Did pro surfing ruin surfing?

Pretty sure Skip Engblom was out to get rich....

 

The camera isn't called "GoPro" for no reason. Seems like today everyone wants to be seen. Yesterday, in South Jersey, I surfed in so much fog I could barely see the beach. I knew there were at least 4 other guys in the break, but I couldn't see them. It was so liberating and relaxing, no pressure, no one watching.

 

I am not arguing that people in that time were not trying to make money or promote themselves. Alva pretty much invented self skate promotion. However, they were still losers fighting over a few scraps. A young grom now will have his parents right behind him traveling to all the comps because they know that there is at least a chance, slim to none, but a chance their kid could be the next Slater. Which is 1000 times (factor in inflation included) what someone like Alva ever made. Does not mean that Slater is not as passionate as Lopez or Lance Carson or whoever. It just means it is now a much larger business and much more opportunity. But the business is not the pro surfer, it is the image and the lifestyle. IMO.

Because if you step back and look at it, very few people surf, skate, kiteboard, sup, etc. We think so, because we want to surf alone or with a few buddies and everyone else are just losers and kooks. But in reality Pro Surfing is still a fringe sport that most kids and adults don't care or even know about. Ask the average kid to name a surfer or skater other then P.Rod or Slater, and they can't come up with one.

 

missed this one... maybe i mis-understood. lol. im married to an Italian... regardless if i want to or not, im not allowed to go anywhere! lol. escape is not possible!

 

The Portuguese women are the same. God help me when they send their intoxicating pheromones my way.

 

Ruin it for who? I still like surfing so it's not ruined for me. However, I (nor 95% of us) did not surf prior to the proliferation of pro surfing so who am I to say if it ruined what surfing was?

 

In major areas it has, surfing sometimes isn't all about doing it because its just damn fun. Even though im pretty young, i feel like surfing back in the 70's was such a mystery, no computerized forecasts, spots were kept secret, board shapers were local while now you have nike making boards. Intentions were pure as there was no money in the sport

 

I'm blaming the fall of surfing on the 30-something kook wanna-be-but-never-will-be's. Hands down. That abysmal, bottom-feeding strata of surfer society is definitely responsible for: no solo swells in late spring, any former sandbar that no longer cranks, water pollution, rising insurance premiums for municipal/state run breaks, and finally, the summer solstice.

 

You still can today. Many times i've committed to a 2hr drive each way with the hope that MY prediction was better than the forecasts I had seen, and more often than not I ended up scoring waves all by myself or with a small handful of folks who went anyways like me. I remember seeing 1.5ft @ 8 seconds and 5-10SSE winds. Most people would call that flat, I ended up getting 2-3ft peelers, and a smile on my face for the 2hr drive home...

 

contests and pro dudes aren't a big deal. they've been around forever. i'd say it was bound to grow no matter what. so much crap out there about how enlightening, spiritually full-filling, one with nature bs and great surfing is. why wouldn't more people want to surf?
the worst thing about surfing now-a-days is the internet. ironically because all the good content is online. mags are all airs and ads. my sh!ts just aren't the same. computers are hard to keep on your lap whilst sh!tting! and they get hot. although, lately i've been buying old surf mags on ebay for cheap. can't beat the color saturation in old mags. oh how time flys with a good ole surf mag...

 

nike making boards? or paying people to put stickers on them? don't do it.

 

your right. surf comps used to be on abc wide world of sports! eddie aikau was on TV. i assume 'ruined' is referring to crowds? only not breeding could have stopped that.

 

In my eyes, pro surfing has been nothing but positive for everyone in the surfing community. People don't just pack their bags, move to the beach and give up their whole lives because they watched Kelly Slater surfing on sports center. You are either a surfer or your are not. You were most likely born to do it...

I used to love when the tour would come to trestles. Everywhere from Windansea to Oceanside was empty, so you could score while everyone was up north...

But anyway, to me, pro surfing has elevated the entire sport to a new level. The only way for progression to really happen is through competition. We all competed to be better than our friends, or our other locals... but at the end of the day, that only takes you so far. The fact that guys in OZ see what guys in Orange County are doing, and it makes them all progress too on an international level, it has made what we do progress light years ahead of what guys were doing a few decades ago....

And aside from the progression and the fact that every "surfer" who has been shortboarding for 5 or 6 years has a few airs in their bag of tricks and the things that were once ground breaking are just common place for most of us... its pretty interesting, it it is because of pro surfing.

Pro surfing gives me some sort of justification for what we do. What we work so hard to do... Its to the point now, where if you have a good session these days, people are blown away by it. People see a nice hack or a little air, especially down on HHI and you are a celebrity on the beach with all the kids and tourons... And when people see on sportcenter's top 10, some pro surfer doing what was impossible a few years ago, it really justifies all of our hard work to me. I mean, we see rugby highlights, but not Kelly Slater a few years ago when he through that ridiculous backside 360 air off the lip at Huntington? I mean, that should have made the top 10 for the whole year in sports, not just that day... But to hear other people in the sports world that really don't know surfing say, damn... that was amazing.

And everyone that sees pro surfing thinks the same thing... Man I wish I could do that. Man, I wish I could surf... And yes, that is where some of the crowds happen... But I pay anyone on the back who wants to get involved in the ocean... There is more than enough to share. I dont care where you live or who you are... Like ive said before, if you find yourself surrounded by crowds and kooks everytime its good out, you should reconsider how local you really are. If I can find pretty empty waves on a sick swell in August in San Diego, I really dont like hearing complaints from guys that surfed Tourmo and, man it was soooo crowded. Well no Sh** genious. Its not Kelly Slater's fault guys are packed up in PB. Thats because everyone who has ever been out west to visit has seen people shredding, and 5 year olds to 65 years all want in on it... Its not TVs fault or the media... People just see it and they want in on it, and I dont blame em.

 

Despite the consequences, there is no way I will ever support not breeding. No chance, brah. It's here to stay, at least for this guy.

 

i agree with Zach619. waves to be had everywhere. nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. and to further Zach619's point, what else is there to do anymore? most 'things to do' are too structured, expensive and downright boring. when i leave my house all i see is box stores and houses, till i get to the beach. who wouldn't want to surf?