Conatus Surf Club

Humans of the surfological persuasion:

The semester has ended. I have a stack of final papers to finish grading and four of my own to write, but lessons are in business. I've updated the sidebar summary. The post below lists new prices. Please read fully and carefully before emailing to schedule a lesson.

I will not update this blog often, as I am using these next few posts to provide crucial surf lesson info for the summer season.

I will be able to accommodate a few rides to the beach from Brooklyn this summer, but I'll mostly be meeting you in person at Long Beach or Rockaway (depending on your car/train situation). Due to my new digs, I have the capacity to schedule multiple lessons in any given day, weather and waves permitted.

About Conatus: Conatus is term from medieval philosophy that defines the force with a being that endeavors to persevere in its own being. I take it from the philosophy of Baruch de Spinoza. In life one's conatus, or life-force, can become enchained, hindered, and even halted. The conatus is deeply connected to the imagination and our capacity to imagine better lives for ourselves. When it becomes hindered it not only loses its force it also loses its ability to imagine—and thus we can argue that the capacity to imagine is a crucial part of the positive force of existence. Our ethical responsibility to one another is to provide channels and ways for our conatuses to thrive—to free up and unlock new vistas for living. My aim in naming my surf business Conatus Surf Club is to help others realize their potential as a surfer and to provide new ways of looking at the ocean, which engender a life-long relationship with it. I emphasize care, patience, and mindedness and believe that in the long run developing these values at the core of one's surfing practice makes for better surfers and a better surfing community.