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103 Captain Liz Clark - Adventure Surfer Surf Mastery Podcast Download What if the best way to improve your surfing has nothing to do with your technique—and everything to do with how you live?Captain Liz Clark sailed across the Pacific solo for over a decade in search of waves, connection, and meaning. In this deep and honest episode, she shares how facing danger, solitude, and self-doubt at sea helped her redefine success—not just as a surfer, but as a human. Liz offers a rare perspective on flow, fear, and femininity that goes way beyond the lineup.Discover why inner peace and purpose matter more than performance for true surfing progressionHear how a competitive surfer became an environmental activist through her voyage of awakeningLearn how letting go of control and comparison can unlock lasting stoke and deeper flow statesHit play to hear how surfing, sailing, and self-love came together in Captain Liz Clark’s unforgettable journey—and why her story could change your relationship with the ocean forever.Links to Liz:https://swellvoyage.comhttps://www.instagram.com/captainlizclark/?hl=enThe sponsor for this episode is https://flatrockwetsuits.com.auEnter code MASTER15 for 15% off a new wetsuit.Key PointsSurfing is central to Liz's lifestyle, allowing her to enjoy freedom and a year-round surfing experience.Liz's first surf experience was at age 15, staying in the whitewater with a friend, which hooked her on surfing.Liz's relationship with the ocean is deeply intertwined with her sense of peace, acceptance, and personal growth.Liz's biggest fear during her ocean adventures was not the physical dangers but the fear of failure as a captain.Liz's voyage led to an awakening in terms of self-discovery, understanding her place in the world, and spiritual connection.Liz emphasizes the importance of inner alignment and self-awareness for achieving flow states and success in surfing.Liz's journey was driven by a desire to live close to nature, simplify life, and align with her environmental values, with surfing as a significant component.Liz advises surfers to focus on enjoying themselves and the benefits of being in the ocean rather than solely on performance improvement.Liz's definition of femininity evolved during her voyage, emphasizing confidence, self-love, and embracing one's unique style.Liz's current adventure involves community activism through a campaign to spay and neuter animals on her island. OutlineLiz Clark's Relationship with SurfingLiz Clark's relationship with surfing began in high school when a friend took them out on a surfboard.Surfing is central to Liz's life, influencing their decisions and lifestyle.Liz describes surfing as a source of freedom, salvation, and inspiration.Liz Clark's Relationship with the OceanThe ocean has been a place of peace and acceptance for Liz since youth.Liz spent over a decade traveling the ocean on a sailboat, facing numerous challenges.Liz's relationship with the ocean is characterized by love, respect, and a healthy amount of fear.Liz Clark's Solo VoyageLiz embarked on a solo voyage in their early twenties, traveling through the Pacific on a sailboat named Swell.The voyage was fraught with risks, including injuries, pirates, and long-distance voyaging.Liz's determination and desire to continue the voyage were instilled from a young age, growing up on boats.Definition of 'Captain' and 'Failure'Liz defines a captain as someone who manages a ship safely and delivers passengers safely to their destination.Failure, for Liz, would be running the boat aground on a reef or deciding the voyage was too scary and giving up.Awakening and Self-DiscoveryThe subtitle of Liz's book, 'A Sailing Surfer's Voyage of Awakening,' refers to discovering oneself and understanding one's place in the world.Liz's journey led to an awakening in terms of self-discovery, spirituality, and connection to the universe.The voyage accelerated Liz's inner growth and self-awareness.Flow States and SurfingLiz believes that flow states are a beautiful thing and can be influenced by inner alignment and choices.Surfing in flow states can be elicited by challenging situations, though sometimes it can have the opposite effect if one is exhausted.Liz had moments where they put surfing ahead of their instincts, leading to close calls with disaster.Best Surfing ExperiencesLiz had many good surfing experiences, but the best ones were those that were earned through challenges and required effort.The appreciation for good waves is heightened when they are not easily accessible, emphasizing the value of effort and adventure.Driving Force Behind the TripSurfing was one of the principal driving forces behind Liz's trip, along with a desire to live close to nature and simplify life.Liz saw the journey as a way to escape the modern world and live in alignment with their environmental values.Advice for SurfersLiz advises surfers to focus on enjoying themselves and having fun, rather than solely improving performance.Embracing one's own style and personality in surfing is key to improvement and enjoyment.Letting go of expectations and pressure can increase the chance of entering flow states and improve