Research articles

Big waves, big questions: Philosophical implications in the surfing experience

April 2, 2024

Constantino Pereira MartinsInstituto de Estudos Filosóficos, Universidade de Coimbra

Surf is probably one of the steadiest-growing sports in the world, maybe because surfing isn’t just about sports or physical activity. It’s about a culture, a newborn tribe, and a collective identity that thrives within the strength of a global outdoor community. This sense of belonging is reinforced by philosophical assumptions besides a political and economic evidence: the ocean is freedom, and the sea is the last free place on the planet. You can go to the beach and the only thing you need is a board. This fact implies, and relies, on other significant determinations regarding phenomenological and spiritual dimensions. We will try to follow the main moments that inspire surfing with an unsuspected depth. Isolating key questions in the sports process will allow us to highlight philosophical textures that are implicit in the practice. There will be a close analysis of the concepts of momentum, in the zone, mirroring an intimate relationship, in the flow between the surfer and the infinite mass of the ocean. Reminiscing infancy, the surfer’s merry-go-round mimics the childhood park slide, recollecting that free and joyful relation between play and children in the flux of imagination. In synthesis, the surf phenomenon inhabits a certain fluidity that, between mindfulness and adrenaline, shows that being at the mercy of the primordial elements is not just a material communion, but also entails poetics, spiritual and religious dimensions. Whether those spheres are intrinsic or just natural effects, we face different layers that generally could also correspond to the dimensions of the metaphor, performance, and symbol. The sublime and specific dimensions of surfing cannot elude the inherent risk and the facing of death that is involved in this sports form. The relation between what we could call heavy-surfing, or big riders, and dying is absolutely present in many personal testimonies and surf experiences. This text tries to follow surf’s preliminary philosophical questions, between being, time, body, and space, but also to establish an unbreakable bond towards phenomenology and spirituality, towards a sacrificial athletic religious experience.

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CONSTANTINO PEREIRA MARTINS, b. 1974, Lisbon. PhD in Philosophy at NOVA University of Lisbon with the support of FCT. Researcher at IEF of the University of Coimbra, creator and founder of FilArch and AFDLP. Member of ENJP and IAPS. His current research focuses on four key areas: Humor, Politics, Sports and Architecture. He was a visiting researcher at USP, São Paulo, and Concordia University, Montreal.