Surfing in Sobriety

When Back2Basics clients return from Mexico this weekend, they’ll have made their first foray into the iconic sport of surfing.

That doesn’t automatically mean they’re surfers.

Roy DuPrez, Back2Basics founder and CEO, is an avid surfer himself. He says surfing and recovery can both lead to humility and frustration, as well as ample rewards. And that’s why he feels strongly about leading Back2Basics clients to the water.

He says it took him a week and a half to learn to surf – about the same length of time B2B clients have gotten to try it on this trip.

“There were tears and frustration,” he recalls of his own introduction to the sport. “The waves were so big, and the current was so strong.”

These days, “continuing to fine tune my surfing is a struggle. It’s not like riding a bike. There’s some transition back into the water. Some of the frustration can return,” he says – and that’s where he makes the strongest connection between surfing and a sober life: “That’s the parallel. I’ve been sober for 10 years, and continuing to struggle with little things that regular people know how to do.”

For the Back2Basics clients, there’s a lesson, he says. “Even things that are fun, like surfing, you’ve got to earn it. You have to stick with it, have patience.”

Ross, a Back2Basics intern, agrees.

“You see it on TV and they make it look so easy,” he said. “You come thinking you’re just going to charge the ocean.”

Ross spent the first few days at Saladita, the surf beach, like most of the clients – paddling until his arms hurt, but not surfing much. By the end of the first week, he was making noticeable progress and had stood up on his first few waves. Despite being from Colorado, he soon joked that he was “born to surf, born to live at Saladita.”

The crew will return in a couple of says to landlocked Flagstaff, so no more surfing for a while. But outdoor staffers Robb Faus and Chase Christensen have been planning plenty of drier adventures …