the future of surfing

I can see these big corporations really saturating are sport,sort of like nascar.

 

kinda like they've done for the last 30 years or so???

 

Im not talking companies like Billabong or quicksilver.Im talking companies that don't belong near the sport.

 

Interesting topic, I've always thought about this.

I think some pretty bad things are in store. In time, our breaks are going to become so crowded and more and more guys' attitudes will be turning aggro and surfing will no longer be peaceful. Adrenaline will be running due to human conflict, not because someone's getting shacked. There will be no such thing as traveling to explore new breaks because each and every place that breaks good will be held down by a staunch crew who will not welcome any outsiders.

I would really like to think that it will never be as bad as I imagine, but even today I am seeing where this lifestyle may be headed.

 

----- The movement of retro happened out here in SD like 7 years ago... And now, I saw it all dissapear. Trust me, once you ride around on some big chunky fish or single fin all summer, you will remember quickly how far we have advanced, and if its not being ridden on the world tour, you probably shouldnt be riding it daily. And as for the comment about AIRS etc... I see surfing style going MUCH more aerial oriented. I had to add a few airs to my bag of tricks to even stand out around here. Every turn kids do these days involves a ridiculous body torque and corksrew maneuver with a railgrab and a 260 air at the end. I mean, if you plan on getting into competetive surfing, you better get your air game right. Not to mention the fact that in my opinio, there is no trick in the entire surfing world that feels better than landing an air. My favorite is a simple air reverse. I will take one of those over a barrel anyday. And yes, i have started the Barrel/Air old guy young guy debate many times. Its just my personal opinion.

 

THESE are all my comments. It quoted something when i posted that, but these are my responses.


forcasting!

---- I think forecasting has gotten as close as we are going to get to perfection. I mean, the weather changes so rapidly, there will never be a way to see further into the future than we do now... Now as far as REPORTING, that has a ton of room for improvement. For instance, you get 2 decent reports daily from Surfline at my home break... Throughout the day though, what surfline lists as 4-6 feet will be 2-3 at some point, then 7-8 etc, then back down depending on the hour. So a more REALTIME report system will happen. It will just costs a bunch of money. But in 10 years, I would imagine you could get EXACT wave and surf data in almost real time.

board design
------ this is what will change the most. Fundamentally, boards need to be similar to what they are now, but with the epoxy revolution and quad fins, the posibilities are endless. I think in maybe 8-10 years there will be some extreme innovation.... But no matter what ive always tried, i always go back to my poly/thruster shortie....


safety
----- Not much we can do, unless we remoevd reefs from the water, all of us wear helmets and put up Shark netting around all of our favorite spots.... Surfing will never be "safer" really... Which is why we all live with risks in our daily lives. We all take a risk, nothing we can do about that...


and style ( there is a big movemnt of people going back to retro boards) (but then again everyones on speed and coke trying to do the next big air)

----- The movement of retro happened out here in SD like 7 years ago... And now, I saw it all dissapear. Trust me, once you ride around on some big chunky fish or single fin all summer, you will remember quickly how far we have advanced, and if its not being ridden on the world tour, you probably shouldnt be riding it daily. And as for the comment about AIRS etc... I see surfing style going MUCH more aerial oriented. I had to add a few airs to my bag of tricks to even stand out around here. Every turn kids do these days involves a ridiculous body torque and corksrew maneuver with a railgrab and a 260 air at the end. I mean, if you plan on getting into competetive surfing, you better get your air game right. Not to mention the fact that in my opinio, there is no trick in the entire surfing world that feels better than landing an air. My favorite is a simple air reverse. I will take one of those over a barrel anyday. And yes, i have started the Barrel/Air old guy young guy debate many times. Its just my personal opinion.

 

Nike, Hollister, Target, Channell, Walmart , Fox, Ralph Lauren I could go on but these are the lastest and greatest of companies who are only involved in surfing for there own personal gain and dont care if they exploit surifng and leave it in shambles after they sucked the origionality out of it

 

Maybe its the bad economy, but since I live in arguably the most crowded surfing area in the country, it began getting really really bad. It maxed out about 5 years ago. There was not a human that lived in the City of SD that didn't own a surfboard. And by god, they showed up at the beach everyday....

But in the past 2 years, the reverse has been happening. Less Brazilians showing up ruining our summer. Less kooks from Boston and NYC that moved out here and walk around in redsox hats and foam boards under their arms...

Maybe the economy will bring more people back to the water, but for once, I think most people lately have "tried" surfing, and 9 out of 10 people don't have the dedication to EVER stick with it... So I think we made it through a tough decade of wannabes and invasion of our lifestyles, but when the smoke clears, we are the only ones left....

I mean, OC MD will always be filled with ridiculous crowds all summer, but do I think a bunch of guys visiting from the street of Baltimore are going to start charging all the waves? No, I think that will never happen. Its a novelty for most. Its a life for us.

 

I am excited to say that I absolutely disagree! I've got so many different ways to improve the forecasting... and working diligently to get there.

 

lets enjoy the present but....

i belive that life and evolution goes in a big circle, in board evolution it went, 1. the "olo" finless boards 2. alaia's 3. tom blake cigar 4.Redwood longboards 5. foam longboards 6. more egg-like boards 7. the spoon 8. lightning bolt single fin 9. M R twin fin 10. the thruster..... this isnot exact but close, i did leave out a cuople, but look where we are now, back to finless alaia's... when were all 60's-70's(hopefully) years old, the groms then are gonna say,"how the hell did you ride that 3 finned board shaped like that?!" like how some of us question the designs a long time ago....

 

Hah that's so sick! And true. Sometimes I have trouble being optimistic about stuff, but nothing's ever going to stop me from doing what I love.

Another thing to think about... wetsuits are becoming warmer. More people are surfing in the winter/spring. I saw some guy out in early April last year with a hood and a freakin SURFACE board trying to paddle out in a head high g swell! You have to wonder if this guy had any motivation.

My dad w/ 38+ years of surfing experience (HI 3yrs, PR, OBX, and of course NJ to this day) has told me numerous times.. it's not what it used to be. Winter surfing was never this crowded... especially in the 70's and 80's.

 

hahaha yes!

 

Nice. I love to hear that. I am sure you have all kinds of cool ideas. I just meant the following: Maybe there are better ways to get data out to people, I.E. this site, but for the most part, NOAA (where my dad works ) and all the other huge agencies are kind of maxed out as far as weather data and prediction. You can see a swell from thousands od miles away, but until it takes its course and gets close, there is nothing that NOAA or swellinfo etc can really do but wait, and adjust as the storms shift. But to my knowledge, there haven't been too many huge advancements in recent years, and I dont see that changing too much...

I mean, especially out here. I can see a swell a week in advance, and basically within a foot or two, we all know how big it will be. What breaks to go to based on angle and wind... I mean, we all do the same thing. But places back east are MUCH more ahrd to predict. It changes daily, and I can't think of a mathematical way to keep up with predicting dramatic shifts and being right. You can base your forecasts after analyzing tons of different swells from the past that form in a simliar area, similar size etc,... but you know how all of those factors are a toss up when live swell is rollings... Im just saying that you guys do great at it already. I don't think there is much more you guys can do at this point...

I ran a forecasting site about 8 years ago (sixonenine.com/net)... and i eventually stopped because all my data was being pulled from the same sources as everyone else, so I was just re-inventing the wheel each day. And once I realized everyone had easy access to this stuff, then I gave up....