Yes... we know who you are

i don't buy that for a second. & if you really were, then you need to work on your sense of humor, as that was in very poor taste.

 

i have several and im not a kook,kook. a bit of a ****head,yes,but thats fun......kook

 

Sheeah mon. This is exactly what came to mind when I first read the initial posting. We ran into a group on a recent surf trip who typified the ugly American sort of attitude...paddling around folks, dropping in, etc at a break in country x. I believe the guys might be on this board, so I don't want to get specific, and I also don't mean to be judgmental because I'm sure I act like an a-hole in other ways that I just don't realize...anyhow, the sorts of things cresto mentioned were crucial to making our trip great. We did leave a board. We did pay some local surfers to take us out fishing. We asked some locals to show us to a waterfall and gave them some stuff in return, after which they took us back to their farm to hang out and devour score of mangoes. We did our best to speak the local language, and they showered us with local knowledge of their spots. We gladly paid the high turista prices for the first few days and then got heaps of deals as we got to know the locals better. The word "respect" gets a lot of bad rap these days. In my Hawaii days, it often meant deferring to the locals and NEVER getting waves. That's not respect. Respect is a relationship. It's a give-and-take, learn from each other kind of deal. When I surf new spots, I make it a point to sit on the shoulder and watch some set waves, maybe throw a shaka to a local after a good ride. The only place this hasn't ended in me getting some good waves as well?...good ole USA. We tend to have a selfish attitude in the water. Not that others don't (ahem...BRAZIL!), but we do as well. It's good to step outside of that box and remember that humility isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Other conversation...OCMD in the summer is CRAZY!!! That's why I avoid it and wait until September. Two thoughts, however:
1. I know people don't like to hear it, but the economy in OC relies on tourists. Go to Malibu's and ask Lee how well he'd be doing if the soccer mom's didn't show up and buy sweatshirts for the kids. I'm not saying everyone and everything there depends on the tourism, but it's a big deal, and denial of that is a little bit ridiculous. I'm not saying it doesn't suck, but rather, it's life.
2. The surfing crowds really aren't that bad. The wind typically ruins the waves by 10 am, which is when the lifeguards show up. Before then, you can definitely find a spot to ride that will be, if not totally empty, at minimum uncrowded. In my opinion, the surf midday is almost always crap, so there's really no need to go fight the pack at the surf beach at that time. I do agree that midday during Earl was amazingly good and I was pissed at all hell that I couldn't ride the empty f'ng peaks in front of me, but...that's life too I guess.

 

my town is in no way dependent on tourists of any sort for anything, in fact, if you do the math you'd probably find they're presence results in a net negative cost

 

dave why dont you do the math for once

 

I agree with matt

 

oiga yanqui no tengo ningun problema contigo. i dig your tales. seriously. it pays to have a thick skin and a short memory on the midatlantic forum. absorb the positive and ignore the negative... and i've definitely done similar things in terms of leaving equipment and cash behind. leaving boards/etc. makes me feel good (give a man a fish and he'll rip for life...) but leaving cash always makes me feel a bit quamish - like i'm perpetuating the rich gringo stereotype. but it's what they want, really, so i usually just say chucha loco gas is fokin dear. take the money man.

 

Todo bien, Cresto.

Giving away gear, always. The giving away dinero aspect is not something I would normally do while traveling - - - that was primarily to try to get a life lesson to Deep-Pockets-Short-Armed Eddie... and, for once, it seemed to take hold.

Heck, he even buys rounds now.


+1 on the thick skin / short memory

 

I hear ya LB. I've learned to turn my head the other way when I see nonsense from out of towners. They are excited and just trying to have fun within a month, weekend or one nite that they able to stay here...**** em!

 

LOL I do say that a lot

 

I dont live at the beach therefore I am not a local to anywhere surf related. I completely agree that kooks need to be hit in the head with a baseball bat, and it makes me mad when these dudes are just taking up space in the lineup with their creatine toned biceps. You can spot one out like a sore thumb just by the way they paddle. If it wasn't for surfing's "cool" image, we wouldn't have any of the wannabes with their brand new merricks riding the whitewater into shore, or dropping in on you and eating sh!t immediately.

