Byron Bay. Image by Travis Thurston, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Seventy-three year old Paul Watts discusses his passion for surfing in a series of ‘surf diaries’ sent to his granddaughter from halfway across the world.

In a world where millions of people are living longer than they ever have before, the question of what to do with one’s retirement is a perennial one.

Surfing, while popular, can be a very dangerous sport – forcing its enthusiasts to come to terms with their place in the natural world.

In this piece, however, Paul takes a different view: finding instead an arena in which one can ‘play’ with nature, and develop a deeper understanding of both the natural world and ourselves.

This piece was produced by Gabrielle (Ella) Watts.

It primarily features all four movements of the D956 String Quintet by Franz Schubert, provided by the European Archive via Musopen.org under a Creative Commons license.

Sound effects and recordings were provided by Paul Watts, Freesound.org and Zapsplat.com.