hope to be seeing you in the water soon !!! 
Localism sux
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gordy
Localism sux
A question i want to raise with all sydney boardriders is why do some , if not all beaches in sydney have these blokes with tattoos and shaved heads who think they own the beach ,because they have lived there their whole lives??? now dont get me wrong i know they claim to be the hardest dudes in the water but really you guys ...and you know who you are you should really take a good look at yourselves and remember you are just like everybody else who goes to beach ....the water is there to be shared and if you dont like it too bad...... i consider myself to be a local at whatever beach i choose to go to so if your a big hard local who is sick of all these so called KOOKS in the water get a grip and find a new beach to surf it aint your right to drop in whomever you please because they are surfing YOUR BREAK... what a bunch of tossers you are.... theres nothing i love more than sharing a prestine day in the surf with however many other (Kooks) wanna join me cause to me they aint kooks at all were all equal remember so Locals go jump!!! hope to be seeing you in the water soon !!!
hope to be seeing you in the water soon !!! 
Yeah I agree. Surfing should be a peaceful activity. The only agro required is when you rip the top of a curl or slash a cutback
Let live and let live.
Having said that, I only find "localism" in and around the big cities. I've had great experiences with the locals when you get into the country. Except for one time at North Haven
, but one time in 20 years of surfing up and down the NSW coast is irrelevant.
Let live and let live.
Having said that, I only find "localism" in and around the big cities. I've had great experiences with the locals when you get into the country. Except for one time at North Haven
, but one time in 20 years of surfing up and down the NSW coast is irrelevant.-
blindboy
Well of course all you blow ins agree.......me I don't think things are localised enough. I'm fed up watching neverweres and neverwillbes on frigging mals and 7' "shortboards" wobbling all the way to the beach when the local kids who will still be there ripping in 10 years struggle to get waves....if you haven't got the commitment to be a local somewhere then f... off losers!
It's not about how good you are or having tats or living there for years, it's about turning up, showing respect and making the commitment to keep doing that. If you want something to fill a spare hour on the weekend or whatever you're just part of the obstacle course. Why should anyone "share" with you?
It's not about how good you are or having tats or living there for years, it's about turning up, showing respect and making the commitment to keep doing that. If you want something to fill a spare hour on the weekend or whatever you're just part of the obstacle course. Why should anyone "share" with you?
Localism can take care of itself
Localism tends to sort itself out - eg. DY point locals take off behind the curl. If you don't you will be waiting a long time for a wave - no need for localism or aggro here, just skill.
The ones who piss me off (not at DY) are blow-ins who arrive in groups of 2-3, paddle right past everyone to the inside on an easy wave (eg. Collaroy), talk loudly to each other, all paddle for the same wave, and crowding-out the poor bugger who's been waiting 30 minutes for a wave. You can't do much if your'e by yourself and up against 3 jerks.
The ones who piss me off (not at DY) are blow-ins who arrive in groups of 2-3, paddle right past everyone to the inside on an easy wave (eg. Collaroy), talk loudly to each other, all paddle for the same wave, and crowding-out the poor bugger who's been waiting 30 minutes for a wave. You can't do much if your'e by yourself and up against 3 jerks.
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blindboy
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filthbarrel
- regular
- Posts: 339
- Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2004 6:25 pm
For a long time now, surfers at breaks around the world have been punching each other in the head while surfing magazines have been telling the world about the individuality, the brotherhood, the beauty and the spirituality of surfing as an “art,” “lifestyle,” “religion” and “sport.” One way of maintaining the perception of individualism and freedom of the surfing experience is through protecting the local break from newbies via localism: its advocates justify it as a means of keeping hierarchical law and order in a field where game rules do not officially exist.
Viewed anthropologically, localism can be viewed as territorialism important to the self-preservation and well-being of the clan; it can also be a unifying force that may bond communities together to invest in, develop and protect common interests. Localism is one of the defining concepts of modern surfing. The mythology of surf localism is that it exists to instill order and respect in the water and provides people with a sense of belonging. Its main function for surfing communities, however, is to exclude surfers who are not from the immediate vicinity of a surfing spot. This version of localism is characterized by a masculinized, xenophobic territorialism and a hostility to outsiders that can both unite and fracture others through threatened or actual violence: it is about policing and protecting “our” waves and is enacted in the water by dominant males who “hassle” surfers who are not part of the local tribe.
