I will

KELLY AND SHAUN: Good to see Shaun Tomson spending more time in SA. Photo WSL / Tostee

A few years ago I read Shaun Tomson’s book, Surfer’s Code in about one sitting. Not only is he a surfing legend, he is a skilled story teller. So when I heard that he was speaking about his life’s journey and his new book, The Code, in Jeffrey’s Bay this week, there was nothing to do but clear the schedule and head on down to J-Bay Bru Co.

Shaun’s talk, The Next Wave - On Surfing and Life, unfolds with a story about Rincon, Santa Barbara. Some time back, as part of an event to find a solution to a pollution issue, Shaun was given the task of creating a keepsake for the young people in attendance.

Instead of providing surf gear, he went home and wrote down, in just twenty minutes, twelve life lessons surfing has taught him. He printed his code out on cards and presented them to the kids. The cards, Shaun says, “turned into a groundswell” and he began giving talks at schools about the twelve life lessons surfing had taught him.

POINTERS: Ezekiel Lau gets some surfing tips from the master. Photo WSL / Cestari

But Shaun Tomson is not a prescriptive guy. He told the Sunday crowd at J-Bay Bru Co that, while visiting a high school in Santa Barbara, he suggested kids create their own code.

“Take twenty minutes and tell me about all your goals. Begin every sentence with the words ‘I will.’”

Many kids sent him their twelve point codes, but the first line he received was from a young girl. She wrote “I will be myself.” Reading this, and the other codes that followed, Shaun says he felt like he was “listening to an anthem for youth.” He “was so inspired by that one line” I will be myself, that he wrote his second book, The Code.

As he focused on the teenagers, and the codes they shared with him, I had a sense of foreboding. Was this positive, athletic, smiling man taking the talk where I thought he was? You likely know that in Surfer’s Code, Shaun Tomson shares the heartbreaking loss of his teenage son. His boy was only fifteen when he died playing a game that went wrong. We know Shaun can handle fifteen foot at Pipeline, but how does a parent discuss a loss of such profound proportion in a presentation environment?

Well, this man does it with dignity, strength and optimism. When Shaun Tomson reflects on the terrible day he lost his son, he recalls telling someone that a positive attitude is the most important thing in life is. And he lives that. Whether you hear him on the WSL feed, or you pass him on the beach, or you watch him inspire a room in JBay, he radiates stoke.

But he didn’t always. He said in his talk that when his son died, his mojo was gone and his stoke was extinguished by loss.

It took a month before he could face surfing again. The first time Shaun surfed after his loss he says he just cried and cried as he paddled out. But when the waves broke over him, the salt water blended with the salt water of his tears and the ocean washed the tears away. When he eventually caught a wave, “that ride started [his] path to healing.”

Shaun explains that one million Americans die annually from poor decisions. They pay the ultimate price for bad choices. Inspired by his son, Shaun’s mission with his book The Code is to reverse that statistic, so that fewer families suffer the kind of loss his family suffered. I Will Be Myself is the first chapter of The Code. He writes:

“Sometimes small decisions, choices you make in an instant, have such heavy consequences.”

His mission with The Code is to inspire youngsters to figure out their will, be empowered and reach their goals. One youngster (must be a surfer) wrote that Shaun’s code “resinated” with him. Two young girls said he “inspired [their] hearts to make a difference.”

Sometimes small decisions, choices you make in an instant, have such heavy consequences.

And the more he helps others, the better he feels and the more help it gives him.

After personal tragedy, Shaun Tomson made the choice to paddle back out. That is part of his code. He chose to never give up. He chose to always have a positive attitude.

I saw him in JBay earlier this week when the heats were over, frothing to get in the water. He was almost late for his presentation because the waves were good. I heard him laughing and sharing positive stories and life lessons on the WSL live feed. You’ll see him stopping for a chat, listening for a name, sharing his stoke.

The sets keep rolling in at Supertubes. Even when there is a lull, we know there will always be a next wave. Some waves will be better than others. Sometimes you will ride them, and sometimes you will wear them on your head. But, if you reflect on the stoke of Shaun Tomson, then even when you take that beating, the best choice is to paddle back out.