Surfing saves

[surfafrica]

Paddle surfing has really helped me through some heavy physical traumas (and the mental load that comes with that shit) over the past 5 years including vestibular loss (ie balance), broken back and multiple shoulder surgeries. I had to quit hockey, snowboarding and surfing as a result--all the stuff I loved doing.  But then I discovered that stand up works for me and it has been a real savior.

Last week, my buddy and I had 2 days in the Cardiff to Sano corridor to explore some breaks. It was a whirl-wind trip and conditions weren't perfect (damn wind swell), but we had a blast and found some diamonds in the rough.  When we arrived at Sano, there were only 2 guys in the SUP zone and they were coming in (ya, we had over an hour of Sano all to ourselves which blew our minds).  As I was heading down the beach, I passed one of the guys coming in and gave the standard "how was it". He said some good ones were rolling in. The guy seemed familiar.  It was Paul Kariya.  All Canadians and any hockey fans will know who he is. He's an all-star and was just inducted into the hockey hall of fame. We chatted briefly about the current conditions and why I was there instead of Tofino (he grew up where I live) before moving on. 

The reason for this post is to share a video/interview with him from last year. Like many pros, he ended up having his career cut short due to concussions. One of his new focuses in life is surfing, including with a paddle (touched on, with some good surf clips, in the vid).  Surfing saves...again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1l31TA0MLA

[SUPcheat]

I attended brain autopsy for a while when in training.  Periodically, the brains of young athletes killed in auto accidents would come up.  You could see the brownish smudges and webs on their brains from old concussions, even at their young ages.  No surprise from me there is so much brain wreckage in contact sports.

[goodfornothin]

CBD works unbelievanle for TBI and concussions.  Id venture to say i could re-perfuse your brain with the right modalities. I helped this dude walk and talk again with some simple stuff i made.

Check out Sean's journey.  Ill be features in hype magazine soon as well, ive helped the editor and chief recover from some nasty brain injuries from iraq
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpjzlHAZXyebaH6djxNdVAg

[supthecreek]

Thanks SA.... I really enjoyed that video.

Not a hockey fan myself, but I am always a fan of sport..... and the dedication to excellence that all great athletes share.
Paul is an impressive guy and rips on SUP.... gotta love that!


 

[Quickbeam]

Surfafrica,

Thanks so much for posting the video. Paul Kariya was a great hockey player. And then to include in the video Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne and Rob Blake. Quite a line up.

Some very, very talented hockey players! Thanks again.

[surfafrica]

Thanks so much for posting the video. Paul Kariya was a great hockey player. And then to include in the video Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne and Rob Blake. Quite a line up.

I played against Niedermayer in grade 3 or so.  He was better than me.  ;-)

Before seeing that vid, I heard those guys were living and surfing down there.  Very cool.

[Quickbeam]

I played against Niedermayer in grade 3 or so. 

Wow, that’s really cool. Rob Niedermayer was a brilliant, gifted player. One of the smoothest skating defensemen I’ve seen. Maybe only Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey were smoother.

And while I’m not comparing him to Orr, who in my books is probably the greatest player in the history of the game, Niedermayer did have that same uncanny ability to always seem to make the right play. Even in traffic. He was a smooth skater with great vision. He was a pleasure to watch.

[stoneaxe]

Interesting guy. I haven't followed Hockey since the Orr days but recognize talent when I see it. Sad to have to end a career so young...had to be tough to deal with. Nice to see he's found healing of a sort.

Timely post too. SUP has certainly saved me. SA...our stories are similar, different ailments but I understand mental load and what losing some of the things you love does. ...gave up my tree farm, and seriously limits what I feel comfortable doing....no skiing here either. Vestibular loss sucks toads. But when I think about where I would likely be without SUP I shudder.

I need to double down though. Work, life, a bout of bronchitis, (and getting old and starting to hate the fucking cold) has been keeping me off the water except for a few surf session for months. I've been having problems with the vertigo again and need to get back to 3-4 days/week on the water. It doesn't take much lately to really screw me up....head cold, weather change....wrong beer...who knows.... my head can go south without much of a push. I've been noticing an increase in issues for the last year or so. But with the lack of water time it's caused me to miss work quite a bit especially recently (can't drive with a spinning head). So I'm actually reducing my hours at work.....confirmed just today....taking Wednesdays off (at least temporarily) and dedicating them to paddling. Picked mid-week so I can spread the opportunities out. I figure if nothing else I can get in at least one long paddle and a couple short ones a week that way (fingers still crossed for surf of course) I was wishing it started today.....surf at my local on the way to work today.....figures.....next one probably won't be for a month......

BTW...not sure what works best for you for vestibular therapy but for me it's fighting the wind and chop. So I'm hoping for some nor'easters mixed in too....we've had no shortage of those lately....

[surfafrica]

So I'm actually reducing my hours at work.....confirmed just today....taking Wednesdays off (at least temporarily) and dedicating them to paddling. Picked mid-week so I can spread the opportunities out. I figure if nothing else I can get in at least one long paddle and a couple short ones a week that way (fingers still crossed for surf of course) I was wishing it started today.....surf at my local on the way to work today.....figures.....next one probably won't be for a month......

Great that you are mindful enough to make that change! Hope those sessions help out.

