Like Ayn Rand said, "The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
As a surfer, I am a selfish, selfish person. I will greedily scratch for any and all waves that peak in my vicinity. I will roll my eyes if you are in better position to take one. I will look at shore and think, “There are no waves for YOU” when I see you paddling out. I will give you the silent treatment when you get there. I will get mad at you if you get mad at me for dropping in on you. I will shake my head in silent disapproval if you drop in on me. I will only respond, “Good” if you ask me how I’m doing. I probably won’t listen if you answer back. I will audibly groan if I see a crowd in the lineup. I will avoid any plans that conflict with my plans to surf.
I know I am not the only one to feel this way. I know this from experience. This weekend, the breaks in Southern California came to life for the first time in what felt like months. I surfed at multiple spots. Each time, I was greeted by hoards of likeminded, surf thirsty, wave mongers. I was dropped in on. I was given the silent treatment. I was jockeyed for position. I was talked shit to. I was disregarded.
What is it about surfing that produces such angst and self-centeredness? A sport that is otherwise reveled for its Zen-inducing influence? Individualism. That’s what. Surfing is a sport that supports the one. There is no team, no roster, and no room for anyone else. Just one person. One board. One need. When waves are a desired but limited resource, it becomes survival of the fittest. Competition ensues. And the needs of the one are promoted over the needs of the many. We care less about our neighbor and care only about our fix. Addicts. Selfish addicts.
Today when I realized this, I felt dirty. I needed to resolve it. I sat in the lineup and let each wave pass me by. I watched everyone else smile. It occurred to me that we are all competing for the same thing. Not waves but happiness. The pleasure that only comes from riding water. The replication of that feeling; that indescribable feeling. So today, I gave everyone else my happiness and received nothing in return. I don’t know how long that will last.
As a solution-oriented person, I’ve been searching for a more permanent answer. One that will offer more reward. It finally became so clear to me: I wish everyone else would quit surfing, so I can be happy.
“summers over, kooks split”
Grow up.
Two things: whining about crowds in California is like going to a whorehouse and complaining about sex.
Two, individualism is more of an americano thing.
Three, it’s basic economics on the Theory of scarcity, especially when it comes to long range southern hemis.
Sounds a bit overly premeditated. Much more interestingly spontaneous in the moment. And I definitely told a guy this afternoon to “shut the fuck up or come over here and stab me in the face” for being a prick. He clearly wasn’t a fisherman.
Americans are the biggest weirdos in the World when it comes to this shitt, they all still think they’re living the mantra of John Severson: “In this crowded world, the surfer can still seek and find the perfect day, the perfect wave, and be alone with the surf and his thoughts.”
You want angsty localism try fishing. When the knives and gaffs get drawn that’s when shitt gets real.
Apart from a few Pacific locations localism has disappeared in surfing, now we get these passive-aggressive college intern essays that would have been rejected by the Inertia and the bizarre, impotent pysche-outs outlined above.
Lawsuits, mate, lawsuits. Softened the culture, changed the game.
And why the fuck do you guys assume I’m American #———storm
Length of first post would indicate you think your opinion is worth more than others and you love the sound of yourself talking.
= American.
Sorry to break it to you, but the rest of the world hates you.
he said mang
¿wut up mang?
yes, agreed, and furthermore only an egregious cunt uses the word egregious.
And unlike Oz, we don’t ship the vast majority of our immigrants back to some holding facility or pawn them off on PNG and NZ. At least you guys pay them to go back though. Imagine that, educated folk in a former POMmie colony who 1. aren’t white and 2. can have multiple nationalities! At least until Trump gets the vote…then I’ll REALLY have to not be American…or rather, not be allowed to be.
Cue irony alert…an overstated response on a post about selfishness…
I am very similar, can’t stand crowds, and care not for others in the water. I too am very selfish when it comes to surf.
Delicate balance. I’ll talk the paint off the walls with strangers and I’m the nicest fucking dude on land and in the lineup, even crowded ones so long as dudes will reciprocate a bit. But when that one dude paddles out right on top of you at a wide open beachie, I’m cunt of the century for the next two hours.
The other day I made the comment “fun run of surf, huh?” to some below-average-ability 40-something who backed out of five-plus set waves and couldn’t do a turn to save his life although he was all geared out (nice neon FCSII’s, mang!). Only a few guys out, spread around the lineup. He blanked me with the cool guy shit. No response. I looked him in the eye and asked him if he could really play the cool-guy card when he had let heaps of good waves roll by. He looked angry, but stayed silent. I then back-paddled him relentlessly–I refuse to burn all but the most egregious asshole–for the next hour while saying hello to every old-to-geriatric aged guy that I recognized who I floated past (only like three dudes, really). You know, the type who doesn’t surf all summer but turns up every fall and winter and you’ve seen him a ton over the years even if you’re not on a first-name basis. Not in a “fuck you, I know everyone here” way to back-off guy, but in that, “hell yeah, good to see you, you over that shoulder injury?” way, stoked to see the other over-50 guys still surfing when its overhead, even if they pass all summer long. At least along this particular stretch of coast, only the real pricks, egos, and posers won’t make brief, casual conversation or respond to a “what’s good?”, so the response is generally somewhat amicable and sincere when you have face recognition. Dude was confused, visibly. Like, “I surf better than that 60-year old guy on the longboard, but he’s nice to him…what’s up with that?” Confusion turned to frustration. Dude kept backing off and then went in.
Moral of the story: I (and many others) turn into an asshole only because others are assholes while simultaneously demonstrating completely contradictory behavior in a small space over a short period of time. And that kinda fucks with people more than just being a dick from the go.
Also: nothing better than being a prick to someone (usually an inferior surfer who doesn’t play by rules regarding drop-ins, backpaddling, rushing the peak, clogging the inside, sitting close enough for penetration, etc.) for an entire session and then realizing they’re adjacent to you in the carpark. Two options: fight or man-up and explain why you rickrolled a motherfucker. If they can’t handle that they’re unsocialized heathens of the digital era (and usually beginner-intermediate surfers), then I welcome a knock to the skull or eight (any less isn’t any fun).
✅ ^^^^^^
Hey big guy, save your energy for the waves and grow up.
I have been thinking a lot lately about what a self centred and selfish activity surfing is. I have dropped everything, structured my career (if you could call it that), left friends in my wake all for the pursuit of waves. I’m reading Finnegan’s “Barbarian Days” right now and it struck me that its a recurring theme in his book also. Surfings an obsession, and sometimes to follow that obsession is to be a complete cunt to almost everyone you know. But all it takes is that one standout session, that one wave even, and you know you’ll never ever change.
with respect to Billy Finnegan, kind of but not really. He got a decent job, wife and kid and keeps it all together.
So, it’s possible to get a balance going.
What if it’s just something fun to do which you do when you get a chance. Not so amazing, not so different to anything else people do.
This whole surfing thing as obsession is BS….most quit, cut down and manage well as normal citizens.
Surfing is no more or no less selfish or self centred than anything else human beings do.
That must be why selfishness in surfing is such a recurring theme. Limited resources = selfishness. Lots of effort for a quick fix of pleasure = obsession forming.
Although I guess your perspective depends on how sated your appetite is (and how obsessive and selfish you are). As an improving kook, I am totally selfish and obsessed.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place there my friend…