hey bernie is that standard hawaian reaction for two drop ins?
remind me not to go there
in NZ they just owe you a beer
its easy to acidentally drop in if the wind is strong offshore
btw it would be worth dropping in just to see the guys frustration trying to
ding my board
break my board
couldnt help myself sorry but you know how hard they are to break 
actually i gotta say this to be fair
generally old locals tend to hog the takeoff zone
or sit and paddle really deep inside other surfers
often to deep
often they smudge the wave
i thinks it far worse manners actually to do that
keep paddling inside or snaking
then missing the drop
my personal rule is this
if old local paddles inside you and stuffs up 2 set wave takeoffs
i will paddle and drop in the next wave and he has to call me off IF he makes the drop
I don’t think you over reacted… If anything you educated… We the rest of the surf community thank you for educating another person who has no common sense… I knew when I was really young that dropping in was very un-cool… How did I know? Because I listened and watched what was going on around me… Like you, I was aware of my surroundings and the results of my actions… If the guy is sooo stupid or sooo un-caring to burn you twice then by all means… EDUCATE… Good job… Thanks!
My policy might be a touch weaker than some, but I’ve been happy with it. When I get cut off, I tend to let it go. I don’t say anything and most of the time the guy paddles back out and apologizes. I tell him “No problem, it happens.”
When I see other people get cut off though, I say something. “Hey man, did you see that guy behind you? You should be more careful.”
I have no idea why this is the way I do it, but it seems to work. I find that people defensive and uppity with you when you’re calling them on cutting someone else off…
Plus I never yell. It just makes people defensive and aggressive. A reasonable person is going to react well to being talked to unemotionally… an unreasonable person is going to ignore you no matter how loud and scary you get… Plus, I’m little. I’m not really capable of any serious intimidation 
The other point worth considering is that while dropping in on someone is dangerous, shoving a kid is a crime. An especially serious one if he’s under 18. No way would I chance an assault charge from an uppity parent.
I don’t think you overreacted – education needs to happen.
BUT, in the current legal environment, I’d go with oneula’s suggestions.
First time, talk to the surfer, etc, second time, equipment destruction. Property can be replaced. No assault charges can be filed – an “accident” happened, and it was the other guy’s fault. Everyone walks away healthy, and hopefully wiser.
As has been stated above – the education you give might save this kid from injury or worse later on!
thats’ the problem - hyperlitigation - back in the day when you could get smacked, people were more respectful.
I remember if anyone called my folks about me (school, neighbors, coach, whatever) - simply out of honor, i’d be on the hotseat wid my folks and had to explain out the situation. (burdon of guilt lay square on my shoulder until i could prove otherwise) Kids aren’t intimidated by any authority now – and weenie parents going to bat blind for them is only making thing worse.
You didn’t over react. you gave the kid a chance - he took advantage of ya. He was deserving of a smack too - whether or not the law protected him.
Hey Oneula,
You guys do leash grabs over there? Someone burns me and gets in front their leash is usually hanging behind them…
Equipment destruction?
That’s crazy, whatever happened to wave sharing ?
I find that if I just keep on surfing when dropped in on, saying nothing while surfing safely and avoiding contact, that the ride is often more interesting and rewarding.
Shoulder hoppers exist, get over it.
.
Wow. This turned out to be an interesting thread. Did I mention I’ve never grabbed anyone before? It’s really not like me. I don’t think I will (intentionally) again. I guess it just seemed so blantant, after I had just warned the guy to be careful and look before going. I guess I figured he did it on purpose and was really burning me.
Of course it never occured to me that what I did was criminal. I better watch what I’m saying now, especially since, like I said, I’m a teacher. I teach middle school in Los Angeles. Maybe my overreaction was pent up frustration from the classroom? Everyone is hyper aware that teachers cannot lay a finger on kids. The kids know it and if you haven’t been in a classroom in the last 10 or 20 years I’d say you have no idea what it’s like. My classes are all over 40 kids and all it takes is one or two with a bad attitude to ruin it for the whole class. The teacher’s attention is diverted from teaching to trying to quell disruption.
