There's fifty people out.......

I dunno about Trestles and Rincon, or Dover...I have surfed Lower Trestles a few times with about 10-20 people out and its a pretty small peak so even 20 is a crowd. Its worth it to me for a quality of the wave, at least for an hour or two, if you can snag five goooood ones.

I'm convinced surfing is a highly social activity for a great deal of us. Many would rather sit in a crowded pack at a spot where their friends are hanging out rather than heading down the beach to surf an empty spot with a couple of random strangers.

Whats your theory? You must have one.

 

I try and stay away from the pack, I'll take the empty 5 over a crowded 7 any day. I'm usually one of the first guys out, will surf one peak and when the crowd comes I'll move down to less crowded peaks. I like surfing with strangers when it's just a few of us and everyone is cool. If there not cool it's like surfing alone any way because they don't want to talk, fine by me also

 

confrontational? insulting? i don't see that …

i pick the beach w/the best waves yet had the sense to go elsewhere when hurricane bill sent 10 footers
into squan and shammer parted the pack like moses/red sea.

i always consider multiple beaches but WILL PADDLE INTO A PACK cause (in my own mind) i think i have
an advantage over most due experience/hi-volume surfboard/pool training. this behavior has resulted in
rude behavior from professional surfers who are used to being deferred to and getting the set wave
results in hissy-fits from 140lb pro's on 5'2's…which of course i thoroughly enjoy. many times that has been
the cherry on top of the cake of my day.

 

I am with SJB on this...

Seriously, people always do this in VB. Drives me freakin insane especially when I am out, no one around and some "2 foot summer surfing clown" paddles right up your craw. I ran a guy over yesterday for this exact behavior. If you're reading this "Predator", that was not a shark this morning that I spooked you on, but an extremely large bluefish. He was big. Like I wanted to revive the dumping thread but I was like don't want to lose the johnson.

I have a solution...keep an ill tempered bluefish that you can feed and train to scare folks out of the water. I suggest treating him like a dog, feed him raw meat, and name him Dishrag. Dishrag no joke yo.

I am going to make a new board that will say from top to bottom "I don't want to be your friend". Seriously, respect and intelligence is in decline. I see examples from Idiocracy in the water too. My name is Not Sure and I am not sponsored by Mountain Dew or Carl's Jr.

 

^^I'd like to get a bumper sticker that says I don't want to be your friend, for the 6 am tailgaters I attract on the drive to the beach, when there are only 2 cars on the road.

As far as surfing in a pack goes, I think that books and such for beginners advise against surfing alone.

 

top photo: NORTH JERSEY
bottom photo: SOUTH JERSEY

 

Heres some tools for tailgaters.if you're going fast enuf hit the washer-wipe and watch 'em
STAMP ON THE BRAKES. works especially well on motorcycles. another is speed up then just take your
foot off the gas - no brake (lights) - just a foot off gas slow down - this produces rage (hee-hee).

on a disclaimer note from an old taxi driver if road rage ensues DO NOT GET OUT OF THE CAR cause
many times the next step is cuffs.

 

It's not always that bad. I spent most of my days, at very popular, crowded CA spots. Most of the time, I always had alternatives for when there were 80 guys on the jetty. There are always spots that you can get on the cliffs with only 3-4 guys on it, but not breaking as clean or lined up as others. So it's all a matter of preference... Somedays, if a spot on the cliffs is just going bonkers and has 400 yard sections with pitching lips, Yeah, I will go out in the 40 person crowd and wait my turn. Like Mitchell said, its worth it to me to get 3-4 perfect waves in one hour, over 25 medicore ones.

Same thing applies at Blacks and Trestles... But at both of those spots, you can get "over" the crowd and just paddle to middles or uppers, or hit the North Peak at Blacks. There are twice as many barrels on the South Peak, but some of the best barrels I have had at Blacks have been on the North end, just because I got a ton more waves and there are still barrels to be had....

The final thought on this, is when you get to a certain level, there is a lot to be said for surfing around A LOT, of very talented surfers. I really got a HUGE KICK out of getting great waves in front of a crowd. When you show up to a spot, and the whole Plus One teams is clogging up the spot, there are 15 team riders, cameras going... Well, sometimes its a rush to be in a situation like that, cause every time you kill a wave, people that matter and people that are important saw it. I don't care about getting it on TV or getting it on VIDEO, it's more about the other locals, the pros or whoever seeing you getting it done. Sometimes, I love being in a crowd... Cause I would rather impress the most talented guys in the water sometimes than your d-bag friend who can barely stand up and "swears" that he wasn't looking when you landed that air.....

