Oh, the magic of media. I made it to the video above because I saw this photo as a two-page ad in Surfer. I was intrigued. In the ad, the "VSTR" logo at the top of the page there was printed on the bottom left, strategically referencing the path behind the older man. And clearly, that's Kelly Slater in the foreground. What is this?
After checking out the VSTR site and doing some light googling, the new brand is a collaboration between Kelly and Quiksilver. At the very least, I like the site and a portion of the ethos ("We are all visitors.") so I continue to browse...
And then manage to get further and further into a Journey to the Center of The Internet as I look at the gallery and contributors and eventually find the above gem of a video by Kepa Acero. He may be my new hero and another reason for me to fulfill my goal of learning Spanish in the next 18 months.
In creating his latest project, La Ultima Frontera, this dude spent a couple months in Alaska and then, it seems, rode all the way down through North, Central, and South America into Chile, down into Patagonia, and down to... the end.
Watching this little film, I have goosebumps and chills and yes even a slight mist in my eyes as I imagine that feeling. To be at the end of the earth by yourself... with a perfect left to (goofy) boot. I can feel his energy, his stoke, his unbridled joy to be witnessing this magic, to be feeling the wind and the sun, to be charging out into the water alone.
And my vicarious elation and wakefulness stabs in sharp contrast to my current state -- sitting on my grey couch in jeans and a sweater, having done almost no physical activity whatsoever for the past twelve days. woof. Well, it is what it is. My inertia is due to the twelve days before that, which were spent surfing, the last session of which left me with a rib cage and torso full of pain that my doctor thinks is costochondritis (cost=rib, chond=cartilage, itis=inflammation). In other words a good, old-fashioned case of "everything hurts, including taking a deep breath, so don't even think about moving much, lifting things, sitting up suddenly, reaching for sh*t, or... sneezing." Much less the yoga, Crossfit, spin, and swim regimen I've gotten used to keeping each week.
So. What to do? How to be? One moment at a time. For now, I will do an excess of wandering in surf magazines, exploring videos and the lives of those in and behind them, attacking the stack of books I've accumulated, and synthesizing it all, here.
And walk. I can still walk.
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