{"id":1864,"date":"2019-07-17T15:34:13","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T19:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=1864"},"modified":"2019-08-06T11:14:56","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T15:14:56","slug":"surfers-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/summer-2019\/surfers-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"The Surfer’s Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"溏心vlog免费B站<\/div>\n
\n

Left to right: marine research specialist Brian Caccioppoli ’11, M.S. ’15<\/strong>;  Kiran Reed ’20<\/strong>; dive safety officer Alexandra Moen ’15<\/strong>; associate professor of kinesiology Emily Clapham ’02, M.S. ’04<\/strong>; assistant professor of ocean engineering Brennan Phillips ’04, Ph.D. ’16<\/strong>; Laird French ’21<\/strong>; Jake Fagan ’22<\/strong>. In front, Alexandra Moen\u2019s dog, Arrow<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Photo: Ayla Fox<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By Marybeth Reilly-McGreen<\/p>\n

溏心vlog免费B站 students, staff, and faculty are drawn to the ocean to feel its power, channel its beauty and healing qualities, and experience the incomparable thrill of catching a wave.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Christina
Christina Young \u201921<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

It was a cloudy September day in 2015, sometime in the midafternoon. The water was warm, somewhere between 60 and 70 degrees. Details like these don\u2019t matter to surfer Christina Young \u201921. She was on her board in the water. And, so, the day was perfect.<\/p>\n

Young had paddled out to take her place in a lineup of strangers\u2014locals, mostly\u2014in the surf at Narragansett Beach, waiting for the perfect wave to break. When it did, she found herself beneath rather than atop the wave, and that was just fine, too. In that moment, Young was with her ocean, her \u201cdeepest love.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so it goes with every wave and every ride. Each recalls every other experience on the ocean for Young. Memories drift in and out of her consciousness. \u201cSome are recent, and some are a part of the past. These go from great, breaking waves to simply small swells that naturally hug the shore every other minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s hard to tell where memory ends and metaphor begins with Young. But her manner of speaking always reflects a reverence for the ocean, and for surfing. \u201cSurfing is a gift. It is a privilege that requires a deep passion for the ocean and that is earned through respect, confidence, concentration, and patience,\u201d Young says.<\/p>\n

This is the surfer\u2019s mindset.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n
\n

Courtesy of Jake Fagan ’22.<\/p>\n

Photo: Gunnar Rinkel ’22<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Painting on the Waves<\/h2>\n

If sports were ranked for coolness, surfing would be the one to beat. Barefoot bests bowling shoes. There are no golfer\u2019s tan lines in surfing, no helicopter parents hollering. You are the bat connecting. And the ball flying. You\u2019ve got that sand-in-the-hair, salt-brined-skin, scraped-elbows-and-knees, waterlogged, all-out, all-encompassing, all-heart wellspring of kid passion going on way past adolescence. You\u2019re amped by others\u2019 successes. You\u2019re chill and upbeat even when wiping out. Because, for a surfer, the worst day on the water is still a great day.<\/p>\n

“Surfing\u2019s just really relaxing, and it depends on your style of surfing, but if you are, like, a really flowy, relaxed surfer, it’s more of an art form than it is a sport. It’s like you’re making a painting on the waves, drawing new lines.”
\n\u2013Jake Fagan ’22<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This mindset is spurring 溏心vlog免费B站 student surfers to explore courses of study that incorporate their love of the ocean\u2014and they’re coming up with super-chill big ideas for the future.<\/p>\n

