Hanging 10 at 60 and Beyond - Judith Powell 🇨🇦

Judith Powell is a retired teacher, mother, and grandmother from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She loves traveling, surfing, sea kayaking, gardening, quilting, and reading voraciously!  

Well, I’m not really hanging ten toes over the end of a surfboard while flying across a wave face, but I am in the waves —sometimes on the waves, sometimes under them —and having a blast surfing in the sixth and seventh decades of my life! 

It all began with a blow-up alligator, a borrowed wetsuit, and the endless waves of Chesterman Beach in Tofino, British Columbia, Canada. I had longingly looked at my adult daughter and son and their friends, skimming across the surface of the waves on their surfboards for years before I plunged in myself and flailed around for an hour or two on that alligator.

It was invigorating and filled me with even more longing. Around that time, I wrote a poem about it, thinking I was “too old, too late” to don the “sleek black skin” and “walk on water and fly across liquid  energy.” 
I Still Wish 
I am not a Surfer
too old
too late
to don the slick black skin,
and wait,
wait, for the moment
to rise,
And fly
on liquid energy.
In that moment
of wind and wave
and want,
I wish.

And now…
In the moment
of wind and wave
and want,
I still wish.

I wait and wish
to catch
that surge,
to feel it,
to know it,
that elemental power
of the cosmos,
a wave.

And then, the day before my 60th birthday, a friend of a friend offered to take me out on a  board for a lesson, “a quick session.” Lying on an eight-foot board in another borrowed wetsuit, I paddled like crazy —and caught a wave, flew across the water, getting only to my knees, but staying balanced and feeling the powerful rush —I was hooked instantly!

Within three weeks, my birthday present to myself was a new wetsuit with booties, gloves, a rash guard, and even a used board that my son and I bought together.

Later that summer, I took a private lesson and spent over a week practicing every day while my husband and I camped near Tofino. A few times, I “popped up” and actually got my feet under me and stood, and I instantly fell off into the shallow water. This was going to take some time, but just being in the water with waves sweeping past was so exhilarating. I was determined to keep trying. 

At that time, I was a high school teacher, and on the staff’s first day back, we shared the events of our summer. Three fellow women teachers were so intrigued by my story that in October, the four of us rented a house near Chesterman Beach, and I introduced them to surfing.

The  evening we arrived, the waves were massive, and they all turned and looked at me with saucer  eyes that said, “What are you getting us into?” I insisted they take a lesson from Surf Sisters, a women-run company in Tofino, to learn both the techniques and the safety aspects. 

The waves were small enough by the next day for that to happen, and by the third day, they were almost glassy. While none of them got beyond their knees, they had a blast and were hooked. Sharing those days with women I “knew” but didn’t really know, who trusted me, who shared laughs and stories and feelings over wine and good food and walks on the beach, was the start of a sisterhood that is still strong today. 

By the following spring, we had 13 women come on what would be the first of many trips to Chesterman (we found a BIG house to rent!). Because the trip was about surfing, overcoming hesitancy and fears, and experiencing the absolute joy of being truly in the waves, I insisted that everyone had to at least get into a wetsuit and go in the water, even if all they used was a boogie board, not a surfboard. 

One woman was so delirious with joy that she managed to overcome her claustrophobia about getting into a wetsuit. Others were quite taken aback by how much fun they had getting tossed about in the waves—we were never more than chest-deep on a sandy, rock-free bottom.

There were shouts of “paddle, paddle, paddle " to time the catching of a wave and arms-up cheers when they did so. It was magic. We had many more trips to Tofino and quickly became known as the Surf Sistas. Some dropped away over time to other interests, but a core of nine Sistas remains today, sharing time with walks, golf, games nights, beer tastings, celebrating birthdays, travel, and the ups and downs of life in general. 

But of the core group of Sistas, I’m the only one still surfing, sixteen years after catching that first wave (I’m also the oldest by more than a few years!). I now own a much better board and a couple of wetsuits.

I’m financially fortunate enough to be able to afford family camping trips and share house rentals on the beach with friends —I’ve recently introduced my kayaking buddies to being in the waves instead of on them! I have kept track and been on 56 surf trips since that first time, mainly to Tofino but also to Maui and  Mexico a few times.  

All of which means I’ve had lots of time to perfect my skills —NOT!!! I do not, in any remote way, look like those lithe surfers carving up waves. But I have improved steadily over the years. I can now catch most waves I go for and can stand and ride frequently —though, most of the time, not gracefully.

I only do beach breaks (no rocks), and it surprises most people when I reveal that I am a bit afraid of the water. I rarely go beyond where the waves break into white water — not crazy about my feet being unable to touch the bottom.

I’m not a strong swimmer. I never surf alone. And I know when conditions are not safe for me, when the waves are simply too big or too strong. When that happens, I just stand and stare and feel grateful for such majesty. 

The Tofino beaches are about a five-hour drive from my home in Victoria on Canada's Vancouver Island. No small amount of money has passed through my hands in sixteen years to indulge in my passion. But every penny of it has been well-spent, in my opinion.

Why? How is my soul fed from being tossed around in water that is around 9 degrees Celsius in winter and a “balmy” 13 degrees in summer and autumn?  

Well, you don’t feel the cold when you are in a good wetsuit. It is invigorating and heightens all of the senses - think cold water immersion therapy that so many do now.

I have a subtle pride in my surfing, in still walking into the water carrying my board, being able to time and catch waves, knowing how to quickly rise to my feet, and finding the balance point. It doesn’t happen all the time, but when a good wave catches, and you rise up and feel its power as you fly across the water, it is truly “ a big Ocean O.” To be in direct touch with the elemental force of the universe —a wave, in this case, a liquid one —is to be in the absolute presence of the moment, of here, and now. 

My adult kids and four grandkids all surf —it is so joyful to be near them in the waves, cheering them on —and recently, riding the same wave, facing my granddaughter, grinning at each other.  Cheering on friends who choose to use boogie boards (easier than surfboards) when they catch waves that sweep them all the way to shore is exciting.

The camaraderie of friends, both in the water and après-surf, fills my bucket. I get so much pleasure from introducing friends to the waves, from hearing their celebratory cheers and seeing their grinning faces, and knowing from experience that they have overcome hesitancy and fear to get to that state.  

At seventy-six years of age, every time I go surfing, I wonder if this will be the last time.  When I started at age 60, I thought if I got five years, I’d be doing well. I got five —then it became another five years and another five.

I hope to continue this for many more years. As long as I can pull on a wetsuit (and pull it off after!), I will “saddle up,” wax my board, and head into the water, and hope for one more wave to carry me to shore, to “walk on water” and fly with that liquid energy. 

Here are my tips for anyone first starting out with surfing:

• If you are inspired to try surfing, do it. But do it safely.
• Wear a wetsuit in cold water. It will protect you from hypothermia and also provide some buoyancy.
• Take a lesson from a reputable company to learn about rip currents, protecting your head from flying boards, wave etiquette, and efficient techniques. It's well worth the money spent and generally includes a wetsuit and board for the lesson.
• If a board is too unwieldy, use a boogie board - they are cheap to rent and can give a good, fun ride close to shore. 
• Never surf alone. Respect the power of the ocean. 

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