As a long time local surfer who thoroughly enjoyed the ASP tour this past Sept is it me or have crowds increased exponentially since the contest has come and gone. Knowing my history and owning a place in Rincon, Puerto Rico, I realize that this is what happened to that town too back in 1968 bringing it from a sleepy fishing town to a surfers paradise overnight (there are still some remnant hippies leftover there from 44 year ago) and while I can't complain about that I am sure their locals could! Any other long beach guys notice the spike in crowds since the contest as well or anyone experience this anywhere else in the world have input, is it transient or in your opinion will it have more of a long term effect (like Rincon, PR) , if so I will put my house here up for sale sooner rather than later. Your thoughts?
Yea, it's getting more crowded for sure. The good thing though for you (not for me) is that home prices have gone up. Summer rentals are also sky high in Long Beach now. Hold on to your place for a little longer.
as much as it seems the locals hate the crowds, if it wasnt for the tourists they would be living in shacks. i saw this in nicaragua too. thats how the local surfers made money, renting boards and surf lessons. but yea here even in nj it has nothing to do with the contest but the last 3 years the crowds have been getting ridiculous. i remember even 2 winters ago surfing a perfect chest high sunny day with one other person. now chest high close outs and theres 15 kooks out
I am not revolting against comps I said I thoroughly enjoyed the contest just WONDERING if anyone else saw a spike in the crowds since the tour. I surfed a chest high Sunday in freezing March recently with over 50 guys out at a fairly well known spot, that is an increase for this area undoubtedly especially given the cold temps and time of year
Also I definitely support all the local shops in my area by only buying from them (nothing online even if the price seems better)I bought the most expensive winter wetsuit on the market(Patagonia) this past winter(and freaking love it) and have purchased 3 brand new surfboards in the last 2 years from all 4 local surf shops in the area.
I definitely noticed an increase in people in the water this winter compared to last. Maybe it's because it was much warmer than last year but there seemed to be a handful of guys out at every jetty when we got swell this year. I wonder if the surfing population is going to continue to grow until every spot is overcrowded. There are only so many waves to go around, will there eventually be too many surfers in the world for the amount of waves?
^This + a warm winter had a lot to do with it I'm sure. Also, the lack of waves we've had is probably causing people to make sure they get on it if there is anything out there.
