When did groms dropping in become normal?

[racer1]

Vland ain't what it used to be, but I think it's easier to get waves now. So many kooks who won't go on the slabby ones.

RE Groms: I hoot them off if they are trying to drop in, if they keep going I surf them out off the shoulder and then get back to the pocket. When I paddle back out I ask what the fuck was that. Then I go Mean Girls on them and tell them "you don't surf as good as you think," "Your board looks slow," and "your board doesn't throw any spray."

When I was a grom, an old guy told me my board doesn't throw any spray and it cut me deep down inside. This was 30 years ago.

RE crowd position: I paddle as well or better than anybody in the water, I ride slightly over volume from what I should and I catch a lot of waves, so I'll paddle people all over the place if they want to back paddle me. I'll paddle a quarter mile out to see if you want to, I don't care.

What infuriates me though is seeing these groms hassle old guys. Like guys in their 60/70's who obviously don't paddle like they used to and are patiently waiting for a nice take off wave. Then some grom hassles them. Makes me so mad. Cause I know a grom is identifying them as a weak paddler or an old mellow guy. Or seeing them hassle mellow girls. I'm getting mad now thinking about it. The old guys / mellow girls are only going to catch like 5-10 waves a session and not off the peak, do you really need to hassle them about it??

 

[studog]

Well, when I was a kid it was a different place. But a bunch of old housing was knocked over and a gated community with $2M plus homes was built in its place.

Its not really localized at all. Most people there are respectful based on my experience.

my brother use to live in the concrete apartments infront of Freddies which is now one of those mega $ houses. i'd come over to visit and sleep on his couch which had a direct view of Vland. put some serious time out there and was scared shitless of being hassled my first trip out there.

 

[hal9000]

Entitlement handed down from shitty parents.
lawsuits.
no one gets slapped or dunked anymore.

also surf camps are part of the problem. they don't teach much in the way of safety or etiquette.

 

[One-Off]

also surf camps are part of the problem. they don't teach much in the way of safety or etiquette.

Yeah. I blame surf schools and surf P.E.

I see the PE students and I guess they are all required to surf in a specified area. There are five high schools that have PE at my local beach break. So there will be over 50 guys at a stretch of beach less than 100 yards long (250+ over a half mile of beach). They have an hour or so to surf so when a wave comes they all just go. No etiquette. That is their normal, so on the weekend I'll be surfing a peak by myself and then group of them, like 4 or 5 or more, will paddle right to the peak and start hassling each other and dropping in and I think, "I'm right in the middle of surf PE." Sometimes I'll stay and assert my right to waves, but it ruins the vibe so most times I'll just paddle away. I think that's what they're hoping for.

 

[hal9000]

Yeah. I blame surf schools and surf P.E.

I see the PE students and I guess they are all required to surf in a specified area. So there will be over 50 guys at a stretch of beach less than 100 yards long. And then they all just go. No etiquette. That is their normal, so on the weekend I'll be surfing a peak by myself and then group of them, like 4 or 5 or more, will paddle right to the peak and start hassling each other and dropping in and I think, "I'm right in the middle of surf PE." Sometimes I'll stay and assert my right to waves, but it ruins the vibe so most times I'll just paddle away. I think that's what they're hoping for.

also scholastic surf teams with 40 people on a team who feel entitled to take over breaks.

 

[GWS_2]

Tell the kid you want to "talk" to his father.

That usually freaks them out.

 

[One-Off]

Tell the kid you want to "talk" to his father.

That usually freaks them out.

I had a kid repeatedly drop in on me and I paddled up to him and had some words. I can't believe I looked that menacing but he looked at me and said, "My dad's a cop."

 

[GWS_2]

I had a kid repeatedly drop in on me and I paddled up to him and had some words. I can't believe I looked that menacing but he looked at me and said, "My dad's a cop."

I had a kid say that exact thing to me.

"Even better. Which one is he?"

Standard bluff.

