We’ve all been there in someway or another when it comes to fear in the sea.

Maybe for you, it begins before you’re even looking at the ocean. A swell is hitting your local spot that day, and as you get ready to head down to the beach, you feel the clenching in your gut, imagining all the ways in which this surf session could go wrong.

Maybe it starts when you’re standing at the shoreline. It’s low tide, and you’re watching the thin skin of the sea roll over rocks or reef that seem impossibly close to the surface. You start wondering how you’re going to get out of there with all your skin still intact.

Maybe it doesn’t start for you until you’re actually paddling for a wave; the drop feels too steep so you pull out, or you feel like everyone around you is way more advanced, so your negative internal dialogue starts psyching you out. Slowly, you let yourself drift outside, and let everyone around you get their waves while you watch from the sidelines. 

The more we repeat these patterns, the further ingrained they become, and we can slowly start identifying with this fear in the sea to the point it completely disrupts our relationship with surf, with the ocean and with ourselves. Our minds job is to protect us, and that is what can be one of the hardest things about surfing; knowing when to go beyond your fear, to heed the warnings but say; thanks, brain, but I’m doing this anyway.

Safety first

Of course, it is up to ourselves to discern what we are capable of, what we believe our body is capable of, and to push ourselves beyond our limits in a healthy way, while still knowing the parameters. It can be a tricky process, to discern what we are actually physically capable of achieving, versus our fear-brain that is telling us we can’t do ANY OF IT.

“If your Nerve, deny you

Go above your Nerve”

Emily Dickinson

There are some things we can do on land to expand our capacity and potential in the surf, such as surf-focused training and building our breath-holding capacity.

There are also things we can do to nurture our emotional relationship with this fear, and even re-frame our whole experience of fear in the sea so that we can surf with more confidence and a loving perspective.

We all have fears in and out of the ocean.

Although you might feel like you are the only one struggling with some wild internal dialogue when surfing or else, we assure you – you are not alone!

The fears we can have in the ocean are so wide and varied;

Fear of angry men and women; intense localism.

Powerful waves and hold-downs.

Shark-ey vibes, being touched by an animal, the feeling of not being ’alone’ out there.

Mistakes coming from hesitating, fear or doubting your own abilities.

Drowning. Rip tides. Coming down from being held-down from one wave, only to be hit by another one as soon as you come to the surface.

Rocks. Reef.

Brianna Ortega is an artist who uses storytelling and social connection to connect people and ideas together.

Her MFA is in Contemporay Art: Art and Social Practice. Through her creative practice, she questions issues of identity, power, and place. Bri’s embodied experience being female, mixed race (White, Black, Native American), a female surfer, growing up between Hawai’i and California and residing in the Pacific Northwest US for 10 years, and overcoming an autoimmune disease has influenced her to initiate conversations about place, belonging, and the displacement of people.

Fear in the sea can manifest in so many ways, she says. A nausea or a ‘sick’ feeling in your gut, racing heart, racing thoughts, brain fog, uneven or difficulty breathing.

Professionals recommend slowly exposing yourself over time to what you fear in small increments. This, Bri says, can start with something as small as putting your feet in the water and doing a meditation, and slowly building up to actually paddling out in the water and sitting in the line-up, to then giving yourself a goal of going for at least one wave that session.

How can we become masters of our minds, stop overthinking, and lower our anxiety in the water? Can we learn to adapt and adjust to this ever-changing environment with grace?

Yes! This workshop is a good place to start. It will help you unpack your thoughts and fears using creativity – a brilliant approach to liberation.