I, Surfer

Andrea and I moved to Sayulita 3.5ish years ago, and before leaving SF, invested in new surfboards. We had never surfed before, were and are instinctively against all organized sports, and I personally grew up hating everything about male competition and machismo that comes with the sporting life. With all of that considered, we were moving to a hot surf town, were leaving all the trappings of our old lives behind, had watched "the Endless Summer" and "Riding Giants" enough times to feel that this was a sport built on good vibes, a love of beach and ocean, and friendly support of other surfers. This sounded so great, so we figured we would arrive in Sayulita, and spend our days surfing and hanging out on the beach.

When we arrived and slowly settled in, we got to take in the reality of a small surf town, and what we saw was an ocean full of male competition and machismo - locals that made life rough for the newbies, and a sport that took daily commitment to improve at. That sounds bad, there are lots of awesome people having an awesome time who surf here all the time, but they already surf... You can't surf once a month and get good, you have to go all the time, and you have to want to go. I do not mean to sound negative, I am being honest as these were my hang-ups and the things that kept me out of the water. We took a few lessons, but found that going to the beach to surf and basically hang out in a floating social scene made us nervous, and we never went again - what can you say, we are human, and anti-social at that. That changed today. Today, i am a surfer. I fear no more.

We have been blessed by having some great new friends this year, the lovely Sherman-Dea Family who live right down the street. Nick, Treva and their lovely daughter Astrid are a great example of family, amazing parents, and just honest to goodness real people. No fake, no pretense, just kindness and diversity of thought and action. We love 'em! Nick came to Mexico and committed to becoming a surfer, and he has. He has brought up going surfing a few times, and today I took him up on it. I woke super early, nervous as hell at what I was going to do. I worried all those old worries - male competition, embarrassing myself in front of my peers and other locals, dying... Luckily none of that happened. We joined a few other long time surfers and went to a local spot called "La Lancha" - this was the perfect first surf ever. No one there but us, 3 other guys that wanted me to do nothing other than succeed, and me catching some waves! It was fucking awesome. There was no "baby pool", so I jumped right in and headed way out, and had a great time. Thanks to Nick for holding my hand, lending me a longer board, and being a good friend.

The La Lancha Lancers (L to R): Justin, Gab, Jackson and my spirit guide, Nick Sherman