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The Cult of the Costco Surfboard

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Re: The Cult of the Costco Surfboard

#51

Post by peterwwillis »

jacobolus wrote: post #49
peterwwillis wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a sport for assholes

I’m not a surfer, so I imagined that Dylanfm was describing driving: Here are some things that could lead to a negative atmosphere: –tailgating, –slamming on your brakes for no reason forcing everyone behind you to stop, –swerving in front of someone, –running stop signs, –stopping in the middle of the lane to unload passengers, –turning without signaling right in front of an oncoming car, –driving the wrong way down…

Taking pictures in public is not antisocial. Not being good at surfing is not antisocial. "Being loud" on a public beach is not antisocial. Being in a group larger than 2 people in a public place is not antisocial.

Believing that you have a special privilege to possess, use, and regulate public lands for your own purposes over those of others, IS antisocial.

Surfers beat people up to impose their rules. This is wrong. They are assholes.

As far as your driving comparison, roads have laws that govern their use. If certain beaches adopted ordinances of "surfer law", then I would have no opposition to them. But the current regime is just privileged assholes imposing a class hierarchy for personal benefit.

Re: The Cult of the Costco Surfboard

#53

Post by awl130 »

mark212 wrote: post #47
nnd wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not every place is hostile, from my personal experience surfing all around the world (Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Philippines, etc) I only experienced hostility in SoCal. So maybe it's just the US thing.

you've never been to Hawaii, apparently

who downvoted this? can confirm, hawaii ultra localized.

Re: The Cult of the Costco Surfboard

#54

Post by jacobolus »

peterwwillis wrote: post #51
jacobolus wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not a surfer, so I imagined that Dylanfm was describing driving: Here are some things that could lead to a negative atmosphere: –tailgating, –slamming on your brakes for no reason forcing everyone behind you to stop, –swerving in front of someone, –running stop signs, –stopping in the middle of the lane to unload passengers, –turning without signaling right in front of an oncoming car, –driving the wrong way down…

Taking pictures in public is not antisocial. Not being good at surfing is not antisocial. "Being loud" on a public beach is not antisocial. Being in a group larger than 2 people in a public place is not antisocial. Believing that you have a special privilege to possess, use, and regulate public lands for your own purposes over those of others, IS antisocial. Surfers beat people up to impose their rules. This is wrong…

Showing up to someone’s practice spot (even if it happens to be in public) and doing whatever you want can absolutely be antisocial, even in cases where it’s not strictly illegal.

If you for instance brought a camera crew to a national park and followed a random group of strangers for hours while they hiked through the woods even after they asked you politely to leave them alone, you should anticipate possible hostility.

If you found a group of musicians busking on the public sidewalk somewhere, and you set up a boom box blasting metal music at twice the volume right next to them, you should anticipate hostility.

If you found a few people playing a pick-up game of basketball in a public park and you brought 10 more people and started trying to play your own game on the same court during their game, you should anticipate hostility.

Re: The Cult of the Costco Surfboard

#55

Post by goodnews3879 »

Sir_Substance wrote: post #32
fapjacks wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This completely. Even in traditionally hostile places, if you show up enough times and get to know the regulars, you'll be totally fine.

>if you show up enough times and get to know the regulars, you'll be totally fine. This makes me frown slightly in vague annoyance. Why should I need the permission and tacit approval of "the regulars" to choose to start surfing? It kind of reminds me of those groups, usually of old men, that you see occasionally decide a bar is "their bar" because they've been going there a while, and try to push other patrons out t…

> If that's really how it is, I'd be one of those wave stealers, and I wouldn't apologize for it.

No, you would not be for very long. You would very quickly hurt yourself and others, at which point common decency might suggest you should apologize. Perhaps you are unaware that surfing right of way is first about safety?

People who respect the lineup almost always get waves, regardless of skill level. Regulars don't just get waves because they are regulars. They get waves because they understand the dynamics of that particular break.

Re: The Cult of the Costco Surfboard

#58

Post by notadoc »

> "You've read your last complimentary article this month. To read the full article, SUBSCRIBE NOW"

I don't remember clicking a newyorker.com link until now, but apparently at some point I reached some limit.

Is it just me, or does this sort of article limit behavior train you to simply not click those links, knowing you won't be able to read them?

Re: The Cult of the Costco Surfboard

#59

Post by briandear »

Dylanfm wrote: post #36
dogruck wrote: post #12

I wish surfing culture wasn't so hostile. Unfortunately, there are a finite number of breaks and waves each day. So as the number of surfers increases, it amplifies the tension in every lineup. It's like biker culture -- if there were only a handful of roads. The only way I've been able to enjoy surfing is by paying an instructor to help me navigate the lineup and actually catch a wave.

The hostility depends on many factors. Some areas are more hostile than others, and individual spots. Here are some things that could lead to a negative atmosphere developing, from the point of view of a non-local surfer arriving in the lineup: - snaking (cutting in line) - dropping in (taking off when someone is on the wave) - sitting at the main take off with the locals (many spots it takes time to earn a place the…

What is a “sensitive” location? Like a nuclear sub base?

Re: The Cult of the Costco Surfboard

#60

Post by rdiddly »

Gotta say, I never really cared or knew much about surfing, but I always still kept an idea of it in my head that it was this solitary, cool, independent, zen-minded thing. This article shatters that illusion into a million pieces. Come to find out it's just another "sport," with everybody obsessing over $$$gear, and grasping for their place in some kind of hierarchy that has doctrinaire douchebags at the top, and way too many clumsy ignorant pretenders at the bottom.

You know, like cycling. Which I actually do care and know about, but I avoid "cyclists" like the plague so I can maintain my illusion that it's this solitary, cool, independent, zen-minded thing. (It is when I do it.)

So of course in hindsight I'm not sure why or how I was surprised by any of this. Humans ruin everything.

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