Surfing as a dance

This is the story of a woman who accidentally resurrected her lifelong dream of surfing at the age of 46. In an improbable twist of fate she became a surf instructor at 50. Sally MacKinnon walked out of a career as a professional environmental protector with a PhD in Adult Education, to reinvent herself as a fitness, yoga and surfing instructor on Queensland’s Gold Coast. She also took up the practice of Zen. 

But this is more than a story about surfing and reinvention. This is a story about finding joy, meaning and delight in the twists and turns of everyday life. 

This beautiful book of personal stories, poems and photographs is a love letter to life; particularly attuned to women because the arc of our lives can hold so much passion and pain.  

Surfing as a dance calls you to be inspired by the possibilities inside your own life. 

It invites you to be surprised by your own dreams and stories and to find the beauty and hope within them, nestled like pearls inside gnarly old oyster shells. This is a book to savour, to gift, to share and pass along. We hope it is like a dear friend – nourishing, compassionate and kind.

Sally MacKinnon in collaboration with photographer Alison Gowland, designer Ingrid Schroder and editor Diana Timmins, invites you to explore Surfing as a dance and take up or deepen your own dance of creativity with life.