Surfer's Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding Through Life

Powerful lessons for surfing, business, and life from world champion surfer Shaun Tomson.

In Surfer’s Code, world champion surfer Shaun Tomson shares the life lessons he’s gathered from decades of surfing―from his boyhood adventures in South Africa to the world tour in the late 1970s to the business world today. For Tomson, surfing is a hobby, a sport, a religion, an obsession, and more―it is a way of life. Tomson’s life lessons have guided his career to the top of both professional competition and the world of business. These lessons are born of the collective wisdom of the surf community and are a powerful source of inspiration in the face of extraordinary challenges of everyday life.

I will never turn my back on the ocean

I will paddle around the impact zone

I will take the drop with commitment

I will never fight a rip tide

I will watch out for other surfers

There will always be another wave

I will always ride into shore

I will honor the sport of kings

I will pass along my stroke

I will catch a wave every day

All surfers are connected by one ocean

In a new epilogue, Tomson tells about light as a symbol of hope―through his very personal experiences of a wipeout, the loss of one precious son, and the arrival of another son.

Shaun Tomson was 1977 World Champion on the International Professional Surfing Tour. A native of South Africa, he spent fourteen years on the World Tour (1976–1989). He has been featured in more than forty surf videos and starred in the surf movie In God’s Hands. He was listed as one of the twenty-five most influential surfers of the century (Surfer, 1999) and one of the sixteen greatest surfers of all time (Surfing, 2004). He is currently Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Surfrider Foundation and owns his own apparel company, Solitude, in Santa Barbara, California.

Patrick Moser is the editor of Pacific Passages: An Anthology of Surf Writing (University of Hawai'i Press, 2008). He collaborated with Shaun Tomson on Surfer's Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding through Life and has written articles for The Surfer's Journal and Surfer. He currently teaches writing and French language at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri where he also offers a course on the history and culture of surfing.

Shaun Tomson was named one of the twenty-five most influential surfers of the twentieth century, and one of the sixteen greatest surfers of all time. He has created two multimillion-dollar clothing brands―Instinct and Solitude. He was born in Durban, South Africa, and now makes his home in Montecito, California.

Patrick Moser is the editor of Pacific Passages: An Anthology of Surf Writing (University of Hawai'i Press, 2008). He collaborated with Shaun Tomson on Surfer's Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding through Life and has written articles for The Surfer's Journal and Surfer. He currently teaches writing and French language at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri where he also offers a course on the history and culture of surfing.