I’m based in California where waves are good all year round and weed has been legal since 1996 in one manner or another and has been recreationally legal for adults since November of 2016. As an adult resident of California who occasionally consumes marijuana, I wondered what it would be like to smoke weed and go for a surf. So, I gave it a try … a few times.
Smoking weed and going surfing had mixed results. I didn’t surf as aggressively as maybe I would have without being stoned, but I did feel connected to the ocean, the ebbing and flowing of swells, and the nuances of the wave when we surfed it.
Here’s more about my experience getting stoned and surfing.
Why I Wanted To Try Surfing Stoned
I was curious. I heard about musicians getting high and playing big concerts in front of thousands of people, and others claiming to have had great ideas under the influence (I’m still waiting for the evidence on the latter). Neither of those things was true for me. My mediocre guitar playing got worse when I smoked and having great ideas wasn’t my agenda when I got stoned. My agenda was retreating from the world and relaxing, which is similar to my agenda when I go surfing.
I was also curious to see how my surfing would be from a performance perspective when I was high. Would there be any amount of creative crossover in my surfing like what musicians reported in their playing? Would there a different flow in my surfing that I would find high? I wanted to know.
What I like About Weed In General
I don’t like to get super stoned when I smoke or eat weed. I don’t like couchlock. Getting stupid is not my goal. Relaxation if my goal. I liken smoking pot to a casual glass of wine from that perspective. A little bit goes a long way for me.
I took the same approach to smoking before I surfed. Just a hit or two.
The Weed I Smoked
I smoked Blue Dream when I surfed. It’s not too heavy and I feel physicalyl and cognitively functional. Again, I don’t go crazy. A hit or 2 gets me where I want to go. I intentionally didn’t eat an edible as I didn’t want it to sneak up on me when I was in the water.
Other Weed Products & Strains I Would Have Considered
I know what I just said about edibles, but if I were to eat a marijuana edible before surfing it would most likely be from Kiva. I find their products tasty, effective, and most of all consistent which is not something you get from a lot of marijuana edibles.
Other bud I would have considered would be 1) anything that I was familiar with prior to my stoned surfing experiment and 2) ideally something not too high with THC.
The Wave Conditions & My Surfboard
I surfed waist to shoulder high glassy waves on a fish surfboard. I’m comfortable in that size surf and that surfboard any day of the week.
It was a warm Southern California spring day surfing in Cardiff, California. The sun was shining. It was pretty great by any standard.
I paddled out to a peak that only had a handful of surfers out. I generally like to keep my distance and that sense was heightened while I was stoned.
The Pros & Cons Of Surfing Stoned
First the pros of surfing stoned:
- It was fun and relaxing
- I took my time with wave selection
- I made a few good turns like I typically do
- I felt like my balance was fine
- I felt a different connection with the ocean than I typically do
- I felt in flow when I surfed
- I was more relaxed
The cons of surfing stoned:
- I did find myself needing to concentrate on my drop in more so than I would normally
- I wasn’t as aggressive when surfing. I was more interested in finding a flow with long bottom turns and long top turns, nor in competing for the best waves or hitting the lip or other maneuvers where I would be bouncing around in the whitewater
- I was more afraid of the idea of sharks than I was normally. Classic weed paranoia
- I walked to and from the beach from my apartment which took about 30 minutes and added some amount of fatigue before my session and certainly after
- I got a little spacy waiting for waved and really enjoyed sitting on the surfboard for longer periods of time than I would have if I wasn’t stoned. I was stoned after all.
Conclusion
I still do like to get stoned occasionally. I find it relaxing. I’ve moved since my surfing stoned experiment, and I am no longer within walking distance to the beach so smoking before surfing isn’t as much of an option for me as it was once before.
I’m not sure if I would get stoned and surf again. My interest was in trying surfing stoned a few times to have the experience and to understand the experience as it compared to surfing normally. I enjoyed it but I prefer to not surf stoned these days. That is subject to change 😉
Please note this article should not be misconstrued as advice or encouragement to use marijuana, weed, cannabis or whatever you want to call the plant be it before surfing or before or after other activities.
