Why would you get up at 5am, drag yourself out of your cozy bed when it’s three degrees outside, pull on a wetsuit and go into the freezing water (which may have sharks in it) all for a few rides that perhaps last twenty seconds each?

Why would you save up for months, years even, to go on a trip around the other side of the world? Buy surfboards, boardshorts, wax, leashes, suncream, plane tickets, boat tickets. Risk food poisoning. Risk malaria. Neglect your relationships. All for the chance of surfing a particular wave that might not even be working when you get there?

Why would you plan your entire life around this particular thing? 

Every weekend. Every holiday. Every spare second. And still be 100% content with your choice. 

The answer is a feeling, not a bunch of words. But every surfer, and snowboarder too, has a story about the lengths they’ve gone to to Live the Search. The sacrifices they’ve made. The injuries they’ve suffered. The uncomprehending looks they’ve endured.

“We’re all on a Search aren’t we?” says 8x World Champ and endless Searcher Steph Gilmore. “We’re all on the Search to find ourselves. I think for surfers we’re all on the Search to find ourselves…in the pit. Haha.”

Mason Ho sums it in his own words why we all do this too. It’s not really an explanation. It’s more of a call to arms. 

“You have a choice to go Searching. Just getting out of bed. You want to get out of your house where it’s nice? Eat your food. You wanna stay and cruise? Or do you wanna get out? Like, what do you want? And then, boom, you start getting on this journey of finding it.”

Get out and find it. 

Live The Search.