I have read a number of articles over the last few years where the writers have proclaimed that they are addicted to the surfing drug. Now I will agree that surfing is addictive, but that is where its similarity to a drug ends. Here are ten reasons why surfing is far better than any addictive drugs. 

1 With surfing you will never find yourself chasing your tail.

Drug addiction invariably involves the user hopelessly chasing that first high, only to find that they can never get back there. With surfing, each session out is unique, the waves are unique, there are no two waves that are the same, the people are unique, one week it is the Japanese backpackers or the Australian business people, the next it is the young bloke from Argentina with the coffee van. Each session will only be surpassed by the next, just when you think it can’t get any better something will happen, an encounter, a chance ride, an unexpected barrel that will make that adventure special in its own right. You go home satisfied with the knowledge that the next session will yield something even better.

2 Surfing takes place in some of the most beautiful places in the world.

The stereo typical drug scene brings to mind a fairly grim scene, perhaps it is a dimly lit room hidden from view of the authorities, a dark alley or the dark corner of a seedy night club. Surfing takes place in broad daylight on a sunlit beach, you are surrounded by friends and family, everyone having a great time sharing in the stoke of catching that next wave. it will get you out meeting people, taking in sunshine and enjoying some of nature’s greatest assets. 

3 Surfing will leave you healthy, happy, relaxed and refreshed.

Many addictive drugs leave the user week from lack of sustenance, or other damage caused directly to the brain and body by their consumption. Each surf session, on the other hand, will leave you stronger and fitter than the last, you are also exercising stabilizer muscles used in balance that require fine motor skills and a lot of brain power, so there is a fair argument that surfing will also leave you smarter!

4 Surfing is a low costs activity.

As the quantity of drugs required by an addict increases so to does the cost, there is also the social costs of treating addicts with mental and physical treatments that can tie up hospitals and government funds that would be better spent elsewhere. With Surfing once you have your board and your board shorts, your costs are fairly well fixed and with the growing popularity of the sport and the advent of mass manufactured surf boards even those are becoming cheaper and better. The only additional input you need is a bit of fuel to get you to the beach, and if you carpool with a few of your surfie mates you can even reduce this cost further. In fact while you are spending your days out in the surf you are not spending your money at the shops or on other more expensive pursuits, so in fact surfing makes it easier to save.

5 Surfing makes you more interesting

When you surf that question ‘how was your weekend?’ many people ask when you rock back up at work on Monday is easy to answer. ‘What did you do on the weekend?’ I hit the waves at Currumbin, met a bunch of interesting people, checked out some amazing little cafes and a wicked surf festival with dancing, videos and a laid back vibe. This sounds a lot more interesting than ‘I took some weird substance and sat dribbling on the couch for two days’.

6 Surfing builds your confidence

It takes some brass ones to launch yourself off the safety of the soft white sand into the pounding vicious surf to paddle and duck dive your way out to the back. Then there is the bit where you leave the relative safety of the open ocean to hurl yourself down the face of an oncoming shipload of water. Once you have achieved that there is probably not a great deal you can’t achieve in life. Smoking a few cones in the confines of your lounge room is hardly character building.

7 You can talk openly about surfing in any situation

People who don’t even surf want to hear about the latest break that you have conquered or a hidden beach that you have discovered, and if by chance they don’t, then they will hear about it anyway and act interested. You know that any story beginning with being pounded by a forty foot wall of water and having your board smashed into pieces two kilometers from the beach in shark infested waters is going to be a good one. ‘Whipped out my crack pipe and smoked a few lines’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.

8 Your whole family can participate

Surfing brings families together, every surfer will be used to seeing whole families hitting the beach for a surf session from the little groms right through to the seasoned veterans. In fact once you surf you become a part of a giant extended surfing family where everyone is looking out for each other. 

9 It is not illegal

I don’t know of any country worth visiting where surfing is illegal. 

10 Surfing gives you a travel goal

Now there are fair few countries out there where taking illicit substances can leave you languishing in Jail or worse. Not so for surfing, there are famous spots all over the world where you can hit the waves, meet the locals and partake in the vibrant beach atmosphere that exists wherever surfers are found. There’s La Canalla Fiesta del Túnel in Spain, the lads and ladies down at San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua and Montanita Beach in Ecuador just to name a few. 

So nourish your soul, grab a surfboard and go find some waves, I will see you out there.