surfing.Liz's Current Surfing and LifestyleLiz surfs three to four times a week and is based in Tahiti.Liz attributes their improved surfing at age 44 to taking care of their body, eating healthy, and practicing yoga.Living on land since 2018 has allowed Liz to focus more on surfing and improve quicker.Book RecommendationsLiz recommends 'The Four Agreements' by Don Ruiz Miguel for self-growth and self-awareness.For adventure books, Liz suggests 'Paddling Your Own Canoe' by Audrey Sutherland and 'The Long Way' by Bernard Moitissier.Liz also recommends 'Halaiki Rising,' the story of the Hokulea and the rediscovery of Polynesian navigation.Definition of FemininityLiz's definition of femininity has evolved from traditional ideals to a more personal and confident expression.Liz's voyage allowed them to redefine femininity based on confidence, self-love, and embracing one's true self.Embracing femininity has positively impacted Liz's sailing, surfing, and overall life enjoyment.Advice to Younger SelfLiz would advise their younger self to embrace obstacles as opportunities, challenges as learning experiences, and difficult people as chances to practice virtues.Loving oneself and not comparing to others would have avoided much pain and frustration.Current Adventures and ActivismLiz is currently involved in a campaign to spay and neuter dogs and cats on the island where they live to reduce overpopulation and animal suffering.This community activism represents a shift from sailing adventures to working with others and the government on local challenges.TranscriptionMichael Frampton Yeah. Let me start. I want to ask you, do you remember your first wave, your first surf?Liz Clark I do. I do. I was in high school. I think I was a freshman in high school, so 15. And I had a friend who was a surfer, and she offered to take me out on her board one day. And we just stayed in the whitewater the whole time. And I don't even think I stood up all the way. But I got the feeling of the glide and just being out there in the ocean, which was something I already loved so much. And yeah, I was hooked. I was absolutely hooked.Michael Frampton So now, what does surfing mean to you now?Liz Clark Well, I mean, surfing is such a foundational part of my life. It's just one of the biggest pillars that I revolve my world around. And so, yeah, surfing means so much to me. I shape so many of my decisions around it, you know, based on being able to keep freedom and have a lifestyle that allows me to surf when the waves are good and be in a place where I can enjoy that year-round. Yeah, it's my salvation and my playground. And, you know, it gives me so, so much.Michael Frampton How would you describe your relationship to the ocean?Liz Clark My relationship to the ocean. I mean, the ocean has given me so much, you know, when you think back to. When I think back to my youth and just how the ocean was always a place that I could go to feel at peace and accepted. Always kind of a medium where I felt like I could be myself. And then, of course, when I spent ten years, you know, more than a decade and thousands of miles traveling the ocean on my sailboat. You know, the ocean gave me so many challenges and, you know, was a place where I was forced to grow in so many ways that, yeah, our relationship is something of like love and respect and a healthy amount of fear, but there's so much more to gain than, you know, to fear in my opinion, so something I keep going back to all the time to feel good, to stay inspired, to keep feeling a purpose in my life, and so yeah, I'm very close to the ocean and hope that I will get to continue to be.Michael Frampton Yeah, yeah, you mentioned fear. When it comes to the ocean, what is your biggest fear?Liz Clark You know, I've learned to kind of calculate my risks in my 40s now, you know, I used to kind of fling myself madly at my ocean escapades, but, you know, now I tend to use a bit more calculated risk when it involves surfing and, you know, long-distance voyaging or sailing adventures. But yeah, I mean, I don't really, to be honest, focus on the scariest parts, so I don't really even know what I would fear the most. I try to focus on the good parts, and I think that's always served me.Michael Frampton Obviously, yeah, because I'm getting out on a solo voyage in your early, was it your 20s? Yeah, like, there's so much, like a young woman by herself on a second-hand boat, like surfing to surf reef passes, like injuries, pirates, like the list of risks is insane. Like, what gave you the mouse to sit across such upon such a voyage? Like, where did it come from?Liz Clark Yeah, to be honest, I don't know. It's almost like it was born and instilled it into me always because, you know, I had the experience of growing up on boats and getting a taste of that pleasure of seeing the world by boat as a young child. You know, neither my brother or my sister ever had quite the same desire as I did to continue that and live it out in such a way that I did. So I don't really know exactly where it came from, but the determination to do it and the desire was always just such a huge part of my world and I didn't really question why. And yeah, the risks, I knew what the