Der Tälismann wird gegangen

Der Tälismann - that’s Yoda’s buddy, who was in from Germany for the past ten days - left yesterday afternoon, but not before we got in a three-hour session (fittingly) at Threes. Der Tälismann is so named because the offseason swell that gifted us two weeks of waves hung on for almost the entirety of his visit, defying all surf forecasting and intuition. As if the surf gods knew the man hadn’t surfed in two years and wanted to show him some kindness. Thank you, Der Tälismann, and safe travels.

All told, the three of us (Yoda, DT and I) went out two or three times at Kewalo’s and then yesterday’s session at Threes. Good times, and hugely instructive for me personally. I seem to have lost the muscle memory I built during my surf-every-day period a few weeks back, because I’m pearling regularly again. Having two experienced buddies in the water helped.

We also had a few interesting conversations about surfing in general. Yoda turned me on to The Surfer’s Journal not too long ago, and DT mentioned that he subscribes from Germany. Both Yoda and DT are of the opinion that The Surfer’s Journal is a publication for adults who surf, while the “industry rags” like Transworld Surf, Surfing, Surfer, etc. are media for the aggro kiddies. I mostly agree, although it seems to me that SJ doesn’t spend much ink on pushing surfing’s limits, while the industry rags do. I’m a long way from those limits, but I still enjoy seeing and reading about some guy doing flips on a wave.

Anyway, I’m definitely going to add SJ to my regular surf reading, and I’ll still read the glossies too, because I am a kook of tolerance.