duke Kahanamoku, SUP Surfing
“Surfing soothes me, it’s always been a kind of Zen experience for me. The ocean is so magnificent, peaceful, and awesome. The rest of the world disappears for me when I’m on a wave.”
Paul Walker, The Door
“Surfing is such an amazing concept. You’re taking on Nature with a little stick and saying, ‘I’m gonna ride you!’ And a lot of times Nature says, ‘No you’re not!’ and crashes you to the bottom.”
Jolene Blalock, SurferToday
“Kitesurfing is the best travel and adventure sport of all time”
Robby Naish, Chapter One Movie
“Sliding a wave removes our brains out of the ordinary and slips us into the extra ordinary of being there now. No more worries about mortgages or strife of being poor or rich. When you enter the domain of an ocean cylinder, that moment, those split seconds belong to the Zen part of just being. Period.”
Bill Hamilton, Club of Waves
“It’s finding that balance between stoke, pure adrenaline, high to another dimension… and getting the beating of your life!”
Jesse Richman, Chapter One Movie
“The joy of surfing is so many things combined, from the physical exertion of it, to the challenge of it, to the mental side of the sport.”
Kelly Slater, SurferToday
“If in doubt, paddle out”
Nat Young, SUP Surfing
“The biggest sin in the world would be if I lost my love for the ocean.”
Laird Hamilton, SurferToday
“With 73% of the planet under water perhaps ‘earth’ should be named ‘ocean’”
Unknown, Surfing Quotes
“When you make a mistake, the ocean gives you an instant reminder. You get punished. If golf clubs could shock you every time you hit the ball wrong, we’d probably learn how to play golf pretty well.”
Laird Hamilton, Esquire
“Surfing is very much like making love. It always feels good, no matter how many times you’ve done it.”
Paul Strauch, Resolver2009
“The best surfer out there is the one having the most fun”
Duke Kahanamoku, Top Ten Surf Trips
“Surfing’s one of the few sports that you look ahead to see what’s behind.”
Laird Hamilton, Esquire
“There is nothing, nothing, more sad than a surfer who used to surf.”
Old surfer sage, Stoke Report
“There are a million ways to surf, and as long as you’re smiling you’re doing it right.”
Unknown, Stoked Bunny
“I took off on a wave, went down the side, popped out the other end, and went, shit, I’m still alive!”
Greg Noll, Club of Waves
“Wiping out is an underappreciated skill.”
Laird Hamilton, Esquire
“Okay, shit, I guess this is a good day to die!”
Gerry Lopez, Club of Waves
“I think when a surfer becomes a surfer, it’s almost like an obligation to be an environmentalist at the same time.”
Kelly Slater, Stoked Bunny
“I’m just a surfer who wanted to build something that would allow me to surf longer”
Jack O’Neill – talking about inventing the wetsuit, Surfer Today
“You cannot stop the waves, but you can learn to surf”
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Resolver2009
“If you’re having a bad day, catch a wave.”
Frosty Hesson, SurferToday
“Its not tragic to die doing something you love”
Mark Foo, Stoked Bunny
“I could not help concluding this man had the most supreme pleasure while he was driven so fast and so smoothly by the sea”
Captain James Cooke, SUP Surfing
“Eddie would go.”
Mark Foo, Quiksilver – Eddie Aikau was a well-known Hawaiian lifeguard and surfer.
“If I couldn’t surf, I’d just die.”
Excerpt from the Tribes of Palos Verde by Joy Nicholson, Stoked Bunny
“I try changing my surfing, which is the absolute worst thing you can do. Everyone surfs their own way. If I try to surf like someone else I look like a dork.”
Andy Irons, Stoked Bunny
If you know of any other quotes that haven’t made the list leave them in the comments and I’ll update the post. And share the stoke with others!
Mahalo!