Posted on by Phil Strawn

The Challenges of Surfing at 72: A Personal Story


I wrote this recount a few years back and figured it might need a little sunlight shined on it.

We’ve been on North Padre Island for the past few days, visiting my son and his family. I’ll be 72 on the 17th and figured I owe myself a bucket list item: surfing one more time.

Wes, my son, also a surfer, was accommodating and borrowed a new, all-foam board that he thought I could handle. My grandson has a much shorter board because he is 8. The beach at Padre Island was the most crowded mess I have ever witnessed. Granted, the last time I was on a Texas beach on Labor day was in the mid-90s, and that was at Port Aransas. This was beyond stupid. Thousands of people parking their cars near the water, getting stuck in the sand, hogging any sliver of a spot to reach the water. After searching for an hour, Wes found a small opening and managed to squeeze his truck into the slot.

Beach chairs are unloaded, cooler and surfboards ready, so my grandson and I grab our boards and wade into the surf. As it turns out, the surf today was terrible. Slushy with no good form. We struggled to find a decent wave.

I paddled through the shore break past the first sand bar and tried to sit on my board. Nope, that wasn’t happening. I needed a real fiberglass and foam board. I took off on a wave and couldn’t stand up: nope, that neither. The head injury from two years ago is most likely the culprit. No balance and no equilibrium, and less good sense. Being 72 didn’t help my quest. I was a good surfer in the 60s and 70s, and I figured it was something that couldn’t be forgotten. Wrong on my part. The defeat was at hand, and I took it willingly.

Humility hung on me like my wet tee-shirt. I slow walked it back to the beach. I laid the board down and told my wife, Momo, that I could scratch this one off the bucket list. Sometimes your memories are bigger than your brain.

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11 Replies to “The Challenges of Surfing at 72: A Personal Story”

  4. Awww. I’ve often thought about this and some of my cheer leading moves, cartwheels, bridge overs, riding the Zipper at the carnival, ha, but I know my balance isn’t what it once was even though I am in very good shape for my age. Still, if you put your mind to it and really worked at it, you might yet get back up there a time or two. But then maybe it matters less. 🙂 I remember parking on those beaches down there when we visited. Seemed weird cuz we can’t do that in Michigan.

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  6. I applaud you for getting out there and trying again. All things considered, it must have felt good to be in the water – and with your grandson.

    I want so badly to get on the racquetball court just one more time. However, as the chances of my being hurt or putting out a hip or knee are high, I best just envision the endeavor in my mind.

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  7. Maybe you needed to let your instincts take over when you were still sea worthy on a board. Can you still balance yourself on a bike? I power walk and don’t try to run anymore. But-if one of my grandchildren is crying, I don’t think about it-I sprint! Kudos for your effort. 🙂

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  8. That’s one you never catch me doing. Of course two things I’ve on my bucket list is to jump out of a perfectly good airplane and to learn to fly a soarplane.

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      1. Mine went airborne just to one up the old man. Of course, I’m not dying without at least doing it myself. But then he does have a combat jump that I’ll never equal.

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