How much does pro surfing effect You?

interesting…no jealous hater here…I am on my own trip and can appreciate all types of craft and I enjoy watching almost all forms of surfing, especially in good waves by good surfers…the pro stuff can be great to watch, I enjoy cheering on the Aussies especially if I have met them or they are from my area…I take my grommy to comps and enjoy checking out the pros boards and discussing why they ride what they ride…I have to agree there is plenty of ego sometimes but like Yorky, said, human nature I guess but too much ego from anyone for any reason shits me…more important to be a good bloke than a good surfer or shaper to me… Pro s push the limits of performance surfing so as a shaper I want to see it all , and enjoy watching it with my son who has just started competing a bit so he likes to watch the rippers competing…I laugh at the marketing side of it, actually laugh at the people suckered in by the marketing more…if ya dont like comps or pro surfing, just dont watch it…I like mal comps, retro events, finless comps, even went in my first tag team comp a few weeks back…all fun if you have the right attitude with it I think…

Hey Pridmore,

I just got back from the beach with my family , on the walk back my just turned 4 son said to us (mum and dad) “that was a good days surfing”. It just melted us. Soooo happy we all were. The Ocean is a beautiful place. I share your stoke.

Cheers

The live coverage and heats-on-demand from this years Bells coverage on the Ripcurl site was pretty cool !!!

I like pro surfing when its held in good waves mind you, I find it interesting to watch the old gaurd try to hold off the new guard coming through, the battles are fasanating sometimes.  I dont like all the airs but time will tell if that trend continues in pro surfing, like how can a air outscore and great barrell.

Has it influenced me, well at 45 it doesnt anymore, but when I was younger I have to admit I had aloha banana board becuse I thought that was the way to go, I was so wrong and got rid of it pretty quickly.  Now I ride what I like and how I like.  I was influenced also by manavoures from the pro tour in the 80s and the layback snap was one of my favourite moves when I was young, why, because I saw it on tv. 

Now Im influenced by my own personal age, my limitations with my flexiblity due to a very damaged back which I recovered from but with a loss of mobility.  My surfing is also influenced by my restrictions as is my surfboards I chose to ride, but Im no enjoying my surfing more than ever.

I reckon its whatever gives you the most stoke…but some people are blided by the marketing and trends to really try different things to even know what genuinely gets them stoked…those that do, are way more happy with their surfing I think…but then some get greddy and always want more stoke, its a bit like a drug, always ‘chasing the feeling’… ( thats my next tattoo and I got tats coz the pros have em…haha… sarcasm is the lowest form of wit , I know…)
seeing groms stoked is all time, just watching a groms face when he gets his first head dip or makes a floater for the first time, that shit is golden…

it’s caused the huge increase in number of participants, thereby clogging the lineups. because it -surfing- now has some “legitimacy” to it via “pro surfing”

it has become way too commercialized and way too popular,( make that acceptable) i sometimes wonder if bugs, shaun et.al, ever get bummed out about what they started back in the 70’s? sure they have made a living off of it, but they must get frustrated paddling out into a crowd of 200 where before it was uncrowded or less than 30 out??

So you think surfing should be restricted to certain people? So much for surfers being "free spirits" !!

I can see it now. rock up to the beach, there's the surfing police.

Surfing cop "You cant surf here mate, you're not allowed"

Poor beginner "But why, no one owns the ocean officer"

Surfing cop " Yeah but mate, you don't have blonde hair and tanned skin. Plus you look too intelligent, i reckon you could count to five easily, without your fingers. Now fuck off!!"

 

After having defended pro surfing, I will say this- the opposite of the grom stoke yuo speak of above, is watching some grom (or not so grom 20 something) eat it trying to pull off a big air and come up yelling, cursing and/or slapping the water in frustration.  I see it happen a lot- young surfers trying sooo hard that it looks like they’re not having fun.  A friend of mine would paddle up to to such hot heads and in his best Texas drawl, say, “Slow down there cowboy!”

yep, I hate that too…I very quickly pull my grom up when I see a little bit of that behaviour…good to be driven and competitive , just not a tantrum thrower, keep it inside and try again I reckon…

As disinterested as I am in surf contests, I don’t believe that we can fairly lay surfing’s population explosion at their door.  I think we have a “perfect storm” of (a)-improved wetsuit technology, (b)-the invention of the leash, (c)-a drastic increase in the general population and (most especially) (d)-SURF SCHOOLS to thank for that.  Cheap, “beginner-suitable”,  Chinese pop-outs could probably be added to that list as well.

