Beach Koans
F ractal Surf
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Approaching the break
A fractal is a pattern that repeats no matter what the scale. This geometry helps explain crystalline structures in mountains and other shapes in nature. Some theorists use fractals to find order in shapes that seem totally random, like coastlines.
The sequence shows what happens when you zoom in on a fractal design. The second picture shows a node from the first, and yet it retains the same general shape. And so on.
For a beach koan, try to see the design sequence as a coastline viewed from a satellite, an airplane, a high bluff, and finally standing on a sandbar, walking out toward the peeling break off that little point.
Fractal surfing part two
The Wave of the Cold Front
A low pressure system is a weather disturbance that usually means bad weather. East coast surfers welcome these "lows" because they bring winds that kick up surf. Weather diagrams that describe the life of the moving low and cold front hold a special meaning to me as a surfer.
I can't believe how much the ripple between two air masses, one warm and one cold, resembles a breaking wave at the shore. Multiply a single crashing wave times a million and you get the huge weather wave that generated the wind that blew over the water and started a ripple moving toward shore.
In the greater scheme of physics, we surf inside a fractal, where the wave you ride is the smaller echo of the wave of weather in the atmosphere. Surely the echo has a larger resonance as atmospheric waves turn into cosmic waves enveloping Earth.
And the fractal goes the other way, the waves vibrating through the tuned fiberglass of your board. Waves splinter smaller within, rippling in the water inside your body.
Swirling low pressure system as seen from a satellite
Photos and diagrams from Weather by Golden Books
