There is a surf site www.wavescape.co.za . an unfortunate surf violence confrontation has provoked interesting commentary from the surfing community .
There is a response on the wavescape home page that perhaps you guys missed ( open letter ) , sadly it is not just a wave rage issue it is also about race , considering how far SA has come it is a damm shame that any backward steps should be taken by surfers . Surfers were one of the first groups in SA to embrace the anti apatheid movement , going all the way back to the Gunston contests and opening their arms to people like the loverly Rell Sun . much aloha T
but…on the other side of the coin, if you continue to allow yourself to be a victim to burn artists, you will be burned over and over again, a man has to take a stand , “NO MORE”, some times words are NOT enough to get the point across
No doubt about it. There is a time and a place. Some have their youth, light weight, attitude and mouth to burn to catch waves and others are willing to be accomodating up to a point, but have the size and dispostion to shut the burn artist down flat and flat to where it’s clearly understood it won’t happen again.
Not sure how other places were, but here in Hawaii there used to be a pecking order, and older more experienced surfers out that would “manage” things. The older generation would teach the next generation and so on. Most people surfed their “local” spot, their neighborhood breaks. As a youngster or a new face you would never get away with paddling out and being disrespectful. You would get sent in, maybe you would get run over or your fin broken off. It was easy to control the action in the water before the leash. Just push a board into the waves and let it get carried in.
When you live in a small beach community or right on the beach where you surf, it’s easier to manage. Nothing like having to come in and dealing with a bunch of people waiting on shore for you. I am lucky to live on an island and know many of the people here. My ancestors go back to the original settlers and I have no desire to live anywhere else. There’s a lot of people like me, and we get along well. So I feel comfortable surfing many places. But I also try to be respectful and I try to share. I wouldn’t go to your house, open your refrigerator and starting eating all your best food. Take the TV remote and change the channel to something I want to watch.
I was out surfing “my spot” one day and 2 visiting surfers came out to tear the place up. One was a bit more aggressive and would try to paddle inside of you and snake your wave. I went after one while he was still paddling out, but he managed to get inside of me and took off. I wouldn’t kick out and I rode it all the way till I was done. He came out and tells me he was inside and I should have kicked out. So I told him that I was on the wave first and he tried to snake me, and I don’t kick out on people who do that. If he wants to ride behind, go for it, but I won’t kick out. We had some words so I told him that it was my spot that I’ve surfed for 25 years, I will not kick out if someone does that, so don’t try to act like an ass. If I purposely take off behind someone I let them go and yell for them to keep going. He went over to his friend and they had some words then he came back and appoligized. His friend saw that I knew everyone out and that I had that wave first.
Recently I was out surfing another spot I regularly surf. It was a good day, had been a good week, and I was hooting up all the really good ones. Just trying to get a good vibe cheering on all the great rides I was seeing. We always do that, we cheer each other on. This one goofball on a longboard goes for a nice one and I’m yelling go for it. He misses the wave and then as I paddle out past him he gives me some shit about shutting up. I stop paddling and say what. He says I’m distracting him. I told him I always do this, and that I won’t stop. He says he’ll make me. So I say how, he says he’g going to kick my ass. So I told him, go ahead and I won’t fight back, but all these guys out here are my friends and when I take you to court they will be there to testify why you decided to beat on me. When I got back out one of them asked what was going on and I told them. They went nuts laughing that someone was pissed for me trying to call them into a wave. They couldn’t stop talking about, and one of the guys who came over a little later heard about it said he likes those kind of guys and wanted “make his day” but by then he disappeared.
Today we live in a global community and people don’t know about or care about the impact they bring when they head into another community, or part of the world. There’s just too many people these days, and a new attitude, the “I need to get what I want, and I don’t care”. This creates a tension and it’s no wonder that certain locals will target visitors. They’ve just seen or been abused by that attitude for too long.
One thing I know is that you can be a tough guy when you are young and strong, but there’s a time when you will not be young and strong and people will remember the things you did to them, and what goes around tends to come around. I have a friend who went after all the older tough guys that terrorized us kids. Now he is the older one and has a generation of young ones after him. There’s always someone tougher, stronger and badder than you, just looking to prove to everyone that they are. They used to say “Live by the gun, die by the gun” in the old west, that holds true today.
