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What surfing has become.
- Thread starter GromsDad
- Start date
Its depressing to even watch. There are so few in these crowds who have any skill at all and its almost like they don't even want to get good at surfing. They are content to suck........just so they have big boards and can get a bunch of go strait waves. I don't mind doing battle in the lineup with other shortboarders. I don't even mind if I'm getting beaten in a crowd of better shortboarders........but dang it pisses me off to not be getting waves because of a constant succession of talentless, backpaddling, kook 20, 30 and 40 somethings on longboards.
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People had a more regular work day, work ethic, fiscal responsibility and various structures that had them sitting down to breakfast and dinner with the family no matter what and other stuff was supportive of that too. Surfers figured out how to sneak away a few decades before everyone else did, but here we are, call it wellness and sell it.
Also around here there were only a couple hundred people at the beach towns in the winter and they were run by good ole boys. If you tussled with anyone or went where someone thought you didn't belong everyone heard about it and you'd be moved along. Nowadays, that would be called all kinds of nasty things, online and done by dark. Good ole boy cancelled. Scorned. Sued. Arrested.
That's my perspective looking at 1983 to about 1995 it was done. Since then every ten years there's been a noticeable progression I wouldn't be surprised to hear a younger person lament similarly to the way I do about my experience.
I try, and have tried to never verbally lament, it just makes me look more out of touch and negative. I can't afford to be any more negative, but out of touch is my shameful little secret playground and all is well there most days.
Also around here there were only a couple hundred people at the beach towns in the winter and they were run by good ole boys. If you tussled with anyone or went where someone thought you didn't belong everyone heard about it and you'd be moved along. Nowadays, that would be called all kinds of nasty things, online and done by dark. Good ole boy cancelled. Scorned. Sued. Arrested.
That's my perspective looking at 1983 to about 1995 it was done. Since then every ten years there's been a noticeable progression I wouldn't be surprised to hear a younger person lament similarly to the way I do about my experience.
I try, and have tried to never verbally lament, it just makes me look more out of touch and negative. I can't afford to be any more negative, but out of touch is my shameful little secret playground and all is well there most days.
Pretty much this. Surfing as an “identity” is bigger than ever before. Been out of the water for what feels like a personal record now. Crowds just bum me out since its a colossal waste of my time to get a session in.
I too have taken up riding the bike. It’s considered a lame activity here, so naturally I gravitated to it
Cell phones ruined everything. You see guys checking it and calling their friends to come surf with them. Add the surf cams on the phones and its a recipe for disaster. Sunday saw groups of 5+ guys from Pennsylvania all over my area. Its sucks how they will all paddle out together and sit wherever other guys are sitting. Usually mostly kooky but end up not catching as many waves because of them. I remember showing up with my brother and one other friend, back in the day, and walking up to paddle out at separate times not to draw attention.
Ive tried looking for it a few times after I viewed it initially to no avail, but somewhere on youtube Hamish the Malibu Collusion had a very pertinent/prescient video called The Kooks Won?
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In the early cell phone days I would repeatedly burn out of town people who got on their phone while checking the waves. It was a matter of principal. You want to surf.....surf. Don't be calling others to join you.
In other words, im mad other people did what I did after I did it!
No. The people clogging the lineups today did not do what I did. Many of them come from an hour away. Back when I did what I did you pretty much had to do what I did if you were a dedicated surfer. You had to live close and physically check the waves in person and be in tune with the constantly changing ocean and wind conditions. First light and as soon as I got off from work every day. There were no surf cams or advanced surf forecasting. At best inlanders could call and get an unreliable recording at one of the local surf shops but it was still a gamble for them.
Because you had to be a dedicated surfer to catch it when it was good there was a much higher average degree of competence in the water than what you see today in addition to there being a fraction of the crowd.
Yes there were crowds during the summer tourist season but the rest of the year it was empty. In the off-season in NJ you generally knew the guys you were surfing with because they were people who lived nearby and were just as dedicated as you.
Now throw in the resurgence of Longboards, surf schools, soft tops, cell phones, surf cams, surf forecasting and mobile work and surfing is just fukked. Glad I got to enjoy it before it all went to hell.
Not to mention that wetsuit technology has made a huge difference in the crowds. Some years ago it was rare to see people surfing in the winter, and those that were out were usually good surfers. Now guys are out in winter even when the waves aren’t very good, and a lot of them are donkeys.
Its funny. I drove by DoHo yesterday and looked at some ankle slappers at best. There were 20 guys out. WHHHYYY??? But I will tell you what. I will bank on those wave riding dreams and sell a shitload of Tshirts and wax combs and board shorts and UGGS and Rainbows. Let me tell you why. Because Surfers are Fags.
Blame anyone you meet who has more than two kids. In a country where we can move around freely while instagram and TV show people living fun lifestyles in beautiful places, you can't blame people for wanting to leave the boring ugly place they're from an trying to "join the fun". I hate crowds and people in general but I remember that everyone has as much right as me to live come to these places and do these things.
Remember how good it was before the crowds and be glad you won't be around in 100 years when it's even worse. Be annoyed at the presence of the kooks you encounter, but feel bad for them because they never had and never will experience the things you did. This is the fatalist philosophy that will get you through your remaining years without sounding like a grumpy old man. You can still grumble silently to yourself.
Nj has tendency to do that on its own, home of the month long winter flat spell.
Not only him. There are four other guys either paddling for it or about to paddle for it. But it's not stupid. It's a well known local strategy called "last man standing." You yell, "Party wave!" which gives you carte blanche to drop in, and then if you survive the ensuing chaos you get the inside section all to yourselfThe guy middle front of picture starting to paddle for it - where does he think he'll fit in on the wave?
It can get really crowded round here but I don't think it ever gets that bad or stupid.
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Whenever old guys complain about crowds ask em how many kids they have. All those bros raw-dogging it since the 70s only have themselves to blame.