Jake Fagan \u201922 has been surfing since the age of 10 and boogie-boarding since he could walk. \u201cDid you know 溏心vlog免费B站 is one of the top ten surfing schools in the country?\u201d Fagan says. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the reason why I\u2019m at 溏心vlog免费B站.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another reason: biomedical engineering. Fagan wants to design prosthetic limbs. He was inspired by a fellow surfer from his hometown, Little Compton, RI, who lost his leg in a shark attack. \u201cSo after hearing that whole story, well, I wouldn’t want people to not be able to do their favorite things in life,\u201d Fagan says. \u201cIf people played a sport, I want them to still be able to play a sport. If they would surf, I want them to still be able to surf. So, for people who suffer from unfortunate things, I want to prolong and increase the good in people’s lives through prosthetics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"2
Early morning at Deep Hole, Matunuck, spring 2018. Photo courtesy of Lori Stedman ’86.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Fagan takes every chance he can to get on the water. \u201cAs long as it’s not, like, below 30 degrees, I’ll try to go out,\u201d he says. \u201cMy mind just completely clears. I\u2019m only focused on having fun with my friends, catching waves, trying to better myself. Everything feels so smooth. I\u2019m on a big body high. I even like having that film of water on me when I\u2019m done.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurfing\u2019s just really relaxing, and it depends on your style of surfing, but if you are, like, a really flowy, relaxed surfer, it’s more of an art form than it is a sport,\u201d Fagan says. \u201cIt’s like you’re making a painting on the waves, drawing new lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is There Anything Better Than Surfing?<\/h2>\n

Kiran Reed \u201920, a marine biology major, sits back, thinks on it, grins. \u201cDiving,\u201d she says. \u201cI’m better at diving. If I got better at surfing, though, I\u2019d probably choose surfing, because I think it\u2019s one of the things that when you experience it, once you’re really good at it, there’s this kind of flow to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith surfing, you feel refueled rather than exhausted when you\u2019re done.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Being on the water, it’s an interesting mix of feelings. You\u2019re insignificant and in awe of an awesome thing, a thing that\u2019s a lot larger and more powerful than you, but at the same time, you kind of feel like you have your place.”
\n\u2013Kiran Reed \u201920<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reed grew up in a small farming community in Stow, Massachusetts. While Fagan was spending his summers surfing the waters off Aquidneck Island, Reed was tending to sheep and goats, learning to milk. \u201cI always had this appreciation for the ocean. I realized I was happiest when I was outside,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd the ocean was a frontier I\u2019d never explored.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed\u2019s long-term plan is to earn a master\u2019s in marine biology from California State University Northridge and to pursue a Ph.D. She would like to do research and teach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like researching the kinds of fish that are important to people. I am also really interested in working with people and using science as a tool to instill passion about the ocean and conservation and better kinds of fisheries management,\u201d Reed says. \u201cSo I\u2019m at a crossroads, I guess, between fish and fisheries and the people that work with all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

All paths lead to the ocean, though, Reed says. It offers all: calm, excitement, challenge, and contentedness.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing on the water, it’s an interesting mix of feelings,\u201d Reed says. \u201cYou\u2019re insignificant and in awe of an awesome thing, a thing that\u2019s a lot larger and more powerful than you, but at the same time, you kind of feel like you have your place. You don’t get that in the modern world.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n
\n

Laird French surfing at sunset<\/p>\n

Photo: ocean engineering major, Peter Krekorian<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Wave of Life<\/h2>\n

The lessons of surfing\u2014concentration, respect, patience\u2014are lessons that serve Christina Young as a student of history and marine affairs\u2014and of life. \u201cWe all must keep moving on,\u201d she says. \u201cWe must keep riding the wave of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Clinton, Connecticut native thinks she\u2019ll follow in her grandmother\u2019s footsteps one day and become a teacher. Maybe of maritime history. She is also deeply concerned about climate change and sustainability and expects those, too, will factor into her future professional plans. Because for Young, such global issues are deeply personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing is sitting on the water waiting, feeling the energy in the ocean moving around you,\u201d Young says. \u201cThe other wonderful part is that, to me, surfing isn\u2019t so much a sport as it is a way of life. It completes me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Left to right: marine research specialist Brian Caccioppoli ’11, M.S. ’15;  Kiran Reed ’20; dive safety officer Alexandra Moen ’15; associate professor of kinesiology Emily Clapham ’02, M.S. ’04; assistant professor of ocean engineering Brennan Phillips ’04, Ph.D. ’16; Laird French ’21; Jake Fagan ’22. In front, Alexandra Moen\u2019s dog, Arrow. Photo: Ayla Fox By […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[88,41],"class_list":["post-1864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summer-2019","tag-students","tag-surfing","architecture-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1864"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2458,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864\/revisions\/2458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}