Having been a surfer and having ridden thousands of waves,
bodysurfing, boogie boarding, and on many different types of surfboards,
has been a special part of my life, for all of my life. During my
lifetime, I became a Naval Aviator and amassed over 4,000 hours of
flight time over a 12 year span. I developed a love for flying, just as I
did for surfing.
Thus, when I say that surfing is like flying, I speak from experience and lots of it.
From the time you climb into your vehicle heading for the waves to go surfing or the airport to go flying, there is a special feeling of anticipation and excitement. The adrenalin in your stomach starts churning. It seems that the ride is lasting forever. That's why you see surfers running to the water with their surfboard under their arm or the pilot hustling through flight filing and out across the tarmac to his aircraft. They can hardly wait to get going.
Paddling out through the incoming waves to get into position to catch a wave gives you the same feeling of excitement as starting your airplane engine and taxiing out to the runway for takeoff.
Here comes the wave, you are in position and spin your board around and start paddling to get some speed up to catch the wave. You feel yourself being pulled along with the wave and then you are in the wave and stand up on your surfboard turning in the direction you want to go down the line. You are up and flying feeling the salt spray and the fresh air on your body and face. You feel alive and free, a feeling that most people will never be able to feel or understand.
You are sitting in position on the end of the runway, your takeoff checklist is complete, you notify the tower controller that you are ready for takeoff and he responds, cleared for takeoff, make a left turn at the end of the runway and continue your climb. You add full power, holding the brakes, you then release the brakes and the airplane starts rolling down the runway building speed. When you reach takeoff speed, you ease back on the stick and start flying. You continue gaining altitude and when you pass over the end of the runway, you make a left turn climbing on course. You climb to altitude and level out and at that moment you let out your breath looking over the countryside and feeling that feeling of freedom and excitement.
Catching the wave and taking off in an airplane give you the same fantastic feeling. Surfing a flying are both individual sports that connect you with nature, whether it be in the water or in the air.
When you get on the wave, you learn to trim your surfboard so that you will be more efficient and so that you will be able to ride the wave better, do your special maneuvers and at the end or that wave, you will paddle out and repeat the process for as long as you can.
The same is true with flying. You always want to have the plane trimmed to make flying the airplane easier. If you are out of trim, you will be fighting the controls to stay on course or if you are doing acrobatics or other maneuvers, they will be very difficult. So keep your surfboard and your airplane in trim.
What a rush it is to successfully ride a beautiful wave to its completion, whether all the way into shore or to where the wave runs out and you turn around to paddle back out for the next one. Landing the airplane at the end of your flight is the same as finishing your ride on the wave. You have a tremendous sense of joy and satisfaction. The fun and success you experience in both cases is awesome.
There is another thing that really makes these two sports so similar. You have your surfing buddies and your flying buddies that you talk story with. This is almost as much fun as the actual surfing and flying. The conversations are very similar. A big part in explaining how good that wave was is how you explain the angles and maneuvers with your hands. Without your hands, you couldn't tell the story. You tell about the best waves, how big they were, what great maneuvers you did and then you get to hear the same from your buddies. It is so much fun talking about your surf and then planning for the next time out and where it will be. By the way, surfers are a lot like pilots, the waves and stories get bigger and bigger.
If you have never been around two or more pilots talking, you have missed a real experience. They really talk with their hands and normally with both of them at the same time along with their mouth. Then they are all talking and moving their hands at the same time explaining how smooth a landing or takeoff the made, how they performed the acrobatic maneuver, or in the case of navy pilots, how they flew in formation and how they made the carrier landing.
Both surfing and flying bring you satisfaction, fun, joy, camaraderie, story and lots of fun memories. So, go do it. Get in the water and the air! Surf Life!!
Thus, when I say that surfing is like flying, I speak from experience and lots of it.
From the time you climb into your vehicle heading for the waves to go surfing or the airport to go flying, there is a special feeling of anticipation and excitement. The adrenalin in your stomach starts churning. It seems that the ride is lasting forever. That's why you see surfers running to the water with their surfboard under their arm or the pilot hustling through flight filing and out across the tarmac to his aircraft. They can hardly wait to get going.
Paddling out through the incoming waves to get into position to catch a wave gives you the same feeling of excitement as starting your airplane engine and taxiing out to the runway for takeoff.
Here comes the wave, you are in position and spin your board around and start paddling to get some speed up to catch the wave. You feel yourself being pulled along with the wave and then you are in the wave and stand up on your surfboard turning in the direction you want to go down the line. You are up and flying feeling the salt spray and the fresh air on your body and face. You feel alive and free, a feeling that most people will never be able to feel or understand.
You are sitting in position on the end of the runway, your takeoff checklist is complete, you notify the tower controller that you are ready for takeoff and he responds, cleared for takeoff, make a left turn at the end of the runway and continue your climb. You add full power, holding the brakes, you then release the brakes and the airplane starts rolling down the runway building speed. When you reach takeoff speed, you ease back on the stick and start flying. You continue gaining altitude and when you pass over the end of the runway, you make a left turn climbing on course. You climb to altitude and level out and at that moment you let out your breath looking over the countryside and feeling that feeling of freedom and excitement.
Catching the wave and taking off in an airplane give you the same fantastic feeling. Surfing a flying are both individual sports that connect you with nature, whether it be in the water or in the air.
When you get on the wave, you learn to trim your surfboard so that you will be more efficient and so that you will be able to ride the wave better, do your special maneuvers and at the end or that wave, you will paddle out and repeat the process for as long as you can.
The same is true with flying. You always want to have the plane trimmed to make flying the airplane easier. If you are out of trim, you will be fighting the controls to stay on course or if you are doing acrobatics or other maneuvers, they will be very difficult. So keep your surfboard and your airplane in trim.
What a rush it is to successfully ride a beautiful wave to its completion, whether all the way into shore or to where the wave runs out and you turn around to paddle back out for the next one. Landing the airplane at the end of your flight is the same as finishing your ride on the wave. You have a tremendous sense of joy and satisfaction. The fun and success you experience in both cases is awesome.
There is another thing that really makes these two sports so similar. You have your surfing buddies and your flying buddies that you talk story with. This is almost as much fun as the actual surfing and flying. The conversations are very similar. A big part in explaining how good that wave was is how you explain the angles and maneuvers with your hands. Without your hands, you couldn't tell the story. You tell about the best waves, how big they were, what great maneuvers you did and then you get to hear the same from your buddies. It is so much fun talking about your surf and then planning for the next time out and where it will be. By the way, surfers are a lot like pilots, the waves and stories get bigger and bigger.
If you have never been around two or more pilots talking, you have missed a real experience. They really talk with their hands and normally with both of them at the same time along with their mouth. Then they are all talking and moving their hands at the same time explaining how smooth a landing or takeoff the made, how they performed the acrobatic maneuver, or in the case of navy pilots, how they flew in formation and how they made the carrier landing.
Both surfing and flying bring you satisfaction, fun, joy, camaraderie, story and lots of fun memories. So, go do it. Get in the water and the air! Surf Life!!
