Introduction 1

1. Wanderings of a Gremmie 7
The First Sideskids
One Mouthful at a Time
Viva Mexico, Cabrones!
Journey to Maine
The Utopian Wave
Trip to Boston
The Quest

2. Some History 31
Prehistory
Contact with the Water
The Matter of Boards
Rocked by the Waves
The Visions of the West
A New Wave
The Final Impetus
The Beat of the Ride
The Return to the East
The 1980s: The Fun Years
Scanning the Future

3. Planet Surf 61
Respect and Hope (The Storm)
The Waves, to Be Exact

4. Sirens and Other Metaphors of Nature 71
Becoming One with Nature
Transformation and Death
The Immensity and the Minuteness of Nature

5. Women Surfers 81
A Gremmie's Point of View

6. The Social Scene 91
From One Extreme to the Other
The Opposite of the Conditional Approach
Philosophies of the Ephemeral
Gentle Warriors and the Quest for the Center
Between Two Bodies of Water
The Slide into Crime
A Taste for Ecology
Small-Time Politics and Localism
Gloom and Doom and Outright Terror
Artists of the Ride

7. Science and Impermanence 121
A Theme of Astonishing Power
Thinking Movement
Alternative Consciousness and Play
Individuation
Rejection of the Summons, Relic of Nomadism
On the Notion of the Natural Man and the Citizen
The Motivation

8. The Intuitive Search for Hopupu 135
A Mysterious Gliding
The Relationship with Oneself
Joy

Epilogue 141
An Opening
Gliding in the Perpetual Present
Deconditioning, Exchanges, and Revolutions
Cultivating Confidence

Glossary 151
Notes 155
Credits 159