In the Pipeline of Duty

There are few sure things in life. William Finnegan writing about surfing is one of them. The New Yorker: A Surf Legend’s Long Ride. “For Jock Sutherland, being hailed as the world’s best surfer was just one phase in an unlikely life. “We all slow down, we all age out. It’s humbling, or worse, to admit that you can no longer keep up with the young guns at the top breaks, that you need to look for lesser spots—less intense, less competitive, less exciting. I find it difficult, but for a surfer of Jock’s stature the down-slide is truly precipitous. He never talks about it. He is so closely focussed on the waves at any given moment, on the possibilities for joy that they present, that the regret-filled long perspective—the differences between these waves and those he tackled in his prime—seems like a foolish distraction.”