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just ignore the want to bes they will either become surfers in time or just fade away. but by all means make sure you kill some of there stoke and tell them if you see them in the line up youll break theyre 9 foot soft top gnaraloo.

 

surfing sucks...don't try it!

 

Theres a girl where I surf that has been out for about 2 years. She can stand and ride a knee high wave ok but any bigger and she freaks. The other day she was out there calling waves and "outside sets" and yelling at people to paddle harder for waves they didn't even want. Yesterday a set came and she had the nerve to ask me " you going" on a wave that I was paddling for in the priority position. I refuse to answer to someone of lesser experience and just ignore and paddle right around them unless they show some reasonable level of respect. What kind of world is it where a person with no skill is willing to act as an equal to someone who could not be more of a regular at a particular spot and has 35 years of surfing under their belt? I may not be Kelly Slater but compared to this person I may as well be.

 

Wow, do you surf 1st Street VB? You just painted a picture of what the place has become in the last 10 years. Sad when the best surfers out are over 35 years of age and ride shortboards and the kids are all on funboards and total kooks.

 

+1
this forum "jumps the shark" every summer.

 

Dude, in case you haven't heard, we are in the middle of Sharknado Season. Keep your hands and legs inside the moving vehicle, buckle your seat belt, and enjoy the ride.

 

I remember my first real wave was on a cold November evening, probably 5 or 6 foot with offshore winds. It was my first large wave that was walled up and I worked it down the line. It felt amazing and I am always searching for that same feeling. So yes real surfing takes many sessions.

 

You made me think of Greg Noll in one of the old surf flicks when asked what he thought about the Gidget movie. "It just made me wanna f*#%ing puke".

 

Is that from Bustin Down the Door? I know what you're talking about. If not that then Riding Giants.

 

Um, do you surf because you like it or because you want to "look like your surfing"?

Surfing is very special. If someone has been out twice then guess what they have surfed!!!!! Guess what? If someone wants to describe their surf experiences to you and have a conversation then that is a very powerful thing. Those people are proud of themselves and excited and every person has a right to be those things. Oh and they are probably just trying to impress you which to me is very humbling and I treat with respect but well......we are all different I suppose. Kook.

 

Ya brah those milestone waves are obvi still fresh in my mind given that they were all fairly recent. First bigger drop into straight spin cycle was right around the big March nor'easter. No biz being on that wave or out that day. But I won't forget it. First steady pop-up was the next week in 1ft runners into buoyant whitewash and I repped out more of them with great stoke that day. First real successful drop was late March when I was out in the good early spring swell on a perf day and was working on nailing a drop on 4ft when one jacked another foot or so and good thing because I'd been out for 3 hours already that day and wasn't going in til I got it.

First down the line was two weeks later at the start of those 3 weeks of non-stop spring swell and I'd just traded the 7-4 that got me going for a 6-6 fish. First wave attempted on that board ended up being a no-paddle 4ft wave with a clean face and with a smooth drop I pulled a 90 degree turn frontside (first front ever and didn't plan it) once in the trough and went about 40 yards DTL. It was probably late May or early June when I started to get back up the face at all after a bottom turn, and only a couple feet back up if that. Then we had 4-6 weeks of Lake Atlantic so I used that time to get out every morning and eve in the 1ft and work on foot placement and pop-up to shortboard lengths of 5-10. That lull in swell was good since I'd've not been able to nail many drop ins on medium to smaller surf on shortboards without lots of work at it.

First real angled takeoff going backside with pumping while still higher in the face was 2 weeks ago in RI on a good 5-footer. The mush reps for pop-up were so helpful that I started doing this consistently. The following morning at another RI break my first ride of the day was a frontside angled stop that had even better pump and speed on a 5+ft height and I trimmed and carved and got 2/3 back up the wave then rode it off the shoulder. Last week was my first infantile snap action at the end of a similar ride. Next up is getting speed to go back up to the lip vertically and from there snapping and cutting back. Will take many reps and hours but really the only thing standing in my way of it is exposure to good, rideable waves that have any faces to get speed and get back up in.

Sniffer didn't know what can of worms his post would open up but his line "It felt amazing and I am always searching for that same feeling" says it all and defines every sesh I head out for. I don't sleep often but I sleep even less now that I'm dying to get out there on that next sesh and next wave and get that feeling again by taking that next step. It's harder to find that high the better you get and the longer you're in it since competence becomes baseline and later excellence becomes baseline. The master then has to innovate and "change the game" in at least a minute sense if he wants to keep finding that high had from reaching new ground. I'd imagine that trips and travel and hitting world-famed spots can keep that going too.

The kooks you see out there that are getting in your way and screwing with you chasing the high aren't in it for the high. They're in it to tell people they've "surfed before" whatever that means. Hey, if that validation gets them out of the lineup for a while then be happy that a form of waste management is in place. They'll never comprehend what you do in and about surfing because they don't know what the essence of anything is and they're trend-hopping, looking to dip their toe in every touristy experience in life with no behind the scenes look or real taste, sweet or bitter.

I've had the feeling that Sniffer speaks of and I've had it in domains other than surfing. In some, I've experienced the "perfect wave" relative to that domain. I'll tell you this though: even diving in full-speed to anything else I've ever committed to, the staircase of highs to be achieved have not been as pure and all-encompassing as they are in surfing.

 

I think that's an accurate assessment. And if I had to guess the latter group is the majority. In our current culture of instant gratification and online validation, it's real cool to say "yeah I went surfing" and then post it on facebook. Remember the turnover rate is high for those folks, and all it takes is one bigger day/bad experience to hang up the proverbial towel.

 

Pretty accurate, the thing is that when you decide to make it a lifestyle, it's a serious commitment, and many people just don't have that sort of commitment to things. It took me a long time to seriously commit to it, mainly because I didn't realize how much dedication it actually took to be worth a sh*t out there, and I was simply satisfied with being mediocre, riding a wave here and there. Once the bug bit me good and hard though, I didn't have much choice, It became a priority, and it changed my life... for the better.

 

What's wrong with the beaches being populated with bad surfers? It makes you look awesome!

 

I hate talking about surfing with "surfers". I would put the number of people who actually "surf" in the ocean city / delaware area at under 100, probably closer to 50. Yet any given night I can go hang out at a bar and have my wife's friends introduce me to 20 people who "surf" and want to talk to me about it. I have no hate, it's just not something I can really relate to them about.

 

That post sounded ****ish, but I guess what I'm trying to say is there is a drastic difference between the people who come down for the summer, or paddle out once a month when it's convenient and they have off. And the group of 50ish other dumb bastards I see day after day chasing around swells and skipping work / pissing off the wife to go play in the water.