Clay Marzo- world class surfer has aspergers

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My some of my buddies are surfers and I recently told them about my AS. They responded with relief because they had thought that i may have been mentally ill for some time. They had heard of aspergers and actually somewhat more knowledgeable about it than your average person making it easier for them to wrap their heads around my behaviours- this is because apparently one of the best surfers in the world, from here in Hawaii named Clay Marzo has aspergers- AND its his aspergers that MAKES him so talented at surfing... ive watched him once at a surf competition and in a few videos and he is AMAZING. ive never seen anyone move and predict his own movements and the waves like he does- its the aspie hyper focusing. Andy irons (recently deceased), Kelly Slater and Joel Parkinson all think hes the next big prodigy.

espn did a documentary on him and it resonates with me also being from Hawaii. just thought youd all find this interesting since its another inspirational person with AS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYKbIM61fAM

HUGE Clay Marzo fan here!

I knew who he was before my friends told me but I never knew he had Aspergers!

I'm a fan from this moment on, its pretty cool having a local star having the same condition. Funny thing is i've surfed at the same spots as him while he was there but I didn't know about my aspegers yet and was not aware he had it either.

I read about him in ESPN magazine.

Hell yeah. When I was surfing all the time (3+ hour daily - sadly I am now 8 hours from the ocean), there was this zone I got into that was just pure intensity. I can see it working for a pro. Plus the sound of waves is like pure nirvana. It's soothing - the perfect combination of white noise and rhythm.

I wish I got into surfing more - just the feeling of you and the ocean is peaceful. I'm not that great at it, but the feeling when you're able to stand up and ride that break is pretty damn amazing. I live an hour from the beach. But ironically, I snowboard more than I surf.

And I thought you went to school in Oregon, Mike...

im with you guys the ocean is the most naturally soothing thing imo- when I'm having a breakdown or feeling depressed I go to the ocean to escape. Just being seaside calms me down and resets my mind .

I think I kind of understand why Marzo is able to do all of those crazy carves and spins- your right wavefreak its just the intensity that aspies can focus at. Marzo must be able to as cheesy as it sounds, "feel" the waves and "be" the wave otherwise those crazy spins and rubberlegging he does could never work- its gotta be spot on at the exact right time and not even guys like kelly slater could do that kind of maneuvering.

And I did go to school in Oregon until last term. I'm all for trying new things but Oregon was just too different, a 180 deree turn around from Hawaii. Weather, people, culture, heck food and music were alien to me. the 3 years i was there i was pretty much sticking it out the whole time not feeling comfortable. The biggest difficulty was the socializing, if you've been to Hawaii you'll know that people here talk pigeon English which is kind of like a surfer/hawaiian version of ebonics....thats what i grew up speaking and listening. Going to rural rednecky Oregon (no offense Oregonians) where people were hicks, skinheads, homeless , from the bay area or different in general , the style of speech was so different it was difficult to adjust...i'm already impaired socially to begin with but that was pretty much asking me to socialize in another language. it would be like asking a guy from the inner city of Detroit to try go live with WASPs from New England for 3 years, its just not going to work- not only in the speech style aspect but pretty much everything from dress, music , food and hobbies

I've been to Washington, BC and Australia when I was much, much younger and I've been to SoCal, Vegas and New York within the past 15 years. I'd never give up life in the Bay Area. I love it out here even though it's an expensive place to live in.

As far as my surfing goes since I go every now and then I'm still learning the basics. However, I'm a pretty good snowboarder - but I'm no park rat. The snow's tranquil once you breakaway from the peloton so to speak. I'm finding out I enjoy jumps on my board and my plan this season is start working my way to the moderate sized ones and learn technique on how to land properly - I almost blew my hip out earlier this year.

I think that he is exceptionally talented and kinda sweet. I want to hug him