There is something to be said for popping over the back of the wave after a sick ride and seeing everyone staring at you, and once they see you look back at them, they quickly look back out at sea, playing that "I wasn't even watching card" ... Then you chuckle with stoke on your way back out, like yeah, all you mother fu**ers saw that. Stop fronting....

I hate crowds when its small and lame, but if its a few feet overhead and there is a lot of talent out, I actually don't mind it. You spend you time in the lineup, watching guys shred as you wait your turn... Sometimes, when you are surfin a spot like trestles, you see Mick Fanning and Taj burrow paddle out.... And again, I can't think of a better feeling than having a ASP pro checking out your style on a wave. Sometimes, crowds make it fee like a real, american sport....

And dude, when it's firing in the summer, and there are 1000 tourists on the pier, chicks are hooting for you, japanese tourists are cheering.... Its not all about solitude and being alone out there... Sometimes if feels good to put on a show.... Its a whole different kind of stoke...

You have ALL had this feeling: It's winter, you are basically alone, you get a ridiculous barrel, you spit out, holding your hands on your head as you pop over, like WTF just happened, stoke out of your mind, you look around. No one out. You look to the beach, hoping that the couple on the beach at least stopped to admire your ride, but no, they are 200 yards up the beach not paying attention.... You and only you, witnessed one of the sickest rides, EVER!.,...

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it? Does it make a sound?


Of course it does. I know my opinions will be met with... Whatever sell out. Thats not why I surf. I dont care what other people think. I don't care who sees me. I don't care about pros... Screw the pros...


I hear yall... I do... You are just full of sh**.

 

Haha, I drove a cab for a few years, too. Saw much road rage.

I did the foot off the gas thing for yesterday's tailgater. I'll have to try the windshield washer trick next.

 

You sound confused SJB lol, my advice is stop overthinking it, let the small logistics of everything go, and surf and catch some waves.

It’s annoying sometimes when you’re one of the first ones out at dawn and as time goes on more people paddle out to the peak you’re at. Last summer I actually used that to my advantage in ocean city, paddled out on the bad side of the jetty and within 10-15 mins the whole crowd was out. Snuck around to the otherside and had the little 3 foot perfection all to myself for a good 10 minutes before they realized they were sitting in choppy slop and I was snagging whatever wave I wanted. The nature of the beast. As for people being douchey or agro out in the water, I just brush it off. I don’t care who you are or what mood you’re in, when I paddle out I’m going out there to have some fun and I’m going to be polite and say hi or hey to whomever I make eye contact with. They want to be all macho and decline the mutual respect so be it, I don’t have to let their negative attitude affect my positive mindset. And if I’m picking up some bad vibes at a particular break, I’ll just head to another spot and reconnect.

I try and remind myself the ocean belongs to no one and it’s been around a lot longer than us and will be for time to come. I get inside my own head sometimes and give myself a false sense of entitlement because I surf all winter so I should have first dibs at a spots or I deserve to be there more than the summer shoobies. But in the end it’s all bs, when you simplify (maybe oversimplifying) we’re just evolved monkeys splashing around in the water and when too many monkeys come into our zones we get territorial.

And @baddy- I completely agree with you, if I’m out and there’s some guy or kid out there getting every wave left and right acting like the waves are his or something cus he’s sponsored or pro or whatever, there is no greater feeling than snaking them on a wave when they least expect it and they get all grumpy because that 20th wave they we’re about to get just got taken by someone else and they didn’t see me sneak to the inside when they had their head turned. Humbles me a little because I’ll have that false sense of entitlement like I stated earlier and then encounter someone with an even higher degree of self-entitlement and swoop in. It is quite enjoyable to see their face when they’re about to drop in only to look down the line and see me coming at them already

 

That really gets my goat when I try to be nice.

 

@zach, very well said and alternative perspective! I dig it

 

Haha, none taken. As far as self worth, 5-6 years ago, yes, surfing was my identity. That's all I would do. All I would talk about, and yes, it was in fact important for me to be accepted by the local pros. The more they accepted me, the more I realized that out of the water, I didn't like most of them at all.

