GOAL Achieved! Do I Stop Now?

Our annual co-coaching trip to Surf Ranch has concluded and I’m ecstatic to report that we’ve hit our priority takeoff goal (and exceeded it). If you recall from last year’s trip, we fell just short of the priority takeoff goal I set for our group each year. This is the primary metric I developed for our group after watching group after group suffer the pain of missing priority waves at Surf Ranch. From watching the strained expressions on surfers’ faces (not as the primary organizer of those trip – rather a secondary coach or consultant for KSWC), I set a goal when I began organizing co-coaching trips. We will strive for a priority takeoff rate of 90% or above.

Why not 100%?

Well, every wave pool has a learning curve because they are all so foreign to our brains at first. Every surfer, no matter their experience, must move through the pool’s learning curve, during which, mistakes will be made, not because of the surfer’s skill, but rather in the process of simply getting used to the pool’s new perspective (see – The Learning Click article I wrote).

But 90% is an amazing goal to set at Surf Ranch since the learning curve is fairly quick (most click during or after their first heat there - regardless of whether it is at night or during the day – see Learning Curves at the Kelly Slater Surf Ranch) .

AND WE HIT IT. In fact, the priority takeoff rate was 95% on this trip. No only did we surpass the goal, we crushed it!!

Data from the other takeoff areas were also improvements – 83% for the pro takeoff (the hardest takeoff location) and 91% for any poach location were also the highest we have ever had. The overall takeoff rate was 92% across all takeoff spots.

This is further evidence the pre-training course we conduct ahead of the trip is effective – Surf Ranch Paddle-In/Takeoff Technique and Preparation. Therefore, I’m incorporating more and more of these kinds of pre-training courses/live streams before all coaching and non-coaching trips (all trips - not just pools). That way, we can simply enjoy our time together surfing fun waves and progressing together.

Aloha

Many of you know that while I enjoy the statistics and numbers behind the trip results, what really stands out for me is the aloha shared during the trip. In fact, I think if I tracked “aloha stats”, this one would stand out among many of the trips there.

Several surfers were sharing in the stoke and aloha in and out of the water. I noticed surfers not only cheering for other surfers on the waves, but also giving other surfers some of their priority waves if something unfortunate happened to them on a previous wave. Surfers also shared more of their full waves than I have seen in trips past, choosing to split waves when the choice was possible. That allowed them to increase their rep/wave count, yes, but also they just wanted to share the wave with another surfer and get stoked from that. Surfers on land were hooting and hollering as surfers surfed and rode waves – not just those they knew, but surfers they just met on this trip.

Much of the aloha was grown from the pre-trip live streams we conducted leading up to the trip. Those live streams included information on the trip itself, training for the takeoff and riding the wave, but also just a time to get to know others who were going to be on the trip. That paid huge dividends when they met in person – “dude! Stoked to finally meet you in 3-D!”

After the surfing was all wrapped up, the annual tradition of meeting at the sports bar at the Coyote Entertainment Center at Tachi afterwards continues on. Shall we call it the communal of the two towers? Or the depletion of the power of the two towers? Yes, that’s an inside joke – you’ll have to come to find out what it means. At any rate, we talked story about the surfing, our lives, and generally got to know each other even more.

At the end of the day, the waves were amazing, but the friendships that sprouted are far more important to me than any wave that was ridden.

Barrels and Tubes

I say it all the time. Surf Ranch is for riding the barrel, or learning to ride the barrel. I have personally gained from my experiences there – leveling up my ocean barrel riding exponentially; but also riding the barrel in other wave pools.

And we certainly had some insane barrels ridden on this trip. Yes, it all looks the same in the videos, but each wave definitely is different, and not always a guarantee.

I have not seen so many foam balls being ridden on a Surf Ranch trip before this one. It was nuts how many surfers were sliding around on that white carpet and emerging more often than not.

In addition, watching surfers ride and come out of their first barrels ever was an even bigger high. They may not have been as deep or critical, but the expressions were priceless, and it will only get better from here for them. I couldn’t help but feel the excitement.

Do I Stop Now?

Every year before the trip I say, "this is my last one, this is definitely my last one". The stress organizing this trip is astronomical – not just financially, but logistically. I had a surfer contact me three days before saying he couldn’t make it. While I have my cancellation policy laid out clearly months in advance and read prior to signing up, I can’t help but try my best to find a replacement, even in the eleventh hour. Luckily we were able to find someone, but ask my wife what my blood pressure was like that week.

Despite the pressure, I have consistently decided to come back, year after year (sometimes twice a year!). Am I a glutton for punishment? I don’t know. But there’s something about this trip that is magical. The waves are good, yeah, no denying that, but I think there’s something more. The staff, the surfers, the environment, the focus, the laughter, the preparation – it’s all an amazing feeling afterwards, when it’s all said and done. It’s such a blessing at the end of the day. I can’t quite put my finger on one thing – rather the culmination of all of it makes the experience uniquely unique. Not sure if that makes sense when reading this – maybe you will need to experience to understand what I’m attempting to express.

So, do I stop now? The goal has been hit. The aftermath is euphoric. Can it get any better?

I don’t know. Maybe I’ll have to do one more, just to find out (lol!).

Coaches include Barry Green (surf technique – Centered Surfing); Jim Cegelnik, PhD Physical Therapy; Wally Puha (veteran surfboard shaper); and the many gifted Surf Ranch onsite coaches.

Video provided by: Surf Ranch cameras, Travis Gill

Photography sequences provided by: Figlewicz Photography, the extremely talented and hardest working Casey Figlewicz