“If you got slapped you probably deserved it. And if this kills your vibe…safer beaches down the road.”
A pleasingly diverse array of commentary following a surf fight at Tracks on Oahu’s westside, a popular and unchallenging wave near where Johnny Boy Gomes and Sunny Garcia were tutored in the aloha spirit.
The Instagram account @hawaiinewsreport posted the surf fight, which is one-way, local stalks the visitor in waist-deep water before administering his coup de grace, with the explanatory note:
Posting this video is not to hurt anyone’s feelings but to ask what you think and is this ok to treat visitors like this? I don’t know what happened before the slap. I Posted on my story this video and there was a mixed reaction. Most people said this is not Pono but some said it was ok to do… obviously this person who was slapped was not from here but is it ok to slap him if he did get in your way? Alot of people said what if local people traveled to mainland and the locals at those places we visit slapped us and treated us like this? When u travel to the mainland do people welcome you or do they mistreat you? Let us know in the comments.
Which the commentariat sure do.
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In one corner, we got old schoolers thrilled by the rough citizen policing vs the feel-gooders and non-surfers who can’t appreciate how…good… it feels to pop a cunt’s fins out with your fist or deliver a blow that rocks your opponent.
Plenty pro surfers in the comment section who think they are in their element when they are out there trying to surf.Its called etiquette.Get rules.Locals first.No drop in.And no paddle battle with the boys.And no lip back if you don’t know who you talkin too.These are the things that’ll get you clipped from ever surfing there again.If you don’t like it.Stay at Queens,Stay at Waiks.Stay at tourist beaches.I got told before…”No come 3rd dip.You not ready.” When I was a 12 yo kid.If I understood…Why all you Costco surfers trippin.This happens at every local beach in the world.If you got slapped.You probably deserved it.And if this kills your vibe…Safer beaches down the road.
Hate to say this but Braddah got warned multiple times. You can’t just sit in the pocket when the sets come rolling in. Pa’i pa’i lima time
For those of you who don’t know, it’s not about being a visitor or local. It’s about respect in the lineup and not being disrespectful to anyone. It usually stems from someone disrespecting the rules of surfing which often creates a dangerous scenario. If you disrespect you get regulated. Good to see there’s still other regulators out there watching out for everyone and their safety.
vs
I wouldn’t hit anyone over surfing. It just kills the vibe I’m trying to achieve.
I don’t care where you’re from, you do NOT put hands someone else. Basic toddler lessons.
Don’t give a fuck what the kid did before… zero reason to throw hands over surfing… it’s just silly, especially when it looks like a teenager at best. Worst case he damaged your board and that doesn’t appear to be the case when the slapped turned around like he was going back out. Kid was clearly getting out of the water so whatever the problem was before, be that the kid didn’t show respect or dropped in on someone, it doesn’t matter… he was leaving so the problem was solved. And that stands even if the kid is family- treating them like that only gives them the ok to treat others like that which isn’t ok. That was assault, pure and simple. Last time I checked there were no laws governing who gets to go when on what wave aside from law of the jungle but there are real laws on putting your hands on other people. Grow up and control your emotions…
Where do stand on the spectrum?
Okay to start a surf fight and loose hands?
Or assault etc?
And is it ever okay to bring the cops into the mix after a surf fight?
Also, more compelling surf fight footage, here, here, here, here and here.
Obviously some of these people never saw Point Break…. https://media4.giphy.com/me…
Needs to be more of it , bucket list kooks can go get fucked.
what a hero, cheap shot on what looks like a late teen kid who was clearly leaving.
What’s this slap shit anyway. Where else do you get away with that.
Seriously, even blue & one leads with a slap on the cheek… my moneys on the responder
If the slapper only had a yellow beanie
Looks like he had to turn around and say one more thing (like every entitled young cunt these days) so got the slap that his old man should have given him years ago
Love the Westside
All these wellness kooks pushing surfing as being good for mental health etc are ironically creating an environment that is anything but that.
Many hundreds!
What a great woman!
Regulation had a huge effect on me growing up. You learned to play by a code that was basically respect driven. Fights were common, offenders were punished.
Surf “schools”, Surflie, Costco boards, Best friend Parenting have resulted in over crowding everywhere with a full 2 generations of people who were not taught any code. Full Chaos is more like it. Don’t hit me you sociopath while I sit inside you and ditch my foam board while you take off. It’s become such a cluster fuck that it’s almost beyond regulation and the kids will not listen. Little Johnny has never done anything wrong and is great at participating.
