The Journey To Get There

The Search, by definition, is a journey. You need to venture out to find waves. Travel. Explore. Adventure.

It’s not a proper adventure until something goes wrong, either. Blown tyres, missed flights, lost bags, broken surfboards. Those shit bits are all part of it.

Remember that time we had our passports stolen and couldn’t cross the border home?
Remember that time we got the hire car bogged at Secret Beach and the tide was coming in?
Remember that time I stubbed my toe to shreds on the reef in Indo and missed the session of the trip?

Those hard-luck moments help form the stories you tell afterward. The memories that stick with you aren’t the ones where everything went smoothly. But what happens if you don’t even score waves?

Most seasoned Searchers are pretty philosophical about it.

“I don't think The Search is always about the surf,” says Taina Izquierdo. “Because some trips I go on, I get absolutely skunked, no waves, and that's okay. It's all part of The Search, leaving what you're comfortable with, and going out to explore a new place. Waves, no waves, the goal is always to make good memories.”

“It's not easy to search, because you never know what's going to happen,” says 3x World Champ Gabriel Medina. “That makes surfing exciting, you know, because we never know what's gonna happen. The Search will never get old.”

“Sometimes, there's moments in there, that's not happy, because to go Search, it's a gamble,” adds Mason Ho. “But if you can, like, learn from that, and then keep Searching and you get it, it's like a big process. And a lot of times I fail at The Search and it was still a really good journey and lesson.”

Then what if you do score? Come over that headland, or across that reef pass and see absolute perfection staring you in the face? Crosby Colapinto sums it up pretty well.

That’s the feeling that keeps us coming back. Keeps us pushing through the tough moments to get to the gold. Those nuggets will always shine if you Search hard enough and long enough. The journey and the reward, all rolled into one.