Yes... we know who you are

Man, this is the 15,000th post about locals and non locals....we already know. I am sick of hearing people wine about this gay ****. It's going to be like this forever until the ocean dries up, so get used to it.

 

bitter party of one.

 

What he said.

 

interesting post. what happens when you travel someplace where surfing (and all that goes along with it) isn't socially acceptable or part of the local culture? would 'fitting in' mean dressing like the locals do instead of walking around in nothing but trunks? shaving our heads? drinking rum with milk? would it mean not surfing at all?

culture is fluid and dynamic - always changing through contact. and sometimes WE (the non-locals) are the change-makers. i lived in panama in the early 90s for 2 years and in the village where i lived not one local surfed. not one. they didn't even have the words to describe surfing and surfboards. groms would typically spend their middle/high school years diving/fishing/hunting and helping to feed their families.

now- almost 20 years later - guess what? surfing (and the habits and language that go along with it) have become a part of the local culture because of all of the contact with (non-local) surfers from all over the world passing through, leaving boards behind, etc.

these days groms down in old bank just want to grow dreads, burn herbs, surf, and score white girls. not necessarily in that order. so the locals are now trying to 'fit in' to a cultural activity that was imported from elsewhere/exported by non-locals. is this a good thing? a bad thing? i think it's just the way the world works.

i'd say no matter where you go just be who you are but be sure to be polite.

 

that's no excuse for bad behavior. good manners, respect for others, & common sense are not things to be left behind in one's home town.
we don't ask much, but we DO ask that you behave here the way you behave at home (preferably better).

 

i'll second that

 

X1000. Too many people show up at spots expecting everyone to conform to their way of thinking when they forget the many of the guys out, surf that spot year round.

 

I was standing on the beach thursday afternoon after two hours of small clean waves, thinking i had just had some fun. The two guys i was chatting with both surf that spot 100+ days a year. Some stranger walks up to us while were talking, holding a camera and starts asking "why are the rides are so short" , and "it seems like its a long time between waves" , makes it clear hes never been to this beach before, and drops the names of other places hes been (that pump non-stop of course) all in the first 30 seconds.

He wasnt even trying to be irritating, but he sure succeeded.

 

LBCREW, i feel your pain. The guys who are getting offended aren't locals, and I think that was your point. No one wants to hear it, but is true, and critical this time of year.

If you do not live somewhere, try to keep a low profile while there. You are not going to take a town by storm, like you may think as you do your hair gel in the mirror and wax up your new $1000 log. Like Mitchell said, every spot has a core group of people who surf it rain or shine, 100's of days a year. You are not going to impress them. They are pissed that you come down (or up, whatever) once a year to get drunk as ****, act a fool, clog up the line up, and get the local po-po all wound up. When I travel, yes, im the Gringo, but I have learned the hard way to keep your mouth shut, smile in the face of insults, and stay away from certain scenes. Let your surfing speak for you, and if you suck, make sure it doesn't speak too loudly.

In short- You are always welcome at "my beach", just don't be a 8===> And F surfing, i'm talking about driving too! I know its vacation, and I know its a hemi, but you probably don't have to burn out at every stop light.

Pura-vida **** heads!

 

....And in case you still forget...VB is ON TOP of this sh!t. I love the no "&#%*!" signs, and the (no cruising law) ones that tell you its illegal to drive past this sign more than four times or whatever.

 

The people who should be reading this info are not reading this info.

Meaning, most guys on this site 'get it' as far as how behave in public as well as in the lineup. Mama raised ya right. Or, you just figured it out over the course of time (and maybe a few thrashings).

Lived in OC waaaaay back when. Same thing, different yahoos. Usually from WVA or PA or anywhere in Maryland. It's the beach-turista-vacation mentality: these folks are gonna have a party & screw you if your existence is in their way. Could be in the water, could be on the beach or in their rides, they just act out.

The yahoos could be from anywhere, destination your locale, anyplace worldwide. When I lived in Cabarete in the DR, the decent swells and / or national holidays would bring in the light-skinned, rich yahoo boys from Santo Domingo (4 hours to the south) in their luxe rides with their expensive boards. They'd pull up to the break in their Land Cruisers & pile out x5 dudes & head right into the water. The locals could really rip. The verbal altercations rarely got physical, but it could get tense in the water. The locals were almost all darker-skinned, btw, which led to further tensions. That's 'cause in the DR a person's skin color does have huge class implications in their culture.

Point being: nothing's changed. Never has. Never will. But if it makes you feel better to grouse about it to those of us who know it all too well, well, grouse on bruddah. We'll buy you a cold one & listen.

 

Mitchell,

I think that guy is stalking me with his pepsi bottle of whiskey, lol.

 

Every week, drunk turistas would try to sprint across the Coastal Highway in OC MD. Pepsi bottle of whiskey in hand...more than a few became hood ornaments. Lotta near-hits, too. Always good for amusement to watch the crazed drivers, probably just as drunk, trying to deal with the sunburned, hammered yahoos.

So we always called the Coastal Hwy The 6 Lanes of Death.

 

subtle. i like it.

it should be a rite of passage for all who wish to claim status as "local" in oc, md.

 

Whenever some bloated slob from Metuchen or Nutley or ____ stresses me out, I just mentally fast forward to Sunday afternoon. \r\nMe: backyard, cracking a cold one, or enjoying the evening glass-off or watching my steak sizzle, or opening my 40th raw clam....capping off another great summer weekend in Monmouth Beach...while \r\nTHEM: inching northward for 4+ hrs on the GSP, exhausted, sweaty, having to piss desperately, dreading Monday morning, arguing with the butterface girlfriend....yep, thats about it.

 

i hate those freaking kooks coming down i-40 to come to the beach with surfboards strapped to the roof thinking their the hot stuff on the beach and trying to spit their game with their 1000$ boards sitting on the beach while im out in the water doing the surfing on my nice local boards doing what the local has to do and thats to just show up and make sure none of the kooks try and take over.

 

I feel bad for the ocmd locals. that place is a FiUCKING zoo

 

HE's got 99 problems but... wait a minute

 

this X2

and i know that merricks are supposed to be the ish, and the pinnacle of boardmaking, but any time I see a guy with a shiny new al merrick in the lineup he is on my sh*tlist because I know he just went out to the shop and was like "I want the BEST board. Money isn't an object" and the dude at the shop sold this sucker on a board he will never even ride, but will hang it up in his college dorm to show the babes how "core" he really is