Blame most of the fathers you know.
Should the future be a maze of daily violence? No. But the past was easier to navigate because it was easy to avoid getting slapped. All you had to do was pay attention and follow basic rules of respect. Most people don’t even require rules, more like instincts. Two guys at that peak, I’ll paddle out at the other peak.
Like everything else, there has to be a middle ground, but with so many entry level emotionally vulnerable people visiting areas above their pay grade, tempers will flare. Inevitable in a world without respect, selfishness is now a value. Need proof, drive on any So Cal freeway.
I haven’t been on a California freeway in almost twenty years, but my wife has decided she has to visit old friends on the West Coast before they pass away and come up with a plan for us to drive from Seattle to Los Angeles between Christmas and New Year. Because she always bumps into things when she drives I’ll be doing most of the driving, and thinking about it now makes me feel a little entry level and emotionally vulnerable myself. How are the vibes out there these days?
I mean… It looks like its 1-2 feet?
that’s what the guy that got slapped said..right before he got slapped
The only tracks local is Mickey Mouse.
ChatGPT’s writing has the vibe of a nerdy 8th grader doing a report for class.
not for long, shits taking over
Nat Young slapped someone smaller than him once.
twice?
Then got his clock cleaned and went crying to the media , he is a kook.
Exactly my point. He caught such a beating he wrote a book about it, found Jesus, etc. Guys that go around putting their hands on strangers usually calculate who they can get away with fckin with but they had it wrong.
100%
For everyone one local there’s 7-9 visitors coming to hawaii. You think theres gonna be a reverse situation where hundreds of thousands of Hawaiians get rich and descend on a poor white rural American neighborhood?! Every surfer that comes to Hawaii is entitled as fuck just being able to travel. Smug fucks
And those dollars they are injecting into the local economy?! Smug money? Hawaii is built on tourism (and meth, but mostly tourism) and to think someone spends the amount they do to travel there and get pimp slapped by some “bruddah” with a 4th grade education bc he’s “local”? Get the fuck out of here kook, the chip on your shoulder is visible from the mainland.
I think he had made his point..without the bitch slap..but also, total beginners really dont belong in Hawaiian surf..surfing is not an easy sport to learn..you can get hurt..if you dont know what you are doing, spend a year paddling on a lake then go out somewhere when it is 8 ft and spend a few days eating it.. then if you still have the fire to surf, then paddle out and watch and maybe pick off a few inside left overs, rinse and repeat..
One of the best things about surfing in Hawaii is the order in the lineup. The threat of enforcement keeps it that way. Not like the hysterical chaos that exists in California where regulation no longer exists due to the threat of litigation.
Hall monitors when it’s 2 feet and crumbly seems pretty weak. As does violence simply bc you haven’t seen the person in the lineup before / looks like an out of towner. But if it’s overhead, and someone’s out of line, it’s 3 strikes — 2 verbal warnings, second more explicit than first, and on 3d the gloves come off.
That makes logical sense. However, if you surf a crowded break, you know that the disrespect that is inherent in this sort of bad behavior just keeps going when the waves do get good. If bad lineup behavior is let go, it just keeps going. Best to keep a lid on it before the waves get good.
That said, who wants to get sued these days? Hands off at all times. Doesn’t mean you can’t stuff him every time he backpaddles and let it be known thats why he’s getting stuffed. Tactics must evolved.
I hear you on the bad habits need to be cut off. Just seems like when it’s smaller that’s when the activity should be more on the verbal warning side and probably take a few more strikes before the gloves come off.
We had a pretty big discussion about back paddling a few months back on here (you may have weighed in).
My view is there’s 2 kinds, both of which are bad: the traditional being an asshole and paddling around the people waiting their turn, and then the slightly more creative version that happened to me not too long ago when I looked back over my shoulder as started to cut back down in the cove and some guy was coming up behind me — had no idea where he came from but pulled off and let him go. My missus just happened to be sitting up on some driftwood and filming the wave on her phone. When looked at it later I saw he had just waited for me to ride by then he spun and took off behind me and acted like he had been there all along. Guessing he’s pulled the same thing on quite a few others.
Wait, that weak shit is being labeled as a slap? Nonsense. Now THIS is a slap. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
is that Prodan in the bottom left?
Kevin Smith, no?
That beanie