20 years ago: A popular jetty, my home break, the dudes; another local, several years older than me, a really good surfer, style I still admire 20 years later and a guy everyone knows and respects, let's call him Capt. The perpetrator, a guy my age who always talked sh@# and thought he was better than he was (sound familiar?), let's call him Cheyenne. So Capt. and I are trading off, when Cheyenne paddles over towards the peak. (At the time, the lefts were super long but some rights split off too, not just corners) Perfect A frame rolls in, Capt. (Reg footer) drops in right, Cheynne (Goofy footer), drops in behind the peak, GOING RIGHT!??! Here's the funny: Cheyenne paddled back out up to Capt. and proceeded to throw some stink and explicatives. Capt. wasn't having any of it and volleyed back a few F'Us. At some time during the exchange Cheyenne realized that Capt. would actually carry out a beating on him and also realized all of the eyes looking at him seemed to be on Capt.s side. Cheyenne apologized with the infamous line :"Are we Cool?" My words don't give the memory justice, I laugh and remind the Capt. every time I see him back home. One of the funniest punk downs I've seen.
Had some paddle-battling non-local try to tell a pissed-off local that he was actually a local. He doesn't get to surf the jetty anymore.
The people I fight with this season (who stick with surfing) will be people I say hello to in 3 seasons. That's just the way it works. It's hard to hold a grudge for more than 3 years without a real reason.
In my 20 years here in Mon Co, I've seen a one choking with a leash, two fin stomps, one head held underwater in a choke hold, and few face washings. None of them involved me personally, and none of them happened in the past 5 years or so.
Between Sandy Hook and Asbury Park. But seriously... I don't think it happens much anymore, if at all.
So true. My high school used to average a fight a day. Now a fight in school is unheard of. I've told my kids of the **** that used to go down in my HS, and they look at me with wide-eyed wonder. Bullies were the norm. We used to play full beat-down contact football every weekend with nothing more that shorts and a shirt on. We used to bike and go off big ass jumps and have horrible wipe-outs without a helmet. We drank liberally all through High School, and went to out of control keg parties, and did endless stupid ****. I was nearly killed in a spectacular car wreck in a pickup truck that had nary a seat belt in it. I've broken 2 femurs, 2 collar bones, fingers, toes, and ribs. Sure we lost a few along the way, but those of us that pulled through were honed and ready to deal with the world and all the **** that gets thrown your way.
I can vouche for LB. The Pit when I was a wee lad was infamous for outsider harassment. It took me years to muster up the courage to paddle out there, and even then I was the target of grom hazing on the daily. I too am thankful for the hard knock justice served to me. Some tough mofos brought me under their wing. There was a rock that would pop up all the time on a deep peak, and once I saw one of the older rippers getting fully pitted when the rock popped out and instead of smashing into it with his board he jumped off and tackled the rock like a football player. He didn't even hurt himself. I'm not exaggerating. I can still hear his angry grunt to this day.
