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Trans-human Surfing

High atop the mountain looking out into the choppy ocean Kalohe could see something was different about the ocean color and itfs movement this day. Everything was telling him big waves and a weather change was coming. There was a steady northwest wind blowing hard across the waters surface and the air was filled with a hazy mist. The Iwa birds were flying in a circular pattern higher and higher into the sky and the upper layer atmospheric clouds were moving faster than usual. All the signs were there, Kalohe estimated a new swell in less than three days.

Arriving back to his grass shack he shared his surf forecast with family and friends using the coconut wireless ?Eneighbor talking to neighbor. It did not take long for the good news to spread and by the next day almost everyone on the island had heard high surf was coming. Those who lived close to the sea went higher up into the mountains for safety. Fishermen pulled in their nets and beached their outriggers. Kalohe and other surfers prepared their surfboards to take advantage of the approaching surf.

Kalohe had not practiced surfing for quite a while and his surfboard was in need of some attention before he could use it again. While lying behind his grass shack in the bushes it had become rough, weathered and somewhat dried out. At first rubbing smaller and smaller pebbles and then course sand over the wood surface the board began to slowly become smoother. After Kalohe had spent hours getting his surfboard to the perfect texture he applied kakui and coconut oils by hand to finish and seal the wood. His surfboard looked and felt new once more, he was ready to ride.

Kalohefs prediction proved to be accurate the next day when the surf began slowly rising. Judging the wind direction, swell angle and wave intervals he determined the best waves would be hitting his favorite surfing spot less than eight or so miles away. To get there Kalohe would have to walk through dense vegetation sometimes climbing up and down steep areas, carrying his long heavy wooden surfboard along the whole way. After walking for most of the day Kalohe finally arrived just in time to see the green flash and perfect waves coming in just as he thought they would. Though tempted to go out Kalohe knew he first had to find a place to sleep before nightfall. He would surf in the morning.

Waking at the crack of dawn to the music of wild birds singing and the sound of crashing waves Kalohe was eager to surf. At the edge of the water Kalohe looked out and saw beautiful perfectly formed blue waves rolling in from as far out as he could see. To make it past the breakers to the swells behind proved more difficult than the long trek in. Kalohe paddled and paddled but still could not make it past the breakers. Wave after wave kept knocking him back but he never stopped paddling he kept on. Finally there was a momentary lull in the waves and Kalohe seized his chance making it to the outside.

One wave Kalohe thought, if I can just catch one. Kalohe knew catching a wave on his heavy wooden surfboard would be difficult and riding it on a gboard?Ewith not much curve even more difficult but something deep inside him gave him the strength and courage to go for it. As a mighty wave rose up Kalohe paddled for it with all his might and will. In an instant he felt his surfboard pick up speed and before Kalohe realized it he was gliding high on the crest of a monster wave. Managing to angle down the wavefs face Kalohe flawlessly rode in perfect trim all the way to back the beach. Filled with adrenaline and emotion but physically exhausted Kalohe sat on the beach overwhelmed and thankful for having caught one wave.

With modern technology todayfs surfers do not have to face hardships of surfing that primitive surfers such as Kalohe faced years ago. Accurate surf forecasting is not a mystery anymore. Instead of reading the sky or the ocean modern surfers get up to the minute wave and weather forecasts from the Internet, newspaper and television reports. Technologically created surfboards made out of plastics and hand shapes are being replaced with molded surfboards faster than you can say clone When most surfers go surfing even to a local beach close by they rarely walk. Most every surfer has a car to get quickly to a beach even hundreds of miles away. Planes take surfers all over the world in hours that would take weeks or months by ship. Now dayfs if the waves are to big to paddle through many modern surfers use high powered water craft to easily get out and instead of maybe catching one wave catch hundreds in a single go out. Surfing one could say has gotten a lot easier.

How about the surfer of the future? Many modern surfers would never trade in the luxury of easy surfing on modern equipment for the hardships of the past. If a surfer has a choice to guess forth coming swells or know accurately which will most choose? How about when it comes to transportation? There are not to many surfers who would walk eight miles to get to the surf even along a safe secure paved pathway. Surfers are quick to seize and take advantage of modern science and technology.

With the amount of breakthroughs in science and technology it will not be long before more advancements in surfingfs progress will be made. Perhaps the surfer of the future will have a chip implant and become a cyborg surfer able to do what present surfers canft. Scientistfs in Europe and Canada are already combining human and machine parts in an attempt to enhance the human being mentally and physically. Human and machine interfacing has been taking place for some time. Knowledge is paramount to being a good surfer. What if you could have knowledge to surf better or have a more enriched understanding of any subject desired instantly, would you get a computer chip implant? Many say no now, but what if your buddy got the chip immediately transcending human limitations along with bodily control and became a great surfer over night- the easy way.

Only time will tell what the future has in store for surfing and humanity. A surfer such as Kalohe more than likely would feel much different about todayfs modern surfing. Maybe Kalohe would be sad maybe he would be stoked, who knows. Will the trans-human cyborg surfer of the future look back to 2003 and see surfers as post human primitive people? Perhaps standing on a surfboard will become to much work and surfers will only surf with their minds or in ways we cannot imagine, only time will tell. See you in the surf.

Come, Live the Life

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