This podcast is about the virtues of surfing and how it can improve your life in a positive way.

It is an audio version of this article.
The show
Notes & linksSurfcamp Australia – If you go to Australia and you want to learn how to surf, go see these guys.
Recording detailsRecorded on Jan 16, 2018; in my house in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Recorded on the big setup.
Original text
Surfing has a profound impact on the most important aspects of life. It is more than just a sport. Its many aspects will affect your character in ways you can’t imagine, until you paddle out and face the waves.
Sports has always been an important part of my life. You’d find me every other day in the gym or out for a run, no matter what. From my late teens on out, I practiced martial arts, which I’ve always found very exciting.
Being fit and strong feels good. It makes you feel happy and confident, and you mentally fire on all cylinders constantly. It’s the one thing that affects every single aspect of life. When you slack off, you notice it in everything I do.
All sports are great, but surfing is something entirely different.
Surfing is one of my favorite things in life, and I’ve only done it for the very first time when I was twenty-nine years old. I fell for it in a different way than any other sport. It’s on the same level as my love for playing the guitar.
My age definitely had to do with that. You simply pay attention to different things in your late twenties than when you’re a kid, or even when you’re twenty-two or twenty-five.
I understand why surfing is almost a cult, and I’m glad to be a part of it.
Surfing has always been something that I wanted to get into. I never ended up doing it because of my location: The Netherlands. It’s a nice enough country, but there’s not much surfing going on down there for a reason. We don’t have a lot of waves, and to put it bluntly, the weather sucks most of the time.
When I landed in Australia early 2016, one of the first things I did was signing up for a “surfing-bootcamp”.
The location of “Surf Camp Australia” was about a three hour bus-ride south of Sydney at Seven Mile Beach.

The camp had around 30 people divided into two groups. There were around five instructors present. Everyone slept in small, open cabins that had four bunk-beds. These cabins surrounded the area where we would receive instructions, eat, and hang out.
Every day looked like this for five days in a row (in hindsight, I wish I’d signed up for their 7-day package):
Morning

* Eat a fantastic breakfast filled with real energy (eggs, bacon, hash-browns, vegetables, fruit)
* Get tips and instructions accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation, and Q & A afterwards
* Chill out & have coffee for an hour or two
* Do a good warm-up
* Surf for two hours

Afternoon

* Have a decent lunch, but not too heavy
* Hang out for half an hour
* Put the wetsuit back on and surf for another two hours
* Stretch & cool down

Evening

* Take a nice, hot shower
* Put some relaxing clothes on
* Have a huge, healthy, delicious dinner. They would have things like BBQ, pasta, or soup. Everyone ate like animals every night, and there was always plenty.
* Hang out, talk, or play cards or Jenga. Drink some beers, but not too much.
* Sleep like a baby