And even if it isn't, I have no problem telling a cop his kid is an asshole. I had a cop's kid vandalize me daughters car in the driveway. I drove over to the cops house and rang his doorbell. We talked. I told him his kid was a dick. He took it pretty well but his wife was coming unglued.

Two years later that kid went down on a rape charge.

Kid had been playing that "my dad's a cop" thing his whole life. It worked until it didn't.

 

[hal9000]

I had a kid repeatedly drop in on me and I paddled up to him and had some words. I can't believe I looked that menacing but he looked at me and said, "My dad's a cop."

and what? he's going to arrest you?

 

[sickdog]

When possible, pump a turn to the top of the wave, then swoop down low and just go around them. If they are just getting to their feet they almost always fall. Seldom have they hopped me again.

 

[hal9000]

When possible, pump a turn to the top of the wave, then swoop down low and just go around them. If they are just getting to their feet they almost always fall. Seldom have they hopped me again.

True. And it's not as if they're going to actually confront you.

 

[racer1]

When possible, pump a turn to the top of the wave, then swoop down low and just go around them. If they are just getting to their feet they almost always fall. Seldom have they hopped me again.

Then after I go and sit right behind them. Like right on their tail. They scatter every time.

 

[Mr Doof]

I had a kid repeatedly drop in on me and I paddled up to him and had some words. I can't believe I looked that menacing but he looked at me and said, "My dad's a cop."

Odd, the two friends I had in grades 5 through 12 were scared to death of their cop dads.

Last thing they wanted was to have their cop dad look at them with anything but a smile.

I can image either one saying something like, "You want to talk to my dad about me? Can I give you $5 to make that not happen?"

 

[One-Off]

Odd, the two friends I had in grades 5 through 12 were scared to death of their cop dads.

Last thing they wanted was to have their cop dad look at them with anything but a smile.

I can image either one saying something like, "You want to talk to my dad about me? Can I give you $5 to make that not happen?"

I think the kid meant, "If you so much as lay a finger on me I'm telling my pop on you."

 

[Muscles]

my brother use to live in the concrete apartments infront of Freddies which is now one of those mega $ houses. i'd come over to visit and sleep on his couch which had a direct view of Vland. put some serious time out there and was scared shitless of being hassled my first trip out there.

I didn't even dare paddle out there when I was growing up. I knew my place as a east side teenager on Oahu in the 90s, and it wasn't on the peak at V Land.

What shocks me the most is how completely clueless some of these people are. More than once I've witnessed some grom or well off transplant go out and hassle locals then act shocked when someone calls them on it. It's like the first time anyone dared challenge their actions. Ever.

Re: Paddling around old guys and mellow girls who aren't even at the peak. That pisses me off to no end. I often wonder what kind of parents these kids have that they think its ok to do things like that.

 

[keenfish]

 

[000]

end of last summer a group of 5 kids started showing up at my "secret" solo peak at dawn.
i am so fuucking scared they'll be back next summer every damn morning. all 5.
its weird that nobody cares how long ive been on that peak alone. no matter how badly they surf, they'll still hassle me for my waves. and that place is just about the last place i have to surf near me without a pack on it.

the winter peak i surfed alone for decades now has a crew of "regulars" out there at dawn daily. they suck too. it can only handle about 2 people at once, now its always got at least 5. and thats on a bad day. its no fun anymore

 

[griffinsurfboard]

Backyards has about 2 good waves per set at the take off

That can be quickly made no fun when 2 groups of friends come out

Oooor when a well known "Coach" would bring his Jr team kids out

 

[Joshua2415]

Stuff them on every wave until they get the point.

#snakelondon

 

[Subway]

Rarely an issue even in packed solid quality quality swells here in LB. The kids know they may not get punched but they’ll get mocked or barked into submission

clueless adult learners drop in more often I find (no offense meant) you can usually bottom turn around them anyway, they slink off when they know they fukked up