Growing older doesn’t mean you always have to slow down. In fact, for some, the twilight years are just the beginning of new adventures.
From traveling in an RV, to cruises on open waters, the path for many can be thrilling. But for one Japanese man, even that was too tame for him.
So he climbed Mt. Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain range, at age 80. Then he turned his sights on catching waves..
Now at 90, Seicchi Sano has made his way to the Guinness World Records as the oldest man to ever surf. And he doesn’t plan on stopping with just that one hobby. He spends most of his weekends on Enoshima, a small island in Japan that was used as the site for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
“I don’t consider myself an old man,” he said while he was on the beach, preparing to surf.
I have never thought of myself as an old person. I always feel that I can still move forward. I can still do it. I can still enjoy it.”
Sano, who still works at his lumber business, said he finds surfing relieves stress. When he met a man at his bank, who didn’t look like someone who spent his time indoors, Sano asked him what his secret was – surfing, the man said. So Sano found a teacher.
When he made his way to the beach for his first lesson, he was the oldest person there.
“To be honest, I was surprised by his age,” said 46-year-old Kazuto Shimizu, his instructor. “I was most worried that he would get injured. I did not know how fit he was, physically. So when I heard he was 80, I thought it would be a bit tough to think about whether my own grandfather could surf. I was surprised he was able to do it as well as younger people.”
90-year-old Seicchi Sano of Japan broke the world record for the oldest man to surf. Photo by Eugene Hoshiko
Sano joked about joining the Tokyo Olympics. “I was hoping to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, not as a competitor but as an old-age demonstrator,” he said.
He now spends his weekends catching waves and thinking of his next adventures.
“Maybe I’ll try bouldering,” Sano said, though he admitted his first attempt might be at a gym. “Outside it might be a bit dangerous,” he said. He said no to bungee jumping. “Too scary,” he said.
But he said, he could just spend the rest of his days surfing.
“I think it would be interesting to try to surf until I’m 100,” Sano said. “I think I take better care of myself when I have goals like this. Even now, I take better care of myself than I did before.”
For Sano, it doesn’t matter that he often falls when trying tricks on the board, it just matters that he tries.
“I can only say that I just enjoy myself and do what I want without stressing out,” he said. “So if you try to be too good at it, or think that you have to do it this way or that way, I think you lose the fun.
“I enjoy being swept up in the wave,” he added.
I am not a good surfer. So I call myself a ‘small-wave surfer’ — out of respect for those who surf well.”
In the end, for Sano, it’s about the connection to the water. “People often say that surfing is life, itself,” he said. “If I describe it in one word, I think it really applies to me right now.”
For a glimpse of Sano riding the waves, watch below. Like and comment below, letting us know what you want to be doing when you reach age 90!
