My life was the ocean for as far back as I remember. My father bought my elder brothers an okanui hollow board in the 50's and I was in the surf before I could swim at 6. Without giving too much away, my brother became very famous as a surfer, shaper and writer and still is. I made surfboards for years and surfed nearly daily until I had two accidents. One in 10 to 12 foot cyclone swell where I got hammered by the lip and broke two ribs, tore my stomach muscles and had a night in hospital with a bruised heart. Second was a ruptured disc which is a common surfers injury from long term paddling with an arched back. I have met many famous surfers and as a child met the Duke (Kahanmoku), surfed and partied with Michael Petersen and generally lived the surfer's life. I now bodysurf as my father first taught me but sometimes use fins (like in Bali!).
The ocean revives me when life's tests arrive and I will be scattered in it when I die....