I started surfing about 3 years ago and have been doing it very regularly since then. It seems like I reach points where no improvement happens and I’m doing the same stuff, over and over, without change. I’ve had a few instances over the my surf career where out of the blue, I would do something, either by accident or by intuition, that launched me into a new paradigm.

I think it’s about to happen again. I’ve been the same surfer for months now. My bottom turns are good, I can generate power on a wave and turn without losing power (still working on gaining power), I can smack the lip on a steep section and keep control, and forever now I’ve wanted to do floaters. None of this has really changed for a while now.

The problem is that every time I’m sitting there thinking about how on the next wave, I’m going to do a floater, I get on the wave and completely forget…I get too excited.

Well, a few days ago I remembered. I saw a section breaking up ahead and instead of doing a finishing off the lip, I pointed my nose straight at the section, angled up, and just went for it. The wave shoved the nose of my board way up and I never even got over the section, but the point is that I finally had the self control to not cream my wetsuit after getting a good wave, and instead keep my desire to improve in mind. So I fucked the move up, but I’ve been able to keep a cool head when surfing, which I’ve never done before.

My hope is that this continues and I’ll be able to make quick, clear decisions based off intuition and will, instead of letting my emotions do the surfing for me. Any tips?