Sano turns 90 later this 12 months, and after being recognised by Guinness World Records because the oldest male to surf, he is prepared for different assessments.
“Maybe I’ll try bouldering,” he stated, suggesting he would possibly do it first in a gymnasium.
“Outside it might be a bit dangerous.”
He dominated out bungee-jumping: “Too scary”.
Or possibly he’ll simply persist with what he is aware of.
“I think it would be interesting to try to surf until I’m 100,” Sano stated.
“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.”
Sano lives about 20 minutes from Yokohama and will get out most weekends on the black-sand seaside close to Enoshima, the small island that hosted crusing for the latest Tokyo Olympics, and was the harbour for the 1964 Games.
He stated he was impressed by an worker at his native financial institution, who was at all times tan and did not seem like a typical banker. His secret, he stated, was browsing. So Sano adopted up and located a instructor.
“I don’t consider myself an old man,” he stated in his moist swimsuit, board standing alongside.
“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.”
Enoshima is an space of small waves, which fits Sano. He joined a whole lot of different surfers on Thursday, ready for the bigger waves to come back. All the surfers have been youthful, after all. Several have been elementary faculty or junior excessive age who additionally work with Sano’s surf teacher, 46-year-old Kazuto Shimizu.
They could not wait to brag about their, so to talk, “great grandfather”.
“I think age doesn’t matter in surfing,” 12-year-old Iroha Shimabukuro stated.
Added her twin sister, Fuka: “He’s more like a family member regardless of age.”
“I think he’s amazing,” stated their youthful brother, Shua.
Rokka Saito, the opposite younger surfer within the pack of 4, summed it up.
“I respect him,” she stated.
Sano paddles out and waits for a wave to strategy. He catches it and stands, tries to do a number of tips on the board, and infrequently tumbles over into the shallow water on the seaside’s edge.
“I can only say that I just enjoy myself and do what I want without stressing out,” he stated.
“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 get pleasure from being swept up within the wave,” he added.
“I’m not an excellent surfer. So I name myself a ‘small-wave surfer’ — out of respect for many who surf nicely.”
Sano still runs a business that supplies timber to construction companies, and still works 9-to-5 at the job. The surfing is a stress reliever, apparent as he takes a break far from shore and floats on his back with his legs draped over his blue and white board.
“To be sincere, I used to be stunned by his age,” said Shimizu, his instructor. “I used to be most nervous that he would get injured. I didn’t know the way match he was, bodily.
“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.”
Sano joked about browsing within the delayed Tokyo Games, held slightly below two years in the past.
“I was hoping to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, not as a competitor but as an old-age demonstrator,” he stated.
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Sano goes by means of a critical stretching routine earlier than going out; legs splayed 120 levels, and fingers touching his toes. When he stands, he is straight as his board — although at 5-feet-4 (1.65 metres), far shorter.
“People often say that surfing is life, itself,” he stated.
“If I describe it in one word, I think it really applies to me right now.”
Source: www.9news.com.au