Here’s a couple of shots from a sequence where I’m riding behind an SUP, I told the guy to go ahead and I just wanted to ride behind. I ended up getting caught behind the last section, but it was cool.
Twice I had had complete morons in the water, one at Sebastian Inlet, obviously a Ft. Pierce redneck in his cutoff jean “trunks”, goofy foot, took off and had his inside rail stuck in the face. From a hundred feet away I could tell he was going to run over me, at the last second I ditched the board and dove for the bottom. When we both came to the surface, I said that he needed to watch where he was going, his reply was “one more word outta you and I’ll fatten your lip”. Nothing more to say in this situation to a fat, most likely gun toutin’ gorilla with a bubble fendered pick up.
Some times the dog eats you
Now Geary Paul was an enforcer at the inlet, he loved to “educate” children and women, but on one nice spring day he tangled with another surfer on the inside of the peak and refused to back off, they both went over the falls and came up leashes wrapped together. Geary starts his usual rant of how he was going to send the right of way surfer “back to Miami air mail”. The other surfer had nearly black hair, a pasty complection, looked like Clark Kent, they had to undo the leashes and the boards washed to the beach, the whole way in he was still spouting on how he ws going to kick this guys ass.
The other surfer kept saying let it go, then Geary dropped his right shoulder, a sign the punch was coming, but his lip and nose started bleeding before he could unload, but he didn’t stop there, dropped his shoulder again and got tagged again.
The other guy told him let’s just surf, Geary never did shut his pie hole, the other surfer was Steve Kaboord, an insurance agent, my factory landlord and a 9th degree black belt, Steve later said to me that he could have really hurt Geary, but just wanted him to shut his big mouth, Geary usually got his way by intimidation alone, couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag
At Windansea, ‘‘back in the day’’, we had ‘‘Regulators.’’ The ‘‘educational process’’ was swift and direct to the point. One ‘‘lesson’’ was all it took. Ahhhh, the good ol’ days!
Good write up. I try and avoid issues with people in the water. I’ll even give them a couple of cut offs before I say anything. Even then I try and use manners. There comes a point sometimes when they jump in your face, start calling you names or throwing a fit and making an ass out of themselves that they need to be put in their place. When I first went to Hawaii I was introduces to some of the older local crowd and some Aussies who had been there many times before who told me to never back out of a wave you paddle for, never be aggressive and try and take the set waves. Best to paddle out, be humble, take the scraps and be respectful. I had some of the older crew locals wave me into a wave or two. To me you gain way more by respecting common sense manners than paddling out with something to prove. One sad thing about surfing is many of the trouble makers think everyone is watching them. It ruins the fun. Most surfers are not watching you. They are watching for the next wave.
It is amazing to me how easily we rationalize violence in our society. Is it any wonder that losers and wanna be’s take up guns and kill a bunch of kids to “make a point” or “make a name” for themselves? Is it any wonder that we as a country use violence around the world to get our way and take resources right out from under “the locals” because we can and have decided we need them to be secure? Ok, I’m done.
Ha…I have seen that a bunch Jim. I’ll bet you have seen more than your share at the Inlet though. That place used to get out of control in the 80’s.
That article was terrible.
The commentary less than interesting IMO.
We’ve heard it all before and it only solidifies the resolve that there needs to be order.
I don’t think anyone here is advocating violence as anything but the last and unavoidable result. Most normal thinking men I know don’t seek trouble at all. As for gun violence. When society stops coddling criminals and criminals with guns stop breaking in and raping and murdering folks. I’ll be fine with no guns. Until then…most folks who use guns to protect themselves are not gun nuts or trying to make a name for themselves. Those are the criminals society needs protecting from. In my country we have decided that the mentally ill don’t need help and cut off most funding for that. Rather than reinstitute more common sense help for the down and out and desperate we fund more perks for large corporations and talk about passing another law or putting in another ban. There are common sense solutions to most violence, but political correctness must rule so those who benefit from all of it continue to thrive.
