Iain Gately

The image that people have of surfers is twenty-something fit individuals with long, sun-bleached hair. Their campers will have an array of boards in the back and if they are not already out in the surf, then they will be staring out to sea, looking for that perfect wave. But there are others who have had the surfing bug for a long time now and have reached middle age and they are still surfing.

Iain Gately is one of those, but having just had a replacement hip operation, he is not sure if he will ever surf again as he hobbles around on his crutches. If he can, then he wants to ride a tube, a wave where you the surfer, is wrapped in a glistening, deafening barrel of water, before it fires you out of the end or swallows you entirely. He has never ridden one before, but the yearning to do so is deep.

As he slowly recovers after the operation, he starts to get back into shape, trying to get his muscle memory back, practising the techniques that a surfer needs to know and digging out an old skateboard to work on his balance and posture. It has been a while since he surfed, and as his health improves he makes the decision to replace his board and wetsuit and venture once again into the waves. His journey back to the waves will take him from Ireland to Andalucía, Galicia to Ireland and Portugal to Morocco, as well as the waves on the Dorset coast that he can hear from his own front door. Will his hip survive and will he find that surfing nirvana?

He is committed to surfing as anyone else who has this particular addiction, and it is an addiction when you read how some are driven to find that perfect wave. The prose is full of contemplative moments as he considers his health as well as the excitement when he catching a wave for the first time in a very long time. Gately's descriptions of the places that he travels to are quite evocative, I could smell the salt hanging in the air from the white horses, thankfully he doesn't fill the book with the language of surfing, but there is a glossary should any of the meanings evade you. I found this a really enjoyable read and a worthy addition to the scarce numbers of books on surfing.… (more)

Sedusse anche me, ma la tradii mezzo secolo fa ... e non me ne pento ...

"Nel 1492, al suo sbarco sulle coste americane, Cristoforo Colombo venne accolto con offerte di pane, frutta e foglie secche. Colombo gettò le foglie in mare, ridendo del bizzarro dono, ma ben presto lui e i suoi uomini compresero il potere di quelle foglie, rimanendone affascinati. Pianta medicinale capace di produrre allucinazioni, inducendo stati di trance, il tabacco era al centro dei riti sciamanici e magici dei popoli americani. Quando arrivò nel nostro continente, riscosse un immediato successo: i francesi sottolineavano le sue proprietà benefiche, gli inglesi lo consideravano la panacea di tutti i mali, i tedeschi lo studiavano dal punto di vista scientifico e gli svizzeri lo testavano sui cani prima di dichiarare che poteva essere assunto dagli uomini. In Italia, il commercio del tabacco era inizialmente gestito dal clero. Ma insomma, si chiede l’autore, la diva nicotina chi è? È una musa ispiratrice, seducente e maliarda, o una strega affascinante, che rende schiavi i suoi amanti? Iain Gately ci presenta, attraverso i secoli, i più famosi sostenitori e avversari del tabacco. I fumatori, racconta l’autore, sono stati messi in prigione, torturati e perfino giustiziati per aver acceso le loro sigarette. La diva nicotina traccia lo sviluppo di questi due universi, mostrando la capacità del tabacco di mettere insieme uomini e donne di ogni provenienza ed estrazione sociale, uniti nella passione per il fumo, o nella sua condanna. Passando dagli sciamani agli artisti, da Casanova a Hitler e Einstein, il libro analizza i ruoli che il tabacco ha rivestito nella nostra cultura, in relazione ai rapporti tra i popoli, alla sessualità maschile e femminile, ma anche all’impatto economico che la seduzione del tabacco ha avuto nella storia. Ripercorrere l’ascesa del tabacco vuol dire anche, infatti, ricostruire la storia sociale, economica, politica e culturale del nostro mondo."… (more)