Is surfing dead?

General Discussion
1

When was the last time you saw a cowboy? Or a beatnik for that matter? 

I have been pondering what it means to me to be a surfer.

I started surfing 43 years ago. 

In newport beach, Ca.

The late 70’s saw the introduction of the international “surf brand” and the commercializing of surfing.

In the early 80’s the surfing scene in the OC was the template for what the publications were pushing. Most of the surfwear companies and mags were based in the OC so it was just easy to use what was readily at hand…

Australia was still somewhat of an exotic destination and places like Indo were ultra extreme.

Fiji and Tahiti were just big question marks (for most of us)

It was an exciting time.

Especially in Newport.

But even as kids we felt something uncomfortable and incomprehensible.

There was a sense that things were changing.

That thing was “money”.

Mainstream surfing took the bait, the hook, the line and the sinker.

Big deal, right?

Surfing just evolved into what it is now.

But did it?

This may come as a shock to younger surfers but surfing wasnt just about riding a wave.

It was about so much more.

It was a philosophy of simplicity, purity, naturalism, art and individual expression.

Let me ask you this: When was the last great breakthrough in board design?

Early generations saw so much evolution from huge redwood or koa planks to balsa to foam and fiberglass, to the boards shrinking, to greenough and his ultra advanced craft to the fish to the twinny to the thruster and a whole bunch of cool stuff in the mix…

But many of those iterations were from the culture of surfing pushing its own philospohical boundaries into new places of mental and spiritual explortion that resulted in the need for changes in equipment.

Its been cool to see the resurgence of retro boards and style but that is really just a commentary on hw bored or sad many are to see that the thruster and surfing have plateau’d and they needed something new but there wasnt anything so they went backwards cuz there wasnt any forward.

Some might say the foil boards are the next evolution but its really not. Once you are on foil the size and shape of the platform above really doesnt matter.

So getting back to my original question…

Cowboys are cool, and its fun to see them in parades and what not but by and large cowboys don’t exist anymore.

The environment and culture to support them vanished.

Same for the beatniks who were actually a major component of the beginning of the surf culture.

They were hip and cool and made major contributions to many subcultures.

But theyre all gone.

As with the cowboy, their environment went away and them with it.

And here I am at 51 and I am that old guy that is saying “things arenet how they used to be”.

And its true.

For lots of things.

Surfing included.

But is it fair to say that surfing is dead?

I dont know.

But what I do know is that before the surf companies got their way people viewd surfing much different.

Thats a hard fact!

Sliding down a wave on some kind of plank or whatnot was just a visible manifestation of somehing much bigger, much deeper.

Its that something that I havent seen in a very long time.

Even when I travel internationally I see the whats been sold to us by the surfbrand companies.

The boards, the clothes, the gestures and lingo etc etc…

Nothing original or expressive of a particular culture or place.

This saddens me.

Riding a fish or alia or hotcurl or whatever wont bring it back because it was never just about the board.

Thanks for letting me vent:-)

-aquafiend (aka @stokefarmer)

 

2

Surfing is alive and well.

You just have to get out there and see it in person.

Don’t rely on the media to show you.

Remember, they are bought and paid for.

3

I think you’re right Aqua. It obviously isn’t what it used to be.
But there’s always some counterculture going on.
Most recent I’ve experienced have been geek culture, bitcoin/Liberal resistance stuff, and possibly the DIY maker movement /open source design which is part of the sharing economy (airbnb, Uber etc).
And of course all those movements in between surf 50’s and now.
A lot of people aren’t working now because there’s no jobs. Those people are getting by and that could be the next one.

Back to surfing.
You can deny the message of that feeling of sitting on your board connected with nature. Nor can you ignore the change in pace it demands compared to work.

Kids are dropping out these days but it’s not like they have a choice. They hate ‘the system’ and they don’t want part of it. We’ve seen riots over the frustration. True it’s less laid back and true, not enough knowledge from the 60’s is around for these generations.

For design and stuff, this is why my post “Welcome to the 21st century Buck”. Because I feel there should be a community of people swapping shape designs, sharing build methods, printing out each others designs. But for some reason I haven’t seen a github for board design. No clue why! Instead electric gizmos are much more discussed and it’s possible to learn more easily there.