I've traveled up and down the east coast surfing and I give the up-most respect for locals, no matter where I am, and I strictly follow correct surf etiquette at all times. I am often respected by local surfers for my own surfing skills and am quick to make friends in the line up. HOWEVER, nothing is more aggravating than an aggro local, who hates every face he doesn't recognize. It pisses me off when i get out to a good spot on a good day and some prick out there is paddle battling me for every single god d@mn wave because hes a "local." Ive only had this happen a handful of times, but these guys are wasting their energy to prove themselves to someone who doesnt give a sh!t. Seriously, I am out there for a day, or a week, depending on my stay, just let me surf! You can have have the spot the rest of the year without me!!!!!!!!! Just because someone is a local doesn't mean they gotta be a d!ck about it. Yes, non-locals are more of an issue. But sometimes locals need to get over themselves and just enjoy the beautiful sport of surfing. Ain't no fun if the homies can't have none!

 

"I dont live at the beach therefore I am not a local to anywhere...
...kooks need to be hit in the head with a baseball bat...
...I am often respected by local surfers for my own surfing skills...
...these guys are wasting their energy to prove themselves to someone who doesnt give a sh!t.
...locals need to get over themselves...
...Ain't no fun if the homies can't have none!"

Take your pick:
A. possibly the first-post pick of the young decade
B. kook, know thyself
C. we have met the enemy & he is us (Pogo)
D. words fail to adequately sum this one up

 

i won't paddle battle you,i'll just pretend you are invisible and surf,and then you'll go away.move to a break and surf it.i don't hate you,i just don't need you at my 10- months- a- year empty sandbar.welcome to swellinfo.if there's a lot of waves and you stay away from me i'll be really nice.especially in novemberdecemberjanuaryfebruarymarch

 

The thing people often forget is the commitment of many surfers who (for various reasons) live inland. I had one of my most memorable local experiences in New England after driving 6 hours through the night from upstate NY. This was Hurricane Bertha back in '08. I surfed a well-known spot at dawn with a handful of locals, then got some breakfast and sat on the beach at another spot to warm up and wait for the tide to change. In the meanwhile, I met a guy on the beach and swapped stories. He respected the hell out of the fact that I put forth so much effort to score some waves and ended up inviting me to go to a secret spot with him and a few others. I have spent my entire 10 years of surfing as a "non-local" by most definitions, so I mostly sat wide and grabbed waves that everybody else missed. All the while the whole group talked and shared stories with me and called me onto some set waves. I ended up getting a few really good ones, thanked the guys, and drove back to NY.

I've been on the other side as well. I lived in Charleston, SC for nine months and surfed the Washout pretty much every day. One February day I surfed with a guy who had traveled from Asheville, NC with his girlfriend. While not a great surfer, he was a whitewater rafting guide and awesome person. We must have surfed for 2 hours, trading waves and jokes the whole time.

My point is, humility goes a long way, no matter if you're a local or a visitor. If you want to not talk to anyone, snake people, drop in, and say it's okay because you live there...well, you might be able to get away with that. You will, however, miss out on the best parts of the experience.

 

I depend on how a non local acts around locals in how they will be treated . You show up acting like your the shiznit and better than anyone there then your gonna get what you deserve and if you show up humble and respectful then you will be treated better.
It dont matter whos boards you ride , what shorts you wear or where u are from .

you catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar

 

live aloha,i totally agree,since i'm only talking of a specific situation where people fall out of the sky and compete against me though i've never seen them before and there aren't enough waves to go around and they hog them all up.when i travel i am careful not to get in the way of guys who look like they are home,and if there's plenty to go around and they are nice it all works out.the same would happen to anyone who paddled out at my break with this respectful visitor attitude.

 

I make it easy on myself when I travel by wearing Bob Weily's t-shirt, "Dont, hassle me, I'm local"

 

won't work here,though,it's all spread out,and we all know each other.just a handful of guys surfing a big stretch of fickle beachbreaks all year,every year,for a lot of years,which is why it is so different here than most other breaks.we have a lot of surfing beaches here in the summer,so it's easy to find your own sandbar and not fight me for summer scraps.

 

my local break always has quite a few heads when it's going anyway. in the summer you get a lot of the novelty surfers. guys who just float around on their boards to look cool, and impress girls. they aren't riding anything, and are even floating when it's flat, and not even surfable on their boards. when it's flat i don't care, because it's flat so i could care less. i used to surf only dawn patrol sessions in the summer. nowadays if there is a good swell i'll surf anytime in the summer.

 

+1

Too much work and effort is involved with being an angry surfer (or person). Whenever I catch myself being an a-hole in the water, I feel embarrassed on the drive home.