Surfing magazines and films often encourage the siege-like tribalism and aggressive expression of localism through advocating 'the rights' of local surfers: for example, the magazines will often not reveal the source location of surfing photographs “out of respect for the locals.” Blue Crush includes the apparently obligatory fight scene found in many Hollywood surfing films: locals who claim exclusivity to the surf fight the outsider—in this case, the kooky love interest of the film’s female star. The masculine aggressiveness of surfing argot that is extensively used in surfing magazines may be better suited to a misogynistic slasher movie than a sport—surfers ride thrusters, they carve, shred, slash, tear, pull out, perform re-entries, crack and rip filthy, sick pits, and request the male surf god Huey to make mother ocean pump. The language is more reflective of a fight with the waves than an expression of how to ride them for leisure and play.
. Cralle defines a local as “anyone who’s been there a day longer than you” while localism is “territorial defiance in defence of a surf spot.” Agbayani argues that “the activity was born in 1779 when angry Hawaiians killed Captain James Cook at Kealakekua Bay.” The current CEO and President of the Association of Surfing Professionals and former world champion surfer, Wayne Bartholomew, somewhat confusingly writes that a beating he received from locals in the winter of 1976-1977 on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii reminded him of Captain Cook. “I don’t know what happened to Captain Cook but the scene that confronted me on the beach always reminds me of Captain Cook” (151). Bartholomew claims his selfish behaviour in the water so affronted the Hawaiians that “I was held under water, pounded round the back of the head, then pulled up and pounded in the face. They knocked all my teeth out and just flattened my nose, I had cuts all over my eyes and lips” (151).
Discussing a fight with an American opponent during the 1966 world championships at San Diego, Nat Young wrote in his newspaper column: “I am afraid I lost my temper and did what most other Australians would have done—I hit him—and knocked him flat” (980). Young had his own face knocked flat after a fight with another surfer at Angourie in March 2000. Coming in from the surf, he was attacked on the beach by Michael Hutchinson, a rival longboarder, who hospitalized Young with two broken eye sockets, shattered cheekbones and destroyed sinuses. Both Young and Hutchison were locals. The incident was sparked by Young, who admitted to slapping Hutchison’s son for “bad behaviour” while out in the surf. (In a cathartic moment, Young subsequently published a book entitled Surf Rage that told stories of the pointlessness of fighting for waves).
Technology is having a significant influence on when and where people can go surfing. Readily available surf craft such as bodyboards and the (rediscovered) Malibu surfboard are allowing learners quick results in developing the ability to ride waves; warmer, more comfortable wetsuits are allowing year round surfing in cold water; and the leg rope allows people to fall off surfboards without having to swim to shore to retrieve rock-damaged foam and fibreglass. In addition to these technological developments, “surfcams” show surf conditions, and non-locals can look at real time conditions all over the world. These cameras are regularly vandalised to thwart the dissemination of this information to non-local surfers. Meanwhile, surf-forecasting services notify customers via mobile phone, pager or email when the conditions for surfing are good, so there is little chance of lonely surfs.
The increasing number of surfboard riders, bodyboarders, windsurfers, surf ski riders, personal watercraft and kite surfers are straining a natural resource that is open to those who can grab a surf craft and get to the beach. The use of personal watercraft in crowded breaks to provide surfers with a technological advantage is also causing uneasiness and resentment in the water, as Chronicles wrote on Realsurf last year.
… I was out at Currumbin Alley the other arvo, sitting among a pack of around 50 guys and girls on shortboards, longboards and the occasional wave ski and bodyboard, when I noticed a group that wasn’t equal. With one guy driving a jet ski, four surfers were getting lifts back into the line up after every wave, doing away with the sometimes horrendous paddle-back at The Alley, which can take as along as ten or 15 minutes to get back to the line-up. After a wave, the surfer was dragged back to the top of the point by the ski. He was then dropped off a few metres from the line-up and rejoined the pack. Guys were, quite rightly, getting pissed off that they were jockeying for position on the next wave with a kid who had caught a wave not even five minutes ago. And all because one surfer could afford $12,000 or whatever it costs for a Yamaha three-seater Waverunner these days.
Factors other than technology have also increased the number of surfers in the water. Baby boomers have not retired from the sport, and specialist surfing magazines such as Australian Longboarder and The Surfers Journal cater for those surfers older than thirty-five. News articles and surfing magazines are claiming that more girls and women are taking up surfing for pleasure and personal fitness, although to what degree this has occurred is contestable. Such claims seem to originate largely from the public relations departments of surfing companies, whose worldwide sales of female board shorts have grown significantly in the past three years: it would be interesting to determine whether such sales reflect growth in female participation in the sport or female consumption of its symbolic commodities.
