Surfing will surprise you with every chance it gets. (And so will life for that matter). An escape, and a social activity, both at the same time. It’s duality, when you think about it, is seriously confounding. Something where the same person, in the same place, can find both things out about himself, and still be surrounded by friends.

Making that transition between groups of buddies can be precarious, but it’s manageable. It can take a while to find a group that meshes well together. There is always the coming and going of people before things feel like they’re “comfortable.” I got lucky, and, upon moving from Jersey to Florida, I found another bunch where contentment and enjoyment were plenty. But it was different. Adventurous, compelling, and doused with a ton of shit talking, but different.

When you relocate you ultimately have to know this going in. You’re never going to find individuals that become that first group of surf buddies. You grew up surfing together. You were a group of guys that experienced the same challenges in learning to surf during a point in life where days were entirely care free. Surfing made you who you all were together. That already all happened. You can’t experience that again.

Where do you go from there? You pushed each other to better yourselves. You saw one guy doing something cleaner or faster than you and you worked your butt off to be able to do the same thing. You were all in it together.
But out in the wilderness, everyone’s in it for themselves. Not in a bad way, necessarily. Not everyone at least.

Surfers can be extremely idiosyncratic, especially when it has anything to do with surfing. Tendencies in the water are already developed. My focus no being in a sense of skills, but how you act and react with others in the ocean. So the question begs to be asked: Do you continue those tendencies when faced with the opportunity of a new slate, or do you start anew?

When it comes down to it, it will be a blending of the two, to continue one’s development and progression in life. Because you’re never going to find that thing that presents the same opportunities, the same people, or the same experiences, especially like those of that first one. That’s something you usually leave it in the place you say you’re from.