September 22, 2025

Barton Lynch: Surfing as a Journey of Self-discovery

1 hour 10 minutes

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In this episode of the Basis Surf Podcast, we have Barton Lynch—former world champ, Pipe Master, WSL commentator, and coach. He’s worked with pros like Sally Fitzgibbons, Kolohe Andino, and Team Australia at the ISA Games, but he also spends a lot of time helping everyday surfers. We get into the mental side of surfing—learning to trust your intuition, getting out of your own way, and surfing for the feeling. We also break down vertical backside re-entries, style, and how his drive came from a mix of total desperation and then learning to not care at all.

Chapters

02:10 Key to Success in Pipe Masters: Desperation

07:40 Passion as a Motivator

09:15 You Fail for a Living

10:30 Value and Commit to Yourself

11:25 Story with Kelly Slater

14:10 Make Yourself Happy and Help Others

16:15 Light-bulb Moments Back in the Day

21:04 Video as a Tool

23:34 On Mastering Vertical Backside Reentries

26:15 Shift from Competitive Surfing to Coaching

27:30 Emotions When Coaching

30:35 No One Approach Always Works

31:07 Learning from Surrender

32:35 Competing Against Tom Curren

34:40 If You Can’t Imagine It You Can’t Do It

35:45 On Style and Surfing for the Feeling

38:34 Drill: Surfing in First Gear with 50% Energy

39:55 You Need to Mentally Rehearse It

44:33 Method Acting and Surfing

46:26 The Intelligence that Comes from Feeling

48:58 Stop and Be Grateful

55:24 Relying on Intuition

59:56 Surfing or Me?

01:02:37 Surfing Video Game

Subscribe for more interviews with pro surfers, coaches, shapers, and everyday surfers like Tom Carroll, Zeke Lau, Victor Bernardo, Matt Parker of Album Surf, Matt Meola, Ryan Lovelace, Eric Arakawa, Noel Salas of Surf n Show, Parker Coffin, Dane Gudauskas, Kassia Meador, Clayton of Ombe Surf, Dylan Lightfoot, Derek Dunfee, Magnum Martinez, and more!

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By Basis Surf

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