No longer viewed as a deviant subculture, surfing is marketed by surfing magazines as a global lifestyle that can be achieved through the consumption of global commodities. While the peak industry and surfing competition bodies continually espouse the need for the sport to grow, the remaining cottage industries creating commodities for use by surfers are being squeezed out by global corporations. Pop-out surfboards are being mass-produced in a Thailand factory to be sold in chain stores throughout the world. Non-paying surfers are excluded from “private” surf breaks, while wave pools and artificial reefs are being created to provide simulations of the “natural” surfing experience.
Viewed anthropologically, localism can be viewed as territorialism important to the self-preservation and well-being of the clan; it can also be a unifying force that may bond communities together to invest in, develop and protect common interests. Localism is one of the defining concepts of modern surfing. The mythology of surf localism is that it exists to instill order and respect in the water and provides people with a sense of belonging. Its main function for surfing communities, however, is to exclude surfers who are not from the immediate vicinity of a surfing spot. This version of localism is characterized by a masculinized, xenophobic territorialism and a hostility to outsiders that can both unite and fracture others through threatened or actual violence: it is about policing and protecting “our” waves and is enacted in the water by dominant males who “hassle” surfers who are not part of the local tribe.
Surfing magazines and films often encourage the siege-like tribalism and aggressive expression of localism through advocating 'the rights' of local surfers: for example, the magazines will often not reveal the source location of surfing photographs “out of respect for the locals.” Blue Crush includes the apparently obligatory fight scene found in many Hollywood surfing films: locals who claim exclusivity to the surf fight the outsider—in this case, the kooky love interest of the film’s female star. The masculine aggressiveness of surfing argot that is extensively used in surfing magazines may be better suited to a misogynistic slasher movie than a sport—surfers ride thrusters, they carve, shred, slash, tear, pull out, perform re-entries, crack and rip filthy, sick pits, and request the male surf god Huey to make mother ocean pump. The language is more reflective of a fight with the waves than an expression of how to ride them for leisure and play.
. Cralle defines a local as “anyone who’s been there a day longer than you” while localism is “territorial defiance in defence of a surf spot.” Agbayani argues that “the activity was born in 1779 when angry Hawaiians killed Captain James Cook at Kealakekua Bay.” The current CEO and President of the Association of Surfing Professionals and former world champion surfer, Wayne Bartholomew, somewhat confusingly writes that a beating he received from locals in the winter of 1976-1977 on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii reminded him of Captain Cook. “I don’t know what happened to Captain Cook but the scene that confronted me on the beach always reminds me of Captain Cook” (151). Bartholomew claims his selfish behaviour in the water so affronted the Hawaiians that “I was held under water, pounded round the back of the head, then pulled up and pounded in the face. They knocked all my teeth out and just flattened my nose, I had cuts all over my eyes and lips” (151).
Discussing a fight with an American opponent during the 1966 world championships at San Diego, Nat Young wrote in his newspaper column: “I am afraid I lost my temper and did what most other Australians would have done—I hit him—and knocked him flat” (980). Young had his own face knocked flat after a fight with another surfer at Angourie in March 2000. Coming in from the surf, he was attacked on the beach by Michael Hutchinson, a rival longboarder, who hospitalized Young with two broken eye sockets, shattered cheekbones and destroyed sinuses. Both Young and Hutchison were locals. The incident was sparked by Young, who admitted to slapping Hutchison’s son for “bad behaviour” while out in the surf. (In a cathartic moment, Young subsequently published a book entitled Surf Rage that told stories of the pointlessness of fighting for waves).
Technology is having a significant influence on when and where people can go surfing. Readily available surf craft such as bodyboards and the (rediscovered) Malibu surfboard are allowing learners quick results in developing the ability to ride waves; warmer, more comfortable wetsuits are allowing year round surfing in cold water; and the leg rope allows people to fall off surfboards without having to swim to shore to retrieve rock-damaged foam and fibreglass. In addition to these technological developments, “surfcams” show surf conditions, and non-locals can look at real time conditions all over the world. These cameras are regularly vandalised to thwart the dissemination of this information to non-local surfers. Meanwhile, surf-forecasting services notify customers via mobile phone, pager or email when the conditions for surfing are good, so there is little chance of lonely surfs.
