Ambrose - It may be the intense end of the school year, it may be a torn finger ligament keeping me out of the water, only two days after I got back in after a major back injury, but that song, and your positive, dare I say aloha, attitude had me on the verge of tears… I hope to have that much love in the water some day. Mostly I go else where, sit for the shifters… But those days I’ve waited so long for, when the local is going off, and I, being the kook I am, think I’ve been paying dues surfing it alone when it’s big and mediocre, I find it a real challenge to greet those I’ve rarely or never seen with a smile… (Deep sigh… I do want to be more positive…)
Kokua - My thoughts at the time exactly, and that buddy in the tube use to be a top 20 traveling pro - He said maybe things are different here, but at Pipe, J-Bay, etc… If you were in the riders way, you get told were to go… IN!
I’ve felt the frustration of straightening out because others were paddling for the shoulder - or the time the guy was swimming for the shoulder dragging his board behind him…
as to the original question - The guy in the tube totally has the right of way, probably couldn’t even see the paddling-out-guy, who in turn should have gladly taken a wave on the head rather than ruin another guy’s barrel — which proves that the guy who got run over was a dork and should have been sent home.
I would like to suggest that, in addition to trying to maintain some kind of etiquette and teach newbies the “rules”, another thing that might help with overcrowded breaks is to boycott the big surf industry. Stop buying anything that is mass marketed. Money is ruining surfing, or trying to anyway. Don’t support the continued commercialization of surfing. Make your own boards, or at least support a real shaper. And teach kids that surfing is learning to be in harmony with the ocean, not trying to make a buck off it.
That was me. It was in one of the threads that got locked down. I said: "The activity in question is called “surfing”, not paddling. So, the person who is surfing has the right of way.
Another phrase I use often is:
“If you can’t stay out of the way, then go away”.
I was washed way inside at Uppers-Trestles maybe some head high sets at best (I was sitting way deep for shifters, and got caught behind and washed in). No one was with in 40 yards of me in any direction, and was floating between white waters -Off my board… ducking under a bit when the white wash came, slowing washing in to make my way down to the channel… some guy starts padlding out about 30 yards down from me towards the channel. He yells at me, “If you can’t hold your board you don’t belong out here.” I looked at him, slowly turned my head way around from side to side - trying to make the point there was no one anywhere near me, not even between me and the shore - and slowly slid under the next white water… Ha!
Worse, I have tried to make the shoulder a couple time when I should’a just sat up/headed towards the white water/etc… lead to a close call, but didn’t actually interfere with the rider… Some times it is good to be able to duck dive …
How about on the take off? My rule is to always “split the peak” when surfing with others. I came across this in a board review on a different site and it rubbed me the wrong way.
“One more wave… (many others surfed… just one more really good one) decent sized set wave. WAY behind the peak**… WAY behind the peak**.
Drop in with the lip, set my edge… shortboarder on the other side of
the peak drops in… looks behind and sees me pumping for speed, kicks
out.”
Granted the point of the article was the quality of the board but with the amount of people surfing there needs to be some consideration for other ocean users.
My home break is a beach break and there's plenty of peaks to be had but everyone always crowds to the far right corner known as surfers end. Whenever I go out I take an empty peak all to myself, I never have to worry about getting dropped in on or accidently dropping in on someone else. I don't like crowds anyways, so it works out.
I know the place, well. Born and raised in the Ocean State. Lived in the “City by the Sea” for a brief time. Surfed that dump from around 1965 to 1972. Last time I was there, it was flat. Saved me the trouble of deciding whether I wanted to bother, or not. Still have family in RI. Don’t get back there, much. Can’t stand the place for more than 48 hrs.
Howzit Taylor, By any chance was the other guy wearing a leash.If he was I would have told him to take off the training wheels. Never used them. Aloha Kokua
Hey Kokua - I had a leash… Otherwise I wouldn’t have been luxuriating sinking under the white waters while letting my board slowly drag me to the inside channel. Being Upper Trestles, I’m sure the guy had one on, and I’m pretty sure it was one of the George brothers when he worked at a surf mag there in San Clemente, would come out @ the 9am blow out when the crowds started to thin and rip the place with his long locks flowing in the wind… Ha!
I’m with you all the way Keith - But as that story went around here… It was the guy in the tube - who’d moved to town a couple years before, and, even though he has a great wave sharing attitude, some guys look down on him 'cuz he “use to be a pro…” - who people said “blew it,” and it was the grumpy old local who was wronged…