There are a lot of parallels between spacewalking and surfing. In both surfing and spacewalking, you have to channel any fears or anxieties into focus. Seeing a wave approach and just knowing it’s go-time and that there are going to be ten different things to think about in the space of 3 seconds, you can’t get distracted by any one thing or any fear. I found myself relying on that same technique in spacewalking, where you know you have a job ahead of you, you know things might be risky and things may make you nervous. You have to compartmentalize those fears and also have a plan for what you are going to think about and techniques you’re going to use.
Surfing has taught me a lot about myself that I couldn’t have learned otherwise.
It’s one place where I’ve really had to face fears. I’ve always been a little afraid of the ocean and waves. Just recognizing those inherent fears and pushing past them was a big help for me in my career.
Surfing allows you to maintain your individuality.
This story is from the Volume 61, Issue 3 / Winter 2020 edition of Surfer.
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This story is from the Volume 61, Issue 3 / Winter 2020 edition of Surfer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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60 Years Ahead
We had a whole plan for this year. Funny, right? Surfer's 60 year anniversary volume was going to be filled with stories nodding to SURFER’s past, with cover concepts paying homage to the magazine’s most iconic imagery. Our new Page One depicts something that’s never happened in surfing before, let alone on a prior SURFER cover. And our table of contents was completely scrapped and replaced as we reacted to the fizzing, sparking, roiling world around us. In other words, 2020 happened to SURFER, just like it happened to you.
A Few Things We Got Horribly Wrong
You don’t make 60 years of magazines without dropping some balls. Here are a few
THE LGBTQ+ WAVE
Surf culture has a long history of marginalizing the LGBTQ+ community, but a new generation of queer surfers is working to change that
For Generations to Come
Rockaway’s Lou Harris is spreading the stoke to Black youth and leading surfers in paddling out for racial justice
Christina Koch, 41
Texas surfer, NASA astronaut, record holder for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman
END TIMES FOR PRO SURFING
By the time the pandemic is done reshaping the world, will the World Tour still have a place in it?
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
After decades of exclusive access to Hollister Ranch, the most coveted stretch of California coast is finally going public
What They Don't Tell You
How does becoming a mother affect your surfing life?
Four Things to Make You Feel A Little Less Shitty About Everything
Helpful reminders for the quarantine era
The Art of Being Seen
How a group of black women are finding creative ways to make diversity in surfing more visible