The increasing number of surfboard riders, bodyboarders, windsurfers, surf ski riders, personal watercraft and kite surfers are straining a natural resource that is open to those who can grab a surf craft and get to the beach. The use of personal watercraft in crowded breaks to provide surfers with a technological advantage is also causing uneasiness and resentment in the water, as Chronicles wrote on Realsurf last year.
… I was out at Currumbin Alley the other arvo, sitting among a pack of around 50 guys and girls on shortboards, longboards and the occasional wave ski and bodyboard, when I noticed a group that wasn’t equal. With one guy driving a jet ski, four surfers were getting lifts back into the line up after every wave, doing away with the sometimes horrendous paddle-back at The Alley, which can take as along as ten or 15 minutes to get back to the line-up. After a wave, the surfer was dragged back to the top of the point by the ski. He was then dropped off a few metres from the line-up and rejoined the pack. Guys were, quite rightly, getting pissed off that they were jockeying for position on the next wave with a kid who had caught a wave not even five minutes ago. And all because one surfer could afford $12,000 or whatever it costs for a Yamaha three-seater Waverunner these days.
Factors other than technology have also increased the number of surfers in the water. Baby boomers have not retired from the sport, and specialist surfing magazines such as Australian Longboarder and The Surfers Journal cater for those surfers older than thirty-five. News articles and surfing magazines are claiming that more girls and women are taking up surfing for pleasure and personal fitness, although to what degree this has occurred is contestable. Such claims seem to originate largely from the public relations departments of surfing companies, whose worldwide sales of female board shorts have grown significantly in the past three years: it would be interesting to determine whether such sales reflect growth in female participation in the sport or female consumption of its symbolic commodities.
No longer viewed as a deviant subculture, surfing is marketed by surfing magazines as a global lifestyle that can be achieved through the consumption of global commodities. While the peak industry and surfing competition bodies continually espouse the need for the sport to grow, the remaining cottage industries creating commodities for use by surfers are being squeezed out by global corporations. Pop-out surfboards are being mass-produced in a Thailand factory to be sold in chain stores throughout the world. Non-paying surfers are excluded from “private” surf breaks, while wave pools and artificial reefs are being created to provide simulations of the “natural” surfing experience.
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Longboarder
- regular
- Posts: 310
- Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2004 4:47 pm
- Location: Newcastle, NSW
:)
Excellent post
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gordy
if you haven't got the commitment to be a local somewhere then f... off losers! ..... Nice real nice
This is exactly what im talkin about its got nothing to do with commitment at all!!
Why would any person with half a brain wanna sit on the same break with the same PINEAPPLE ARMED FREAKS every time they wanna have a surf..
No one wants to be subjected to YOUR macho, egotistical, testosterone filled crap !!! im not surprised things are not localised that much anymore ....maybe thats cause its harder for those gronks to stay on the dole these days ...therefore forcing them to go to work like normal people, instead of inhabiting a piece of beach like stink on sh#t...
This is exactly what im talkin about its got nothing to do with commitment at all!!
Why would any person with half a brain wanna sit on the same break with the same PINEAPPLE ARMED FREAKS every time they wanna have a surf..
No one wants to be subjected to YOUR macho, egotistical, testosterone filled crap !!! im not surprised things are not localised that much anymore ....maybe thats cause its harder for those gronks to stay on the dole these days ...therefore forcing them to go to work like normal people, instead of inhabiting a piece of beach like stink on sh#t...
Interesting post filthbarrel and very articulate, but how do you feel about locals? Are you a local? If so how do you feel about non-local surfers?
I've been a local, ie. I lived within a few minutes of a beach for 8 years, then I moved to another Sydney beach for 5 years. But now I have a family and I can no longer afford to live close to the ocean in Sydney and give my family the type of home and opportunities I want to give them.
Which is why I love Real Surf, I can check the surf, then pick where I am going to drive to. I still surf 3 to 4 times a week but my surfing now includes a short drive.
So how are you classing people as locals blindboy? What about when I choose to go back to my old stomping grounds and on occassion I paddle out and see my old mates, am I a blowin at a break I've surfed for over 5 years?
Where is the boundary? Is it 100m from the ocean? Maybe it is 2000m from where the wave breaks on a double overhead day. Is it 5 minutes from the beach? What happens if there is traffic and it takes you 6 minutes? It can't possibly be because you surf the same spot everyday, that is a farcical rule, I mean, a guy from Parramatta can surf Manly everyday, how can he be a local? No, that definition doesn't work either. This local thing is very tricky, maybe the real definition is you're a wanker if you think being a local is the best thing about surfing.