In Hawaii and elsewhere, it is pretty easy to see who are regulating the spot and I don’t mean by intimidation, they known the take off, sections and have a keen sense of the sets.
I paddle out to these peeps, sit there and watch a few sets, talk a simple story with the oldest of them, watch their rides, cheer them on. Soon enough a set comes to me, I don’t have to challenge anyone for it, all is good.
On a trip to the West Side, checked Makaha, didn’t look that good for all the trouble, decide to check Dip’s, but along the way spotted a little oasis on the ocean side of the highway by Makua dry cave, kept going, but Dip’s and Yokohama didn’t look too inviting with 6 -8 local boys out. On the way back we pull into the oasis, there are a small group on local guys in the small parking area and 2 locals about to paddle out. My young pal Colin Herlihy says he going out, the waves were about 4 -7 feet, sort of a Sebastian set up, I watch Colin get a few waves, I said to his pop’s I can ride that.
Suited up and got out there, waited my turn each time and after kicking out I look back and the 2 locals have paddled over to Colin sitting on the shoulder, Holy crap, I figure my age can cool it down before it gets out of hand, but they paddled back to the peak before I get to the 3 of them.
I asked Colin what was going on, he said after your last wave they paddled over and said " you uncle reeping brah".
Haole’s paddling out to a for sure local break and acting the right way, respect given, respect gotten
But at Makaha a few years earlier on a nice sized day Colin was out on one of the hotcurl balsa’s, as was myself and my pal Rob, Colin and Rob paddle over to me and said that guy over there said “you honky’s have had enough waves, go”, I looked over an it was Mel and said ,“yeah you’ve had enough waves, go”.
Now it is Uncle Mel for Colin, amazing how things change if you give it time
Giving somebody a “lesson” is a strange thing these days. Today, you’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. It was a lot simpler when we were young. Everything fell out of order once the cops started showing up at the beach.
I can’t understand that attitude. Surfing is fun, why be a dick in the surf?. Im not old (32), but I was raised to treat others with respect, regardless of where I am. Simple really. The “i want everything right now” attitude blows my mind, I can’t believe how selfish some can be. When the surfs good, im more than happy to share, and seeing a good surfer destroy a wave in front of you is awesome and inspiring. At the end of the day, I only need one good wave. If I get more, sweet, but i’ll share with anyone.
Jim, I had the same experience in Hawaii. I paddled out at Pakalas on Kauai and gave it a while. Sat and smiled hooted at the others. Once they realized I wasn’t a jerk, they called me into a wave and it was good from there on. Tried that on the Big Island and never got a wave. Just total stink eye. Oh well.
My take is that violence is quite appropriate in direct defense of personal, physical safety, i.e. if attacked. Also to protect someone who can’t protect themselves for whatever reason. Otherwise, it is just a failure of imagination. Political correctness sucks pig balls! and hmmm, now that you mention it Solo, there is a sort of covert “soft violence” rampant in the land. Call it corporate violence against life.
I have never had a single bad experience there from people. I have almost drowned a couple of times not realizing the difference in power between a country wave and a Florida wave of the same size, but even that was a learning experience. I think the spirit Aloha is the epitome of what surfing should be. I think it existed more when Hawaii was the ultimate destination in the days before the pro tour. I think the aggro eighties ruined surfing in many ways. I appreciate the renaissance that took place in both music and boards, but the birth of the industry wasn’t that good for life in the water. Jim might not remember and I have mentioned it here before, but he coined the best phrase I ever heard to describe it…Bubble Headed Twappies. Cracked me up. I still laught when I think about him saying it. Ha.
DR. STrange…The corpo violence isn’t so soft anymore. They are who is behind most of the poison and wars around the globe and for pushing anything for a buck on culture.
Absolutely! I just meant here in Der Fatherland but even that is changing pretty rapidly; witness treatment of some of the Occupy groups and the mostly media blacked out treatment of foreclosure refusniks.
Unfortunately the current adminstration seems to be in love with the Jack boot methods of the last regime. There is no good side or bad side politically anymore. Just zealotry.