For me making my board and then riding it was the nuts. People these days have much easier access to that in whatever stage as far as they want to go (design it on the computer, copy elements, shape it themselves or just let someone else do the glass).

I explained how much if a headache it was trying to learn board design to a friend and he said “yeah that’s why I let my shaper do it”… I mean the hassle is fun, he didn’t get it

4

Aqua, I know where you are coming from and had similar feelings. But with the breakup of Clark Foam, there has been a tremendous resurgence in home builders. So many more things are available to us now. Guys are thinking for themselves and not settling for a potoato chip board. What Mr. Chrisp said pretty well sums it up. The ball is now in the user’s court not corporate goons. By the way, I talk/work with and see cowboys everyday. Only difference is no one carries a six shooter. I do see a rifle in a scabbard from time to time for bear predation and feral hogs. Kahlua pork can be found on the mainland too.

5

Anybody doubting should come to the campout in Big Sur.

Matter fact, you all should come even if you’re not doubting

6

**Bullshit.**

 Don’t know where you live or surf but surfing is more lively than ever and there are still ridin’ and ropin’ cowboys around working cattle and horses even in friggin’ So. Cal.

 

 

7

Nope

8

No cowboys?  Must be a city boy. Surfing dead? Huh? I don’t get it.  Is it a trick question? Mike

9

Surfings as good as it’s ever been. Don’t live in the past, live for the future (said from a 62 yo lifelong surfer).  I get as excited paddling out now as I did when I was young. 

10

Nope. It’s just the tide. When the tide hits about mid level it will start to pick up. Hope the wind  doesn’t get on it too bad. Or the crowds. Hate when it gets crowded and the parking lot fills up and you have to park behind the church and walk the 8 blocks.  I never know whether to take my flips or leave them in the car. I’ll deal with it.  You?

All the best

11

Surfing dead? Huh? I don’t get it.  Is it a trick question? 

It is in a sense. It’s about definitions. “Surfing” the act of riding waves will always be with us, totally timeless. “Surfing” as in “surf culture” whatever the &R%$ that means is transient and based on money and ego stroking and is dead, always has been, always will be. I have clear memory of a day, many years ago when I realized that I was NOT a “surfer” under the 2nd definition but would always be under the 1st, even if I was not riding ocean waves.

12

Started surfing in the second half of the 60’s as a little kid under 10. I was lucky because we lived in a small beach community and my family had beachfront weekend shacks in front of one the better waves in our little community. We had our own little private paradise there. We progressed from riding belly boards in the shorebreak to standing on styrofoam boards, then standing on fiberglass surfboards on the inside break.

What I’ve seen during my days, is the loss of the older guys that did the policing of the break. They kept things in check, and the had their run of the place. Every spot had a crew and you had to earn your spot in the lineup. These days that’s gone and all sorts of people go anywhere they want without any respect. Too many beginners sitting in the main break. We’d get sent to the inside to learn, or get run over. We also learned how to stay out of the way by getting run over. You drop in you get run over. Sit on the inside in the way and you get run over. Back then we had to swim if we lost our board, and the shoreline was a mix of rocks and sand, so if the waves carried your board towards the rocks, you’re going to be grounded until your board is fixed. The swim was a good hundred yards or more, so there was a very good chance your board was going to get damaged.

My grandfather was the same age as Duke Kahanamoku and they were classmates until Duke dropped out of school. My grandfather’s youngest brother was one of the old time Waikiki surfers. He knew all the beachboys and hung out with them when we wasn’t working. Dad said even back then, you learned to respect the older guys, or they run you over.

The crowds are worse these days, but mostly because of the beginners being where they shouldn’t and the snakes sitting on the inside hoping you don’t make it, or getting in your way to make sure you don’t. The waves are the same, and they will always be the same. The reef takes many years or a catastrophic event to change, and we have mostly reef breaks.

Surfing is too much fun for it to ever die. People may die, but the surf just keeps coming in, one wave at a time, set by set.

13

Grab a mat or a kneeboard and discover a surfing subculture mostly untainted by corporate money.

 

14

They were bleating about how surfing was dead in the 60’s. It’s all about change really. Change is inevitable. Some people ride with it. Some people collide with it.

I have a friend who’s in his 70’s and has been surfing since the early 60’s. Basically he’s seen it all. He’s still as stoked on surfing as he was 55 years ago. like I said, some people handle change better than others.