When I was growing up we travelled in summer. We got up earlier and we left our local break and went further away to avoid the crowds, find better waves and learn different wave conditions. Maybe we were just smarter than your average "local".
I've been a local, ie. I lived within a few minutes of a beach for 8 years, then I moved to another Sydney beach for 5 years. But now I have a family and I can no longer afford to live close to the ocean in Sydney and give my family the type of home and opportunities I want to give them.
Which is why I love Real Surf, I can check the surf, then pick where I am going to drive to. I still surf 3 to 4 times a week but my surfing now includes a short drive.
So how are you classing people as locals blindboy? What about when I choose to go back to my old stomping grounds and on occassion I paddle out and see my old mates, am I a blowin at a break I've surfed for over 5 years?
Where is the boundary? Is it 100m from the ocean? Maybe it is 2000m from where the wave breaks on a double overhead day. Is it 5 minutes from the beach? What happens if there is traffic and it takes you 6 minutes? It can't possibly be because you surf the same spot everyday, that is a farcical rule, I mean, a guy from Parramatta can surf Manly everyday, how can he be a local? No, that definition doesn't work either. This local thing is very tricky, maybe the real definition is you're a wanker if you think being a local is the best thing about surfing.
When I was growing up we travelled in summer. We got up earlier and we left our local break and went further away to avoid the crowds, find better waves and learn different wave conditions. Maybe we were just smarter than your average "local".
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filthbarrel
- regular
- Posts: 339
- Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2004 6:25 pm
Fletch,
once I classify myself, or someone else, as a local or non-local, then I buy into the whole prejudicial and circular argument.
I am more interested in arguments around the concept rather than simplistically saying I am or am not a local. To long term locals where I surf, which is an area rather than a beach, I would be seen as a blow in. The more politicised blackfellas around the area would see the long term whitefella locals as blow ins. To the new bloke who paddles out and sees me having a laugh with a few other blokes who surf decently I would be seen as a local. It's that pack thing that David Attenborough films on the ABC show so well.
But I have travelled enough to know it is very unpleasant to be 'locked out' of waves anywhere cause a group of males don't like the cut of ya jib.
Your questions are excellent ones- the "whole" question seems based around a logic that is not sustainable when properly investigated or considered by those who have travelled extensively.
once I classify myself, or someone else, as a local or non-local, then I buy into the whole prejudicial and circular argument.
I am more interested in arguments around the concept rather than simplistically saying I am or am not a local. To long term locals where I surf, which is an area rather than a beach, I would be seen as a blow in. The more politicised blackfellas around the area would see the long term whitefella locals as blow ins. To the new bloke who paddles out and sees me having a laugh with a few other blokes who surf decently I would be seen as a local. It's that pack thing that David Attenborough films on the ABC show so well.
But I have travelled enough to know it is very unpleasant to be 'locked out' of waves anywhere cause a group of males don't like the cut of ya jib.
Your questions are excellent ones- the "whole" question seems based around a logic that is not sustainable when properly investigated or considered by those who have travelled extensively.
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zzz
- Supporter
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- Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2004 5:33 pm
- Location: nowhere near the bends (queenscliff)
Fletch,
I reckon your a local if the locals think of you as a local.
Doesn't necessarily matter where you live or how long you've surfed there though I'd classify your typical local as someone who's grown up in the area and surfed the break regularly for years since being a grommet.
So I reckon you could still be a local at your old break even if you don't live near there anymore or surf it very regularly any more. If you can go back after 5 years and still paddle out and see familiar faces.
I reckon your a local if the locals think of you as a local.
Doesn't necessarily matter where you live or how long you've surfed there though I'd classify your typical local as someone who's grown up in the area and surfed the break regularly for years since being a grommet.
So I reckon you could still be a local at your old break even if you don't live near there anymore or surf it very regularly any more. If you can go back after 5 years and still paddle out and see familiar faces.
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Cal
Localism
I just do not get it! Being recently new, well newly reaquainted, with the whole surfing thing, i do not get this constant "chatter" re localism, tribalism and the associated crap that goes with it.
I thought surfing was supposed to be fun, that there would be some kind of "brotherhood" amongst those who get there thrills from the power of the ocean. Instead i find the type of behaviour normally associated with road rage and the pressures of life as we know it it the 21st Century.