I surfed my first two winters without a wetsuit of any kind and didn’t have even a crude leash (suction cup/surgical tubing) til I was 9 years in.  As a kook during the early 60s, I (and my board) were pelted with rocks, shot with BBs and dogged with verbal and physical abuse.  Nobody showed me where to sit, how to “pop up” or pushed me into my first few waves.  Every fall meant a swim to the beach and, often, damage to my board.

Point being: the learning curve between utter non-surfer and “able-to-stand-up” is not NEARLY as steep now as it used to be.  You REALLY had to “want it” a lot more to stick with it back then.

it’s all of it. if wasn’t so mainstream, popular and had some $ involved i don’t think the interest would be there as much as it is now, regardless of wetsuits, leashes,etc.

Have to agree with Matt.  Like others, I find it fun to watch the pros once in awhile.  But also have to say, I remember the days when wetsuits were freezing cold when you rolled a wave, no leashes, surfing was "fringe", there weren't really any "professional surfers" per se, and yeah, you had to really want it to get out there and learn.  It does seem like that factor is missing, to a certain extent. 

Wetsuit progress is one good thing, but I can't think of too many benefits to the recreational surfer like myself from the whole "professional" side of surfing.  Maybe its easier to get supplies for building your own board?  Oh well, its here to stay, we just co-exist I guess.  I don't think about it too much, just do my own thing and let others do theirs.

Speaking of…

The live webcast of the Reef Hawaiian Pro is on right now.

http://www.triplecrownofsurfing.com/reefhawaiianpro2011/live-gb

[quote="$1"]

So you think surfing should be restricted to certain people? So much for surfers being "free spirits" !!

I can see it now. rock up to the beach, there's the surfing police.

Surfing cop "You cant surf here mate, you're not allowed"

Poor beginner "But why, no one owns the ocean officer"

Surfing cop " Yeah but mate, you don't have blonde hair and tanned skin. Plus you look too intelligent, i reckon you could count to five easily, without your fingers. Now fuck off!!"

[/quote] .....an extreme scenario for sure Beerfan......what I meant was , there's a lot of people in the line up that probably wouldn't be interested in surfing if not for the saturation sales crap used to "sell" surfing.......the marketing text book of salesmanship denotes the ability to sell something to someone who doesn't want it and doesn't need it..........." one more sale!!!!!!"......".one more sale!!!!!!"......

Hey kayu, I was just taking the point too far for fun. I think I was replying to someone else though.

 

And yet, there are those days.  The best days to surf around where I live (Los Angeles County) are when It’s big enough to make it an effort to get out and the air and water are cold enough to hurt your hands, and it’s raining, with warning signs everywhere saying to stay out of the water due to high bacterial levels. Oh, and it’s the dawn patrol, just a hint of light perceptible in the eastern sky.  Ah, perfection!  Now the “mainstream” general surf populace disappears. How can you not love the sport in those moments???

It doesn’t have much effect on me but it does affect me. Great coverage, Tahiti went hardcore.

The 'cool' factor sells surfing, always has.

 

And it's still more 'cool' than most other mainstream sport.

 

One thing I enjoy watching is the stoke on a first timers face.

Another thing I enjoy is watching performance advancements, and pro surfing does it pretty consistently, in and out of competition.

[quote="$1"]

The 'cool' factor sells surfing, always has.

 

And it's still more 'cool' than most other mainstream sport.

 

One thing I enjoy watching is the stoke on a first timers face.

Another thing I enjoy is watching performance advancements, and pro surfing does it pretty consistently, in and out of competition.

[/quote] The advancements that come from pro-surfing IMO only relate to pro-surfing and have little or no positives for surfing as a whole. Important advances in design still seem to come from more underground sources and get adopted quickly by marketers to use as advertising fodder.......