The Legions of the Unjazzed

"And every day we surf, good or bad, there is the magic time. We sit on the beach, still warm from the day's sun and lean our backs against Wayne's sea wall, and look at the ocean. We dig our bare feet into the sand and we look into the Pacific and the Pacific looks into us.

We are stoked. Six, eight, nine, ten people lined up against a wall, all jazzed by the water we have just conquered. There is a feeling of vast accomplishment.

There is nothing mystical about this. There is a need in all of us for controlled danger; that is, a need for an activity that puts us however briefly on the edge of life. Civilization is breeding it out of us, or breeding it down in us, this go-to-hell trait. Gradually, the day-to-day people, the hackers, are taking over. There are, as you read this, uncounted millions of people who now go through life without any sort of real, vibrant kick. The legions of the unjazzed.

But surfers have found one way. God knows, there are other ways. Each to his special danger. Skiing is not enough. Sailing is near. Ski jumping is almost. Bullfighting makes you dead. The answer is surfing."

-Phil Edwards