I’d better stop. I could go on and on about the subject. They say, based on job turn over, teaching is the most stressful job in America (and middle school- 11-14 year olds- is “boot camp” for educators). Most teachers would say that classroom management (formally known as “discipline”) is the number one problem. I had never really been told to F$#k off before, straight to my face, until I started teaching. Like I said I better stop.
Bless you, sir. My fiance teaches high school english. I’ve only been out of high school for 10 years, and I can’t believe what is considered acceptable now! And this is in one of the best school districts in the state!
It sure has been an interesting thread. I must say… I’m pretty surprised by how folks react to these situations. It makes me wonder how I don’t see more black eyes and broken boards at the beach!
I’m in LAUSD, maybe one of the worst? I don’t know. I do know my school is in year 4 of “program improvement” which means according the fed’s “No Child Left Behind” law, some children are getting left behind.
I’ve only had a few surfers in my classes. I saw one the other day, almost all grown up- (a lot like the kid I tossed). I asked him about another kid that surfed that was in my class and was his friend. The answer- “…'s in jail now. Stole a car and got in a full on chase.”
Lack of discipline?
I also teach jr high and we went through 9 teachers in 9 years trying to fill one position. The funny part is that most of the kids are much better than when I was growing up. I like teaching/learning standards because they focus what I teach, but a whole group of kids are getting left behind because they can’t keep up. The current philosophy is that everybody needs and is capable of a Stanford/Harvard appropriate education. I willing to bet that the bulk of the people complaining the loudest today couldn’t even pass my most basic tests.
I taught HS and JC for several years and found the kids in lower Socio-economic areas to be generally
respectful and motivated. Seemed really bad kids were out of the system by early-JH. I eventually chose
to teach in a “rough” gang-infested area as it felt like teaching was making a bigger difference.
I also taught in some very affluent areas, and found kids would talk back more, and be more focused
on social agenda, having a touch of arrogance that they themselves were not aware.
Maybe this somehow translates to the people out surfing, and the ill-mannered surfer.
Actually those things actually happened to me as a grom.
shoulder hop dropped in on (and I mean on him) Dickie Delong(a shaper for Surfline) who promptly took my board away from me and shoved it in on the white water to let it get smashed on the razor sharp rocks on the shore at Shark Country. Lucky for me my first non-styrofoam board (and yes I started on a real 1" double stringered woolworth special styrofoam board) was a Dextra pop out from Uncle GeorgeD in Kapahulu which lived up to it’s indestructable reputation and I got away with just some small rail dings which I learned to patch with perfection.
Those were single fin days before cords so making a grom swim in was standard practice.
Such incidents also made us good body surfers and to eventually bite the bullet to sit outside with the boys when we earned our turn in the rotation. We accepted our training then and there isn’t any reason why the kids today couldn’t learn theirs. The thing is once we made the transition we were accepted no matter how geeky we surfed because we paid our dues.
Today the guys that have seen me surf the same spots since 1990 or knew me when I was one of the regulars in the 70’s let me be. But I always give as many waves as I get cause I know I’m in it for the long haul. And like the old farts say you only need one good wave anyway. I find that’s all I need now just one good one and I can go in and feel satisfied no matter if it’s only been a half hour or less.
Guys like China and Drago even Aipa in his days would have no qualms of breaking a fin off or breaking your board in half or running you over. Even my brother at 5’7" 150lbs in his prime would run over guys 6’2 230lbs dropping in on him and tell them to go in at Courts. Most surfers are panties (as we say in Hawaii for crybabies) about getting their board dinged and will go in immediately after some big rail gouge or nose hack while others will just stuff it full with wax and keep surfing.
The thing about cords is that it took away the art of shooting your board which we used to have down to perfection in those days. Drooping in meant getting a board sent your way.
