A late beginner in very big water

I learned to surf at forty. Then I surfed Cloudbreak.

Cloudbreak is a roughly twenty-foot wall of Pacific energy folding over shallow coral several miles off Fiji. It can break a board, hold a surfer underwater, or persuade a sensible adult to stay on the boat.

I got there through failure, mentors, breath training, rescue drills, and years of ugly feedback. That is how I take on hard problems.

See the work before the wave Read the mini book

Andrew Howard surfing a roughly twenty-foot wave at Cloudbreak in Fiji — **Cloudbreak, Fiji** The swell arrived from deep water and detonated over shallow reef. A rescue crew was nearby. My bladder remained unconvinced.

What the photograph leaves out

I was not fearless. I was organized.

The smiling photograph is the end of a story that began at Isla Todos Santos, twelve miles off Baja, where a wave called Killers gave me four hours of fear and zero waves. On the boat home, I made a list: breath confidence, rescue skills, better equipment, better teachers, and a board built for the job.

That list became the method. I trained the pieces, borrowed pattern recognition from people who already knew the ocean, and returned to reality better prepared. Years later, at Cloudbreak, the result was a wave—and a very happy rescue from Abe.

Read the science thread

Big-wave rescue driver Abe picking Andrew up on a jet ski at Cloudbreak — **Abe arrived.**One of the world’s best big-wave rescue drivers brought me safely back after the Cloudbreak wave. I was extremely happy to see him.

Fail cleanly

The first attempt gave me a diagnosis, not a heroic story.

Find the experts

People with pattern recognition saw dangers I could not.

Train the pieces

Breath, rescue, equipment, paddle speed, and takeoffs.

Return to reality

The ocean kept moving. I arrived with less guessing.

Isla Todos Santos, Mexico

Vincente asked whether I wanted nice Todos or mean Todos. I chose nice.

Todos sits about twelve miles off Baja. There is no beach exit, no cell service, and a wave under the lighthouse called Killers.

The first time I went, I borrowed a board, wore no flotation, and caught nothing. Then I met Vincente, a Mexican big-wave surfer who taught me to stop aiming for the safe shoulder and point the board toward the teeth.

Two years later, I returned with a 10-foot-3-inch pink board, a static vest, an inflatable vest, breath training, rescue practice, and much better company. The wave stayed dangerous. I was finally prepared enough to learn from it.

Read Nice Todos / Mean Todos

Andrew Howard sitting on the Pink Padillac in front of the lighthouse at Isla Todos Santos after surfing Killers — **Back in the channel** The Pink Padillac is visible. The vest is inflated because I had used it. Both hands are celebrating the continued availability of oxygen.

Surfing With an Accent, abridged

The book follows two threads.

Read straight through for the full argument, or start with the thread that interests you.

The personal chapters

What happened in the water.

Todos Santos, Cloudbreak, breath-hold training, the wave pool, and the return.

Start with All Saints

The science chapters

Why late learning still works.

Critical periods, neuroplasticity, deliberate practice, and wicked worlds.

Start with Critical Periods

The route here

The pattern started before the waves.

I have spent most of my life choosing problems slightly beyond my current qualifications. Soccer made that feel normal. The rest of the story kept proving the point.

University of Michigan men's soccer team posing together outdoors — Michigan soccerBefore the companies and the big waves.

Michigan

Preparation made the improbable feel available.

I played soccer at Michigan and scored the game-winning goal in a national final. That was a useful experience and a dangerous lesson: enough work can make an unlikely thing happen.

Chicago

Then came the highly practical degree.

I studied philosophy and Asian Studies, a combination that qualified me perfectly to bartend at a Chicago nightclub. I did that for a while.

Personalized learning

Brain Hurricane and Wowzers.

I built two education companies around a stubborn idea: students learn differently, while schools are usually built to teach them in groups.

Now

Addie and the counselor shortage.

Too many students are not heard because counselors carry impossible loads. Addie gives students time to speak and gives counselors the context to do the human work.

Visit Addie

Surfing made the process easier to see: choose a real challenge, find people who know more, train the pieces, return after failure, and respect the consequence. I use the same method on dry land.

The life around the adventures

The waves are the adventures. Sara and Elliot are the life.

Sara was in New York. I was in Chicago. We spent several years making airports do the work, then moved to North County San Diego and had Elliot.

We took her to Tavarua when she was three months old, which felt like a completely normal decision at the time. That trip set the pattern. We travel because the world is a better teacher than we are.

Family sharpened the ambition and removed any excuse for stupid risk. The people waiting at home are why the planning matters.

Andrew, Sara, and Elliot together in Japan during the fall — Now **Japan, last fall. Same family. More years. Better stories.**

Andrew, Sara, and three-month-old Elliot together on the beach at Tavarua in Fiji at sunset — Then **Tavarua, Fiji. Elliot was three months old and already had a passport stamp.**

Sara and Elliot together beside the sea in Greece during the summer — Also now **Greece, this summer. The world remains a better teacher than we are.**

Home is Cardiff

We travel widely, then come home and try to be useful.

Sara spent seventeen years at Nike. She trained in nutrition and exercise physiology, ran multiple marathons including Boston, and later built Coconut Culture, a coconut-yogurt business that brought organic, plant-based food to our local farmers’ markets.

She serves on the health council and volunteers in schools. Elliot is ten: a ripping surfer, strong skier, serious soccer player, and excellent traveler. He has a gift for making a trip feel like an expedition instead of an itinerary.

I host the Cornish Gym at Swami’s three mornings a week with a rotating cast of Cardiff dads and serve as a trustee on the local school board. We like friends, long dinners, beach mornings, and being useful in the place that gave us this life.

I know how lucky I am. That is the organizing fact.

Cover of Surfing With an Accent by Andrew Howard

A midlife crisis with footnotes.

The full book

Surfing With an Accent

The odd chapters put me in the water. The even chapters follow the science of learning after childhood. Together they ask a question I still care about: what remains possible after the convenient age has passed?

Personal chapters Fear, failure, Cloudbreak, and the return to Todos. Science chapters Critical periods, neuroplasticity, practice, and risk.

The mini book gives you the spine. The Kindle edition has the original scenes, research, sources, and every useful side road.

Read the mini book Buy the full book on Amazon

The wave lasted seconds. The work took years. That is the part I care about.