April 12, 2012 Thursday

How To Get Better With Age

The big news today was the article in the O The Oprah Magazine (May 2012) that featured Mary. That's a picture of it in the above photo (pg 185). The magazine was devoted to "Coming of Age" articles. Mary let us all know about its publication with a broadcast email yesterday. The magazine flew out their photographer, decked Mary out in a new wetsuit, and took over a thousand shots of her - all in the water with her Mystic 9' 6" tangerine nose board at the Patch in Bolinas. We were all impressed. John Moore, the shaper of Mary's board, responded that finally his Mystic boards received some national recognition.

Here's how the article went down -

"How to Change Your Life at Any Age - want to surf a wave, start a business, speak Chinese, fight a fire, adopt a child? Meet six women who prove you're never too young or too old."

Andrea Peterson became a firefighter at 66.

Traci Lucien became a mom at 49.

Keeley Tillotson and Erika Welsh started a company at 18 & 19.

Stephanie Hunt learned Mandarin at 37.

Mary Wagstaff learned to surf at 55.

All the articles were about impressive changes in life made by these courageous women. But being a surfer, I thought Mary's was the best story. After having surf in her teens in Maryland and not surfing for thirty-five years - having married, raised two children and had a successful career as an advertising art director - friends pestered her into the chilly waves of Marin. After one wave she was hooked and has been surfing three to four times a week ever since. Mary and her friends referred to themselves as OBOB - Old Broads on Boards.

Mary has also connected surfing with art. She spends hours painting images of waves and the ocean's surface onto canvass with great success. Out in the water she is not only watching for the next set of waves but she is also studying the light patterns on the ocean's surface.

"The ocean is unpredictable, so the challenge is to be as alert and aware as I can be."