In Kook: What Surfing Taught
Me about Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave, Peter Heller
describes learning to surf at age
47, then briefly embracing a surfer
lifestyle in Baja. We asked fellow
surfing writer Daniel Duane (Caught
Inside) to sound out Heller on getting stoked at midlife.
Speaking of Books
Life Is Swells
A writer turned surfer finds well-being in the waves
Q: I struggled to learn surfing
in my early 20s. Is it reasonable
for people to learn it in their 40s,
50s, or 60s?
A: One of the guys I met surfing on
the coast of Mexico was picking it up
at 67, and he was having a blast—so
it is one of those things we can learn
in our 60s. It’s not like skateboard-
ing, where if you hit the ground, it
really hurts!
Q: The term kook—an unskilled
outsider—is the ultimate surfing
putdown, but you wear it proudly.
A: Being a kook is a way of life at any
stage of your life. It’s about being
willing to learn something new—to
make a fool of yourself and just go
for it. In that sense, I still have a
kook attitude.
