a bit of history...

i've been surfing seriously for about six months now and, even though i did board sports my whole life, surfing takes the cake as being, in my humble opinion, the most demanding and most rewarding sport out there. it's a sport that only works if you are in very good to excellent shape. it's an all or nothing kind of thing. it gives back what you put into it -- perhaps more than other sports i've done. that means it rewards you if you wake up everyday before work and surf. and it doesn't allow you to be a half-assed slacker because there's an element of danger in surfing that is always present. that said, the learning process is opaque, there's a lot of trial and error, and a lot learning is done the hard way -- by, for example, getting caught inside.