KOOK RIB
Surfing for the first time in 14 years and paying the price
Hi, I’m Charlie. This is where I write about my salty adventures on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. Subscribe for trip reports and notes from a cottage by the sea.
There are many ways to have a midlife crisis. Getting back into surfing in the second-half of your 30s after taking 14 years off is not one I would recommend. But if you’re anything like me, you don’t really have a choice.
Surfing was once my whole life, to the point that getting back into it can only be described as a sort of relapse. Like an addict, time away from the obsession has made me think I might be able to moderate and enjoy this time.
A few weeks ago, at the suggestion of a friend who was eager to surf for the first time since his kids were born, I picked up a used 5’ 5” retro fish and a 5mm hooded wetsuit and paddled out on a barreling overhead day at a local beachbreak (not exactly conditions for easing back into the lineup, but we had fun).
Ireland just happens to be having one of the best winters in history, with powerful storms stalling in the middle of the Atlantic and calm/offshore local winds making for big, glassy, perfect conditions weeks at a time. It has been so good at the big wave spots farther north that the big wave pros from California and Hawaii have more or less taken up residency in Sligo as Mulligmore keeps on firing.
To further sweeten the deal for those of us no longer at a stage in our lives where we can drop out to chase a swell, some of the best days have fallen on consecutive Saturdays and Sundays.
These have been the kind of sessions I need right now: humbling and powerful with no shortage of opportunities to get worked. Grieving pairs well with trying to pigdog into closeout barrels.
But the surf is always self-regulating. I came away from my first session back absolutely wrecked but delighted. Surfing big-ish waves on a small board made me feel old.
I had the usual shoulder burn and lower back tightness from paddling all morning. But I also had a stabbing pain in my lower ribs that didn’t go away—and was therefore an injury, not just soreness. This is a phenomenon called “kook1 rib,” bruising of the intercostal muscles and possibly the ribs themselves, caused by pressure from paddling on the lower ribcage, a condition that normally affects beginners and weekend warriors on trips, surfing every day for a change.
The only cure is to keep paddling.
My case of kook rib was especially bad because my kayak training had given me the endurance to surf all day, but I had lost all the sport-specific adaptation and strength needed to paddle a surfboard comfortably.
The pain, which lasted for weeks, was a lesson from Mother Ocean, one I might have ignored as a frothing, obnoxious little grom2. Like any obsession, my all-consuming relationship to surfing in my teens and twenties had been rooted in fear and selfishness.
Like a neon-clad Captain Ahab with water up his nose and a “shit head” wetsuit tan, I had the arrogance to demand that the ocean meet me on my terms and serve up swell at a time and place convenient to me. Like a true addiction, the sport had always been an excuse to slack off, be underemployed, and never fully commit to relationships. My connection to the sea as a young surfer was an extension of who I was at the time: all-taking, all about me.
I don’t know that I’m more patient (my ribs say no), but I am more accepting that the sea calls the day, and life is more waiting than scoring.
My motivation has changed too. I’m not just chasing swell for myself these days, I’m putting in work so when Marcus starts surfing, he won’t think his dad’s a kook.
P.S. When I’m not having adventures, I’m helping other people write about theirs. If you or someone you know has an amazing story, I’d love to hear it.
— Charlie
Kokatat is the official gear sponsor of The Lap.
The lap is fueled by Resilient Nutrition’s Long Range Fuel and bars.
CH Marine provided a VHF radio and other safety equipment.
Camp kit and cooking gas provided by Paddle & Pitch. Wool baselayers by Aclima. Trolley by KCS. REAL Field Meals at a discount from Adventure.ie. Discounts from GreatOutdoors.ie. Expedition coffee by 3fe.
A “kook” is a surfer’s slur that refers to virtually every member of the human race who doesn’t surf well or with style.
Young surfer