Also when you are in the zone with the right equipment there’s nothing like scaring the heck out of a drop in specialist who thinks they are going to outrun you by coming at them at mach 10 over and over again while doing aggros cutbacks a foot from their face where they can see your fins sliding out or just pull up to them at hyper speed with a twin nose gemini.
getting hit is part of the game least we forget
it happens to the best of us.
and dammit…
whether you like it or not it’s just an FN surfboard for g…sakes no matter what it’s made of.
this thread could easily turn in to something completey unrelated
and lead to all sorts of problems
before i sign out
let me say this
in modern societies it would appear to me to be what could be stated as a “socially acceptable level of violence”
in other words a scale of sorts.
at the top of the scale is premeditated murder
at the bottom vegetarian humanatariam pacifists
say its a scale of 1 to 10
id put myself on the level of about 2
i eat meat but not if its been raised in a cruel or painful way(factory farming)
i dont like sports that glorify violence like boxing or football
and i dont like violent video games
i have no religion and yet seem to live by a personal code that is closer too the great prophets teachings
than any other religion i have seen (besides buddhism)
okay so at the top you have murderers and at the bottom you have me
somewhere in the middle you have a fist fight or a strike in anger
a little higher than that and you have a strike in anger towards kids
a bit below a fist fight you have a strike towards kids but if its somewhat controled and doesnt leave a bruize its called a smack.
all three of these levels are what can can be deemed in some societies as socially acceptable to some degree
(ie if no one ends up permently injured or maimed)
driving a car is isnt a violent act per se
however if you were to hit a pedestrian your actions could by some be construed as violent
anyway
there is a whole lot of grey areas that crossover each other especially if the result is permenent injury or death
so
if you were to be offended in some way and take a swing at someone or spear them with a board (somewhat socially acceptable in some polynesian and american sub-cultures)
while the action may be accepted by your peers as an okay thing to do.
the result
may not be socially acceptable l(like a kid loosing an eye or drowning )
dont laugh
it happens
one punch can (and frequently does) kill a man/women or child very easily if they fall in the wrong way etc.
this is the way i regard violence
i percieve it by its potential result
rather than its initial intent
therefore i would have to assume some who attempts to assult me (because I "stole "there wave) is in fact
trying to kill me
and deprive my family of a means of supprt
so therefore they are attacking my family as well
I think all humans have the capcity for violence
but some of us can rise above the animal nature
in the process of evolution
to make a better world for all to live
thats the problem with religion and why the religious can feel justified in there violent actions
its because they believe in life after death
and they are going to a better place when they die if they “believe”
meanwhile in this life they can hurt whoever they want because they"have faith"
i believe in life
and to make the most of it
i wont go into statistics
but!
in multicultural societies
socially acceptable levels of violence differ from race to race
this is problematic
and a primary reason for the growth of predjudice and racial tensions
rise above it
and the world will be a better place
promptly took my board away from me and shoved it in on the white water to let it get smashed on the razor sharp rocks on the shore at Shark Country. so making a grom swim in was standard practice.
an aquantance of mine did the same thing to a little pro’s board the other day. the aquantince was on a mal and the pro was “dissing” mal riders so the aqantance threw the board in the white water and i almost ran over it next wave. i felt so bad for the little kid. I’m so sick of codgers and dickheads in the surf though, next time someone over 50 is delibratly rude to me for nothing i’m going to kick them in the groin. not meaning to sound like a little prick grommet but some people need to pull there head in. peace
Nice sermon Silly
I train for violence every day but I won’t start a fight over a wave.
As for breaking off fins, what a stupid thing to do.
treat others as YOU would want to be treated
Breaking someones board? Actually hitting somebody?? Because they took your wave?! Oh dear. This is surfing we’re talking about. Okay - so he drops in on you. Maybe he’s done it twice. So that makes him an arse who doesn’t know - or care -about any protocols. Rise above it guys. The nose-lifting routine works perfectly (and looks cool). Or you could try my mate’s trick. No ‘Malibu Whistles’ or yells of “My wave” for him. Oh no. Just a very loud and very effete call - “YooooHoooo - I’m behind yuooooooo!!” You’d astonished at how quickly that clears 'em out of the way!