Do you believe in localism? Surfrider says “nobody owns the ocean”, yet most members believe in localism and pecking orders. There are a lot of laws in our towns, but none saying the better surfer gets to surf the better spots! I wonder how it would go over if a great tennis player walked into a town park and said to someone on the court, “Get off! I`m better than you, and have been playing here for a long time!”
What would you do say your out playing baseball with a few of you friends at a park, here comes some guys from another town and tells you that you do not have any rights to stop them from playing baseball its a free park. They start playing ball right in the middle of your game. It kind of the same in surfing. I don’t care if they are from my town or from out of town. They need to show some respect. I’ sure that even in your town it is not smart to step out in front of a moving truck and expect the driver to stop or get off the road. The road belongs to everyone not just the truck. Right. All we want is the respect that comes with being a better surfer. When some one is up and riding a wave don’t take off in front of them. When someone is up and riding a wave don’t paddle in front of them. If you can’t even turn a surfboard don’t take off on a set wave. Don’t set on a left and go right, don’t set on a right and go left. Don’t set at the peak and go stright. Don’t set in the impact zone. Yes there are people that can turn a board and go around you but some times that really messes up a wave. I live in a surftown. I surf with guys that drive for 3 hours each way to come and surf here. Where they live they can’t even smell the water. Some of them have respect not only for the other surfers but for the beach. These surfers get respect back. Some of them have no respect for any one of any thing. They get in fights.
ilkie your playing ball in the park analogy.show repect and wait your turn…
I agree with the comments about respect, everything runs better when surfers extend some grace and respect to one another. There’s good localism and there’s bad. Since there’s a very real hierarchy at any good spot, the people who are most likely to have the high status are the locals who paid their dues, and visitors need to recognize that and respect it. On the other hand, like Owl Chapman said, a lot of locals are just dirtbags who couldn’t get their shit together enough to travel. So if you’ve got decent water skills and you like to travel and explore, you’re probably not big on localism.
surfing has a very sad underbelly, i long for the innocence of a beginner who knows nothing of the selfishness and greed of the long time surfer.