Surf Video To Video Yourself Surfing Or Not

To video or not to video, that is the question. Videoing yourself surfing is only for the brave.
          So you're hot surfer. You rip the tops off waves and carve huge gauging cutbacks. And your best surf buddy got a video camera for his birthday. What could go wrong it's all good. The new swell is arriving in the morning, tide is perfect and the surf is going to be so good. You head down to the beach fresh wax on your board and your buddy with his new video camera is charged up and ready to go. The waves are pumping a few guys out. You're ready to bust some big airs and shred. Your the next John John and your friend is going to make you famous. Dreams of being on the cover of surf magazines. Your YouTube hits are going to be through the roof. You hit the water and start ripping. You're having the best day ever. Every wave in the ocean is coming to you. All the locals are hooting you up and your best surf buddy is getting it all on video. You feel like a surf star ready for the tour. You can hardly wait to get to home for your mom's famous banana chocolate chip pancakes. Your rinsing off you wetsuit while your buddy plugs in the camera to the big screen TV. All the surf groms are there for pancakes and to watch you kill it. You come on the screen and there you are making a weak goofy bottom turn and banking off the top of a wave. You still have high hopes, eating your pancakes. Another crappy shoulder high wave comes on the screen and you're crouching in the pocket not really in the barrell and not really doing anything. You ask your buddy if he got that giant set wave. Yeah he got it. That was it. You ask what about the long tube ride. He says he didn't see a long tube ride but he says he videoed every wave so it must be here. You ask him fast forward to the good waves. And then it hits you. You aren't surfing as good as you feel you are and that giant Pipeline left was barely head high. You feel sick and not a good kind of sick. You just found out you don't rip. It's crushing.
     So to video or not to video, that is question. You were a hot shredding ripper when you woke up. And now reality set in. So now what? Stop videoing yourself or use it to get better. The surf always looks smaller in photos and on video and that giant spray from your huge cutback. Well it wasn't that good of a cutback. Video is a great tool . Use it to rip harder. Get back out there and charge for real. Good luck! And belief me I was shocked too at how small the surf was when I was filmed. 
  If you want to surf good and rip it off the top? It all starts with a solid bottom turn, so when you crank it off the bottom you create massive speed to come off the top hard. Make sure you go all the to the bottom of the wave so you can get all the speed.Then project your board to a spot on the lip where you want throw spray out the back so your buddies can see it.  And while surfing always  look for the steep parts of the wavefor added speed. Video is a great tool to start surfing your best. Other guys rip why not you? If you're an older guy (like me) you may not want to video yourself surfing...haha...sometimes it feels better than it looks. 
Keep paddling out , when in doubt paddle out.