What sits on the floor in your toilet?
Mine has a stack of old surfing magazines I picked up for 20 cents each at the Busso Jetty fundraising op shop. They are great toilet fodder. This morning I was reading about the late Viscount Ted Deerhurst, the UK’s first pro – surfer who hit the pro tour back in 1978.
I was a grom when Ted started on the world circuit and it always amazed me that a Pom could surf – let alone make it on the world tour! I used to get a great laugh out of this bloke because Ted didn’t ‘make it’ on the world tour – ever. He was absolutely hopeless compared to all the other guys. But because he was from aristocratic background and had more money than he knew what to do with he didn’t need sponsors and was happy to pay his own way around the world tour. He rarely if ever made it thru the first heat of an event and certainly never won anything, but he loved surfing and wanted to spend his life surfing.
So he did.
He could have toffed around back in the old country with all the other elite aristocrats, but he chose to do what he loved, something that definitely didn’t fit the paradigm of the world he was living in. He died unexpectedly in 1998 at the age of 40.
Ted is a legend of the likes of Eddie the Eagle, Eric Mussambani and Steve Bradbury.
I have immense respect for people who spend their life doing what they love and who choose to forego whatever respect they may have received from others in the process.
In my coaching role I often say to dissatisfied people the ‘sixty million dollar question’ is ‘what would you do with your life if money was no object?‘
Sadly most people I talk to actually don’t have many dreams, or if they do they are rarely dreams that are actually hampered by money. They are way more hampered by a mindless buying into a worldview that says ‘play it safe’, ‘toe the line’, ‘don’t risk failure’.
I like Ted’s story because despite his lack of surfing prowess he actually did it. He chose to do what he loved rather than what society told him he should do.
One of my fears in life is one day finding myself in work or in a situation where I have chosen not to live like that – where I have chosen to let myself slip into the routine of life and follow the safe path. I don’t think the life of discipleship allows for that possibility. If we follow Jesus then surely life ought to be a constant stretch as we live by faith and do what he asks.
Anyway – thank God for Ted and all the other Teds in this world!dumb and dumberer when harry met lloyd online
point of note..
I believe your conceptions regarding Ted are misled. I don’t believe he ever played on his title and quite often he had very little money. He certainly wasn’t a spoilt little rich kid surfing his way around the world but what he was, as you have mentioned, is an inspiration and by all accounts one of the nicest blokes you could ever have the pleasure of knowing and if you were lucky you could call him your friend.
I remember Ted well. Such a cool guy that was chasing his dream. I recall a surf contest he put on here in Melbourne Beach, Florida called the Excaliber Cup. He had a friend, actress / Hollywood star Heather Thomas, make an appearance. There’s an all-time classic photo I recall taken by Tom Dugan of Heather dancing at the awards ceremony with a very young surf grommet named Kelly Slater who ended up winning the event. Ted will always be remembered to me as a man that chased his dreams and although not at the top of his game statistically he was at the core of it. God Bless You Ted!
Pingback: What Are You Looking For? | Backyard Missionary
all i can say is – Bunker Spreckles (and I remember Ted’s days well…)