I have lived most of my life as a surfer. In other words, I have more memories of being a surfer than anything else in my existence.

Like probably many people of my age and cultural and geographical universe, my first contact with water was a forced one.

When I was a kid, my parents decided that I needed to learn to swim before I even knew who I was.

So, I was literally thrown into the swimming pools of the city I lived in, without the right to complain or choose anything else.

The methods were tough. Or maybe I was just unlucky.

I vividly remember a male swimming instructor grabbing my Speedos from the back and sending me up in the air before splashing the surface of the water spectacularly.

I think they believed the urgency of survival triggered basic swimming movements. I think I cried. If not, I am sure I told my parents I didn’t like the coach.

And I guess they were also not fans of this teaching approach.

Nevertheless, I learned to swim so that I wouldn’t drown.

So, for years, water and swimming pools were synonymous with distress and discomfort.

It wasn’t until my early teenage years that I saw or had contact with wave-riding vehicles.

I vaguely remember kids enjoying small shoreline surf with a type of board that was very common on the Portuguese coastline.

It was a white, 100 percent polystyrene board with a few channels that resembled a mix between a bodyboard and a surfboard.

During my 1980s summers, there were people enjoying the whitewater waves with these rather fragile planks found in seaside shops that sold beach toys, towels, sunscreen, newspapers, and cigarettes.

I never had one of those, and I also do not recall asking my parents for one. I was more into riding my bike and exploring the natural surroundings of their summer house with my friends.

Becoming a Surfer: Common Patterns and Turning Points

There is a relatively common pattern among longtime surfers – we never forget how it all started.

Whether we’re 35, 55, or 75, we always remember our baptism beach, our first surfboard, and many times, our first wave.

The experience of walking on water has already been extensively described, dissected, and philosophically analyzed. I am going to save you, dear reader, time and patience.

But that first day is really special. I know and you know that as well.

Recently, the folks at Abrams Books were kind enough to send me a copy of Maya Gabeira‘s “Beyond the Board.”

The book is a personal account of the Brazilian big wave surfer’s personal and very private life, from when she was a child to the Guinness World Record days.

Gabeira goes deep into her memories and shares with storytelling precision the exact moments that triggered her very initial umbilical connection with surfing.

After nearly 30 years, she still remembers the context, the friends, and what was said on the day she grabbed a surfboard for the first time.

In the first chapter of “Beyond the Board,” Gabeira shares with impressive detail the moment surfing became part of her life, to a point of no return.

Her story is probably similar to many of you, but I’ll not be the spoiler – just read it.

Destiny, Fate, Fortune, or All of Them?

Here’s my point. Here’s the reason why I am sharing these thoughts.

For many of us, surfing starts with the really simplest and most mundane event, moment, or interaction.

I am fortunate and grateful to have had a life before the Internet era. Believe me. I can now say it after comparing both worlds – it was amazing.

So, before the pagers, mobile phones, modems, desktop computers,  personal digital assistants (PDA), laptops, and smartphones, a few other media formats ruled imagery in our brains.

Basically, you could only access surfing-related content in TV shows, magazines, and newspapers.

In my case, and the only reason I am writing these words, surfing entered my life during a high-school break. I was 13.

While doing whatever teenagers do in an outdoor school playground, a schoolmate, who would become a co-band member and friend to this day, requested my attention to a magazine he had brought in his backpack.

“Isn’t this amazing? I want a surfboard,” he told me, while unfolding the legendary Brazilian surf magazine Fluir’s October 1990 issue.

I remember it as if it happened today, including the headline.

The cover featured a call-to-action for a profile of Teco, Piu, and Fabinho (Teco Padaratz, Amauri “Piu” Pereira, and Fábio Gouveia).

Page by page, shots added layers of excitement to my universe of dreams. Maybe I wanted to be a surfer, too.

Despite not finding much enthusiasm and support from my parents to get a surfboard, I managed to buy my first Mike Davis surfboard with money earned from a best student award.

They couldn’t do much to stop me. It was my money.

The rest is history. Without that friend and that magazine, I wouldn’t have become a surfer, lived a life of waves, and founded SurferToday.

The Simplest Thing

So, it seems that, ultimately, we all start surfing thanks to very common, subtle, banal, and ordinary events that take place in our lives.

It’s the magazine, the friend, girlfriend, or boyfriend who surfs, the uncle who owns an old board, the movie, the idyllic social media reel, or the summer holidays that once crossed our path that made us want to try surfing.

The most widely mentioned reasons for it to change our lives forever fit into a simple pattern.

And do we truly choose surfing, or is surfing picking the right ones to join the cult? The answer depends on the way each one of us approaches life.

One thing I know: whenever we keep everything simple, life sporadically throws simple (and often satisfying) things at us.

I’d love to know more stories of how unpredictably basic and naive events and circumstances made you enter the beautiful and addictive circle of surfing.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com