What Surfing Teaches You About Life

An author shares his passion for the sport as well as his list of the top five waves.
By Simon Worrall, National Geographic

Say the word “ surfer” and we tend to think of a muscle-bound hunk with sun-bleached, blonde hair and Schwarzenegger-style pecs. Bill Finnegan defies the stereotype. A bookish kid who went on to become a staff writer for the New Yorker, he fell in love with surfing at the age of 13 when his family moved from Southern California to Hawaii. His book, Barbarian Days: A Life In Surfing, recalls his lifelong odyssey to such far-flung places as Madagascar, Sumatra and Tahiti searching for the ultimate wave and his quest for a different, more simple way of life.
- Speaking from his office in Manhattan, he describes his wild childhood on Hawaii and what he calls The Code of Boys; explains how terror and ecstasy live side by side for a surfer; and shares his Top Five waves. Source
- Your book opens with you surfing in Hawaii at 13 years of age. Take us back to that time in your life.