Never gotten in a fight in CA about surfing or in the water. Had a few skirmishes at the local watering holes etc. Mostly when I moved the Baltimore Crew out there for a few years. That was like mixing oil and water. Almost got in a fist fight with the entire Volcom surf team in OB. My friend threw me under the bus, claiming that although he sucked at surf, "that guy" as he pointed over to me, "would smoke any one of you in a heat"... That conversation was followed by... "Do you know who we are? Do you think all of our shoes, and socks, and hats and shirt and shorts, and all our smoking hot's chick's apparel are all Volcom, because we just LIKE VOLCOM? Bro, I am paid to surf. I wont 6 NSSAs in my teens. Ill see you in the water bro"... Almost ended up pounding the entire crew, but we left without incident, and the entire Volcom team became my nemesis' for years to come.

But no, never gotten in a fight in a CA lineup. If you have to resort to fighting, you probably can't surf for sh**. That is what I have learned. I have SEEN fights, but it was pretty gay. I have been the only "local" adult out and had to come to the defense of a few local little pro-am teens when they were being threatened by Brazilians and stuff. But never had to do anything about it.

One day, I was WASTED, and the Warped Tour was in SD. My friends Band was in it. I was down partying all day with my GF, now wife and the crew. Wife Drove back to OB, cause I was HAMMERED... paddled out... It was probably, knee to waist high. Super crowded. I was drunk, and paddled right up against some guy I had never seen and as I took off, on the knee high drainer, he said "What the ****". I jumped off my board in about knee deep water. Looked back and went Atom Bomb on this poor, unsuspecting guy. I was like "WTF? WHAT? GET THE FU** OUT OF THE WATER. RIGHT NOW!" At this point, I am on the beach, board in the sand, ranting and raving like a mad man, only 20 feet from the guy. I was like, yeah BI**H, Im talking to you. Dont be driving out here from Arizona talking sh**. Get out of the water BI**H. Finally, my wife came up and was like, dude, you are making a scene and you will probably get arrested if you don't shut the fu** up. It was kinda gay for me to act that way, but I WAS WASTED. **** FACE DRUNK. And once the guy backed off completely and showed his fear, I just went after it.

Im not that guy either. I blame the booze.

 

I know what you mean, it does get frustrating, especially when we’re all jockeying for sh!t summer waves, but that’s just the way these few months of the year go… Really why I try and make it out as early in the morning as possible. Either that or if all the right variables fall into place there will be swell on a clear night with a full moon and I can choose wherever I want to go with no one else out at all.

And there’s a lot of psychology that goes into all of it I’m sure. Don’t necessarily have to understand how or why something works in order to use it. I don’t understand how every circuit in my phone works but I use it on a daily basis. Same goes for the peeps in the summer, I figured if I went out to an empty spot they’d follow suit and I slipped away to get a few good waves with everyone else a few hundred yards away. Still don't understand exactly why they followed me, but I was honest surprised it worked a little bit haha. But I’m just going to assume that the summer months bring a lot of inexperienced surfers to the beach, whom lack the confidence in their ability to read the ocean and conditions but can spot someone surfing and just say ok that’s where I’m supposed to surf. And the more people out at a spot, people assumed that’s the designated surfing spot. I’ve never surfed in cali before, where I’m sure all these factors are entirely different as there are many more people who adopt surfing as a way of life, versus a summer time activity…

 

But yeah, every single day after that incident in the bar, I would make sure to get the edge of my fins, my spray, my bottom turns as close to each volcom team riders I would see face as humanly possible from that point on. If any one of those fu**s were out, I was trying to go big. Airs, anything. I just always felt the need to try and compete with everything they did, tha bastards.

I was actually haunted by this a few months ago, I was watching an old DV tape that my wife took while I was surfing the pier about 5 years ago, and there is a whole clip, of one of the Volcom Team rider, going left on a wave, he did a few sick snaps and then landed a perfect 360 frontside air. And then it happened, as he hopped off and gathered his board, he KNEW that someone was filming on the beach, and he STARED right into my camera for like 3 seconds after the wave, to make sure that "someone got that on film". Its like 5 years later, my wife is asleep on the couch, I shake her awake, and I go, WTF MEG? Why the fu** would you film ******* while I am surfing. We all knew each other, so she knew his name. She replied: "I thought it was you at the time". I said, DID I EVER OWN A WETSUIT, WITH A 4 FOOT HIGH VOLCOM LOGO ON THE ENTIRE BACK OF IT???? WTF MEG? I got a freaking chill down my spine when I got a cold stare, years later, on another coast from my Arch Nemesis.

That sonuvabeech

 

Hey Zach if I had to bet I'm guessing you don't buy any Volcom products.