When professional surfing reared it's beady eyed head in the late 70's the writing was on the wall, although not too many saw it. Competitive surfing's grab for dollars came with a price. And the price was surfing's soul. Surfing was led astray from its adventurous quest for the truth, it's celebration of individual uniqueness and purity of expression. Hand held down the narrow corporate road of conformity, surfing was homogenised, sterilised and packaged for the masses. It's paid off big time for a select few players. But if you look closely along the side of the road, you can see that it's littered with the bodies and broken hearts of many talented and spirited surfers. Off in the distance, the footsteps of many of surfing's most talented and visionary disciples disappear into the wilderness, their words of wisdom and gifts of genius ignored in the bloody frenzied grab for dollars.

I live in hope that surfing will recover it's lost soul and become that great adventure, celebration of uniqueness and a purity of expression that captured my heart and soul in the early seventies. A place where how we feel becomes more important than how good we are or who we defeated. And I'm not talking about the feeling of personal self-gratification here, but about the feeling of being at peace and in harmony with the people and the environment around us. About the feeling of being aligned with our spirit and our purpose in life. The feeling of not compromising ourselves, our environment or those around us. The feeling of understanding the importance of celebrating the beauty and magnificence of creation itself.

This is what surfing is, a celebration of life and creation. It is a dance, an expression of feelings and emotions and personal style. It is a dance of great power that has the ability to transform all those who come into contact with it. It can be the dance of testing oneself, of our ability to understand and move across a moving, spinning wall of water. Sometimes it can be a dance of testing our fear and our ability to survive, treading the fine line between life and death itself as played out in the giant waves of Hawaii or the bone crushing reefs of the South Pacific and Indian oceans.

The Future

Surfing may be about to be freed. Freed from the narrow path that competitive corporate surfing has held it ransom to. The net may just save surfing's soul. It is well possible that no longer will surfing's image be dominated by dollar hungry corporations and their heavily compromised media slaves. Now individuals freely can express previously suppressed voices easily and effectively via the net, without being compromised by demographics, advertising dollars or limited editorial space. No longer do you need a huge advertising budget or editorial muscle to have your say. Providing the world can find you!

This will become the key in the future, being able to be found and heard amongst the millions of sites that litter the net. This is where a collective such as we-walk can be so effective. It can become a powerful channel for uncompromised and non commercially oriented voices to have their say and be heard . A place that people can trust to go to and receive non-commercially distorted information. A place where surfing's artists and visionaries can be seen and heard.

People are naturally drawn to powerful expressions of spirit. Large rock concerts, and the seat filling power of actors like Jack Nicholson stand testament to this. The net may be just the opportunity that surfing needs to reclaim it's birthright - as an incredibly unique and powerful expression of spirit that touches the heart and soul of everyone who comes in contact with it. Via the net, surfing now has the opportunity to be portrayed with a depth and integrity that can lift it out of the narrow paradigm that it's been trapped in and allow it to stand tall in this exponentially changing world.