I lost 100% of one side of my vestibular system.  The good news with that it is stable (it's all gone) and the brain can adapt easier to something stable.  Bad news is it was a big blow that literally happened overnight. I had a hard time walking for a couple of weeks.  I couldn't drive for 6 months.  I started playing hockey and surfing (longboarding) after about a year and a half (not to the same level as before).  I would say my brain did a good amount of adjusting (focuses more on visual and somatosensory inputs for balance now) over 3 years or so. I'm not where I was before the loss, but its OK.  I did quite a bit of focused vestibular physio when I was adjusting, but I think skating and flat water SUPing helped the most.

If I hadn't had damaged my back, I very likely would still be surfing and playing hockey (though, I am coaching kids, which I love).  But once my back injury landed on top of my vestibular stuff, no way.  A year or so after my back injury, I was doing some flat water paddling with a buddy and I caught a little ankle biter that blew in from the wind.  A light bulb went off.  I think I found this forum within a month of that wave.  Had an L41 ordered shortly after that.  Stoke returned.

[supthecreek]

I was so stoked about the vid that I didn’t even think of how SUP saved me.
But it did.
My back got wacked in a rear ender, then my rotator cuffs both blew out at the same time.

And up to 305 lbs at my worst after back took me out of surfing and everything else for 3 years.

I was only able to surf OH point waves, that allowed me time to get to my feet.

I use to joke about SUPs.
“If I had one of those, I’d be up already”

I got one so I could surf small waves.
Never rode a surfboard again.

Last year I surfed or paddled 234 days.

SUP definately turned me from a total has-been to a grom again!

So grateful everyday for SUP GIVING my surf life back.

On a 4 month surf gro road-trip in my Chevy Van... visiting Zoners and getting younger ahead of my 70th birthday, which will happen on this trip, if I am that lucky 😃

[WhatsSUP]

Enjoyed that vid...and the guy definitely can ride a board!

SUP definitely has had a huge impact in my life since starting spring of 2014....4 years already - dang.  Anyway, SUP was the deal maker for me moving here to Lil' Rhody.  As you guys know, life threw me a curveball spring and sidelined me for much of 2017.  Even so, this forum and SUP in general became one of my main focus points.  I'm so thankful for where I am today and how far I've come from being sick....I've been hitting the gym 4-6 times a week since just before Xmas and getting stronger and more fit with each passing couple of weeks.  So yeah, SUP definitely saved my sanity and given it occupies my mind damn near 24/7 its played a huge impact in my life.  Love it!     

[stoneaxe]

Great that you are mindful enough to make that change! Hope those sessions help out.

It wasn't completely my idea. My boss actually asked what we could do to get me back in the saddle. Somewhat forced to do something and this is all I could think of that could potentially work. I'm valuable to my company but not if my head is so screwed up I can't drive or sleep.

I lost 100% of one side of my vestibular system.  The good news with that it is stable (it's all gone) and the brain can adapt easier to something stable. 

I had the same experience...mine is 100% gone too. Funny that you should mention it being better 100% gone. I'm what they call in the vestibular schwannoma community (and for those that don't know...yes there actually is one) a posty-toasty....surgery after radiation failed to kill the little bastard. Radiation had me all screwed up. It was like I had a short circuit in my vestibular nerve. Never could adjust completely even though SUP at least stopped the falling and made driving possible again (most of the time)....my head stopped taking sudden lefts anyway. Post surgical removal I noticed a significant improvement. My balance is also heavily dependent on vision and proprioception now too. Do you have problems when it gets foggy? I've had fog drive me to my knees...and still fall off.

[surfafrica]

Creek, your story is great.  I remember that picture of you with your stand up board (a Starboard, I think).

I had the same experience...mine is 100% gone too. Funny that you should mention it being better 100% gone. I'm what they call in the vestibular schwannoma community (and for those that don't know...yes there actually is one) a posty-toasty....surgery after radiation failed to kill the little bastard. Radiation had me all screwed up. It was like I had a short circuit in my vestibular nerve. Never could adjust completely even though SUP at least stopped the falling and made driving possible again (most of the time)....my head stopped taking sudden lefts anyway. Post surgical removal I noticed a significant improvement. My balance is also heavily dependent on vision and proprioception now too. Do you have problems when it gets foggy? I've had fog drive me to my knees...and still fall off.

I had to look up vestibular schwannoma.  Crazy.  Mine was a virus.  Overnight it killed close to 100% of the hair cells in my left semi-circular canals.  Went to bed totally OK; woke up completely f-ed up.  The virus hit a bit of my cochlea too and took out some high frequency hearing, but pretty minimal. I know two guys who had the same thing happen, but the virus took out the full semi-circular canals and all of the cochlea and left them completely deaf in the one ear.  I was unlucky that the virus hit me like that (very rare), but felt pretty lucky that my hearing was left at 80-90%.

I was in my late-30s when it happened.  My docs said that because I was so young and I was so active, that my brain would probably adjust reasonably well over 3-5 years.  I'm pretty amazed with how it's gone. SUP definitely helped.  ....just wish my back would snap back now!

Ha...yes...the fog totally messes with me too!  I need a clear view of the horizon--especially on my smaller boards.  If I push it on sunset surfs into the twilight, I also hit a point when the light gets too low and I start to really struggle out there.  I can go from fine to ridiculous in a few minutes--my buddies always laugh when I hit that point.

[stoneaxe]

That had to be weird...I at least had some time to get used to the idea and to know what might be coming.

I guess we can't complain too much...we're still out there. Even though some days are tough I know just how lucky i am.