risks were and people were constantly telling me and talking about them, especially in the several years that I spent preparing the boat for the voyage. You know, there was just constantly people telling me why this was not a good idea and kind of naysaying it. I think there was a deep down, I really knew that there was more to gain than to lose and that those risks were going to be like part of the fun. At that age, I was really, you know, I loved the idea of adventure and unknown and kind of just going without a plan. So at that time, there was parts of that that appealed to me. You know, what really I feared, I think most, as I set out, was failure, you know, like failing my job as people that helped me and whether it was financially or, you know, sweat, blood and tears. There was just a lot riding on me pulling it all off. So that was the biggest fear, was just that I couldn't perform as a captain or, you know, do, fulfill those duties or things that I needed to do to be successful at the voyage.Michael Frampton Well, how did you define the word "captain," and what would have failure looked like?Liz Clark I mean, captain, I define as being able to manage your ship safely, to be able to, you know, your passengers safely to the other side. You know, at the beginning of the voyage, I was always with different crew and friends who had very little boating experience. And so there was a lot of responsibility on me to make sure everybody stayed safe and understood the basics of, you know, what the risks were of being out there on the ocean. So, I think that's my definition of being a captain or being a good captain. And I would have defined failure at that point as, you know, running the boat aground on the reef or, you know, in a way that it would have been like a repairable damage to swell or, you know, just deciding that it all too scary for me and I didn't want to do it, you know, giving up in some kind of way like that.Michael Frampton Yeah, so having to be rescued basically.Liz Clark Yeah, yeah, sinking or running aground would have been really, really a, for me, it would have been a big sad ending to a beautiful thing.Michael Frampton Hmm. The subtitle to the book is A Sailing Surfer’s Voyage of Awakening. That sounds quite, it's quite a spiritual subtitle. What do you mean by "awakening," and describe what that means to you. What's that journey of awakening?Liz Clark Yeah, I think it means many things. To me, it meant awakening in terms of me discovering myself and knowing who I am as a person, as a woman. That was a huge part of the journey and then also kind of an awakening to the realities of the world and understanding my place in it, a connection as well to my spirituality and like a deeper understanding of my place in the universe. All of those things were kind of like an unexpected part of what I did. I really set out kind of with just the idea that I was, you know, going out there to find remote waves and surf these breaks and have fun. And, you know, there was just so much more to it. When I actually got out there, I learned that to be able to succeed at what I was doing, it was really important for me to be able to look within and remove any of those obstacles that were blocking me from being kind of like in alignment with the greater forces of the world. Because when you're out there, you're so vulnerable and so dependent on nature and the ocean to kind of cooperate with you, that it really became apparent that, you know, my inner journey and my outer world had connected in a really important way. And that, you know, doing the work within, I would be rewarded on in the physical world, you know, externally, I guess?Michael Frampton Well, what is it doing the work within?Liz Clark What do you mean by that? I think I mean looking within and seeing how I could be a better person, recognizing self-awareness, basically. You know, there's always things that we don't see being ourselves and that, you know, it takes, it took me time alone on the ocean with lots of time to reflect and really think about who I was and who I wanted to be, to be able to kind of like do that inner work, do that job of looking at things maybe you don't like about yourself or you want to do better at and kind of put them into play in your everyday life.Michael Frampton I'm assuming you're talking about in regards to others, like your relationship with other people?Liz Clark Definitely, but I think my relationship with myself as well. You know, yes, definitely with other people. You know, there was a point in my voyage where I wanted to make amends with everybody that I felt that I'd wronged in my life and, you know, wrote letters to different people that I wanted to apologize to or clarify something with. But there was also an ongoing relationship with myself that needed attention and, you know, me discovering my power as a woman, as a person, depended so heavily on me being able to be confident and learn to love myself really. That wasn't something that came naturally to me. I was kind of, I never thought that I deserved maybe as much as other people did. And so it took me time to kind of develop my self-worth,…
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