Beyond the Break

CHAPTER 12HAWAII AND HOME (AGAIN): Learn, have fun and maintain health

As Blair and I shuffled towards yet another flight boarding queue, on our way to Hawaii at the start of my eighth year on tour, his mind must've been considering the same topic.

‘What are you going to do when you stop surfing?’ he asked.

‘I'm not sure. It feels like leaving school, hey?’

‘I guess. It's cool, though, that we can show up at any popular surfing spot on Earth and know some of the locals.’

‘We've put a lot of travel kilometres behind us and had an epic time. Not sure any of it helps in our next career, though.’ I sighed with a slight smile, thinking back over some funny memories, as I handed my boarding pass over to the flight attendant. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘Try to get a job with one of my sponsors as a sales rep.’ Blair shrugged. Somehow he was always clear about what he was doing. ‘And you?’

‘I did a course on website development in my down time and I'm making a few sites for friends. There's a surfboard business I’m kind of in the process of buying into too, but I don't have money, ha ha.’

With no time to gain other qualifications while surfing and travelling so much, a lot of pro surfers were left in a precarious position when their careers ended. Not only were you an adult in the same position most school leavers find themselves in — faced with the frightening prospect of trying to figure out what to do next — but your very reason for existing was ending.

Most of my life, I'd had ...