This is a super enjoyable vid of Rasta doing his thing. I learned about Dave Rastovich when I saw the film, Blue Horizon. The more I listened to his views on life and on surfing, the more impressed I was. I clearly got that this guy has a pure soul. Dave is a not only an amazing free surfer from Australia, he is doing his part to help save dolphins and whales from slaughter.
Rasta says, "Both humans and dolphins share the experience of surfing for the pure joy of it - so for us as humans to do this thing of sliding along the wave and loving it so much... that anytime the waves are good or there's a storm coming and it looks like there could be surf - we drop everything and go surfing. And the fact that dolphins appear to do a pretty similar thing you know - I've seen them out the back when there's fish around, and then if a set comes they'll beat it - they'll split from fishing and they'll ride the wave and they'll all surf together.
And then at the end of the line, there's no fish at the end of the wave, they basically just do it for the joy of it. There's the same sensation of tapping into a source of energy for the pure pleasure of it. As ocean people it's up to us to do something for the ocean."
Nearly five years ago, a dolphin saved his life from a potential shark attack. Dave told Cooler Mag, "I was sitting in the water, when all of a sudden I saw a dolphin next to me that was behaving unusually hectic. From the top I saw how the dolphin came flying and hit a shark hard in the side. I myself hadn’t even seen the shark before! The dolphin saved me from a most probable shark attack. Incidentally that happened a couple of days after I had founded Surfers for Cetaceans. "
Rasta also meditates and there is a nice article at SurferMag about it.
As far as how he lives his life, he told Surfer Mag, "For me the ultimate goal in surfing and in life, for me, is balance. Basically just balancing all the aspects of my life to a point where I’m at this really enjoyable and peaceful middle point that I can act from as a point of balance. So I’m conscious of every move I make, instead of acting unconsciously to people when they do something to you and you react with anger, or reacting to the ocean being ugly one day and you’re going, “Oh God, I wish it was perfect.”
So my goal is a conscious balance of everything, so in surfing my goal would be to just live that. Because I’m fortunate enough to get paid to do this whole surfing gig and have it documented, like we’re doing right now, so my goal is just to share that balance and the joy of balance. Just sharing, like I was saying before, instead of competing and that kinda thing. I really love the sharing aspect of what makes me happy. But only sharing it through either doing it or when people ask; I don’t wanna push what I’m doing on anyone. I just enjoy what I’m doing.
And with my position with Billabong and in the surfing world, that’s somehow an entertaining value in some way. I go surfing and someone takes a photo and it goes in a magazine. My only goal is really to just share the joy of balance and the joy of learning to balance, of going up and down, just the joy of being on that adventure, of finding out what it is that makes me continually helpful, happy, peaceful. A clear person and a clear mind. "
LineUp asked Dave, "I know you are really pushing, or riding twin fin fishes. Where are the shapes of surf boards going, or where should they be going?"
Dave responded, "They go where each individual wants them to go. Surfing is FUN. Do what the fuck you want on a wave. Any fool who tells you how to enjoy the ride is only doing so because they are not fulfilled with their own surfing experience, and should not be listened to."
LineUp also asked him, "Is there anything you want to try but haven't yet?"
Dave's reply, "Surfing naked at Teahupoo."
Spoken like the soul surfer that he is.
Rasta and Irons - final scene from Blue Horizon
