We should listen to people like Mickey Muñoz more.

Mickey Muñoz knows barrels. At 87, he still chases waves with the same grin he first wore as a boy in the late 1940s.

Surfer and filmmaker Kyle Buthman had the privilege to sit and chat with the big-wave surfing pioneer and surfboard maker, and learn a bit more about the meaning of our surfing lives, according to a veteran of our liquid world.

Muñoz was part of the elite crew, which included Greg Noll, Mike Stange, and Pat Curren, that took on Waimea Bay in November 1957.

His secret to surfing into his centenarian years? Simple ingredients: good food, clear thoughts, and a daily run.

“I want to keep surfing till at least a hundred or so,” Muñoz says, and he isn’t joking.

He recalls Desert Point – the best barrel he’s ever ridden.

“I’m just going, ‘No, this is impossible. I can’t make this wave.’ And I keep making it. I came out with this eating grin like I’d taken acid.”

That moment, he felt faster than light. “We haven’t exceeded the speed of light physically,” he admits, “but mentally, we have.”

For Mickey, surfing is more than a sport. It’s a “dance with that circle” – sound waves, light waves, ocean waves.

It’s a mindset, “a passion about living in life.”

You don’t need a fancy board. “You can be riding a boogie board, you can be bodysurfing… but it’s this metaphor of surfing.”

Mickey sums it up neatly: “There are no bad waves, only a poor choice of equipment and a lousy attitude.”

Equipment can be fixed. Attitude is everything. Crowds in the lineup? Traffic on the way to the beach? “You can surf those crowds,” he shrugs.

The Unreachable Perfection

Mickey never stops chasing perfection, even knowing it’s unreachable.

“If you keep chasing perfection, you’ll never find it or catch it, but it keeps you in the game.”

He believes one wave, one turn, or even just one paddle out can transform your day.

“Keep your mind and body on it and go surfing.”

Health and happiness ride side by side. Muñoz steers clear of doctors when he can and fills his plate with whole foods.

He runs every morning. He thinks good thoughts. He lets the ocean clear his head.

When asked if he fears death, he answers honestly: “Yes and no. I like living. For a while, it was hard to talk about death… the more you think about it, the more it becomes a reality.”

But Mickey Muñoz keeps death at bay with saltwater and sunrises.

His advice to every surfer – and non-surfer – is as clear as a glassy wave at dawn: “Surf your dreams, but don’t dream your life away.”

In Mickey’s world, the line between surfing and living blurs. Each day in the water becomes a chance to feel younger, sharper, and more alive.

And with luck – and good waves – that dance might just keep going well past a hundred.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com