Sure, i am the type that a lot of you despise, almost 40, overweight, riding a mal, proably getting in your way and so hopless it is not even funny, but i too am trying to enjoy a natural resource that is there for us to share. I am a learner, something every one of you was once too, and just maybe if you cut me slack, give me some advice or god forbid, maybe say G' Day and ask me if i wouldnt mind moving 20 or so feet the other way because this is the best spot for you to take off, i might also make your life easier too.
As for this localism rubbish, I like most of the population of Sydney do not live near the ocean. I tend to carry the board on the car on the slightest chance i will cut work 30 mins early and find a beach for a quick paddel, and then drive the obligatory 60 minutes home. Or alternatively spend a majority of my weekend on the F3 with all the other loonies in search of a wave. Does this make me less dedicated than the so called local who sits out the back on his board after enduring a tough 5 minute walk to the sand?
The primary reason i took up the board was to spend some time with my son(12) who is equally as "learning" as I. Unfortunatly he gets far more grief in the water than i do, probably as a result of his size,, you see these locals can be a brave bunch. So here is my dilemma, do i continue to teach him that surfing is good karma and a great way to give the playstation a rest, or do i tell him to put the board on ebay, and buy a bigger tv for the playstaion, after all surfing is but for a small selected few. Locals i think they call 'em!!
I thought surfing was supposed to be fun, that there would be some kind of "brotherhood" amongst those who get there thrills from the power of the ocean. Instead i find the type of behaviour normally associated with road rage and the pressures of life as we know it it the 21st Century.
Sure, i am the type that a lot of you despise, almost 40, overweight, riding a mal, proably getting in your way and so hopless it is not even funny, but i too am trying to enjoy a natural resource that is there for us to share. I am a learner, something every one of you was once too, and just maybe if you cut me slack, give me some advice or god forbid, maybe say G' Day and ask me if i wouldnt mind moving 20 or so feet the other way because this is the best spot for you to take off, i might also make your life easier too.
As for this localism rubbish, I like most of the population of Sydney do not live near the ocean. I tend to carry the board on the car on the slightest chance i will cut work 30 mins early and find a beach for a quick paddel, and then drive the obligatory 60 minutes home. Or alternatively spend a majority of my weekend on the F3 with all the other loonies in search of a wave. Does this make me less dedicated than the so called local who sits out the back on his board after enduring a tough 5 minute walk to the sand?
The primary reason i took up the board was to spend some time with my son(12) who is equally as "learning" as I. Unfortunatly he gets far more grief in the water than i do, probably as a result of his size,, you see these locals can be a brave bunch. So here is my dilemma, do i continue to teach him that surfing is good karma and a great way to give the playstation a rest, or do i tell him to put the board on ebay, and buy a bigger tv for the playstaion, after all surfing is but for a small selected few. Locals i think they call 'em!!
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zzz
- Supporter
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- Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2004 5:33 pm
- Location: nowhere near the bends (queenscliff)
Cal,
In all endeavours there are various phases of learning and acceptance, whether it being learning to throw a ball properly and becoming an accepted member of a sports team, learning the ropes in a new job environment, or learning the appropriate etiquette in the surf. And if my childhood was anything to go buy, there will be plenty of points of excitement, humiliation, abuse, embarrasment and enjoyment along the way. If you persist, you gain a level of skill, comraderie and associated level of respect and walk around feeling better about yourself.
If you've been brought up well you then take the time to assist and encourage others to learn the same and you'll find the majority of locals are just that - locals - they're just people who surf the same place regularly and so feel at home there, and are not (with the few exceptions) out to get you, do you harm, scare you away or put you down.
Your son will learn that through perseverance comes respect. He'll also learn about the rough and tumble of life. He'll learn that in every environment there are a variety of different people, cliquey groups, bullys and nice blokes that will lend you a hand on your way and give you advice and guidance freely.
You'll also find that if you introduce yourself to the people out there, more often that not they'll have a kind word for you and if you explain your situation they'll make sure you and your son know how not to get in the way but still have fun. So good luck with it and whatever you do, don't buy a bigger screen for the playstation!
In all endeavours there are various phases of learning and acceptance, whether it being learning to throw a ball properly and becoming an accepted member of a sports team, learning the ropes in a new job environment, or learning the appropriate etiquette in the surf. And if my childhood was anything to go buy, there will be plenty of points of excitement, humiliation, abuse, embarrasment and enjoyment along the way. If you persist, you gain a level of skill, comraderie and associated level of respect and walk around feeling better about yourself.
If you've been brought up well you then take the time to assist and encourage others to learn the same and you'll find the majority of locals are just that - locals - they're just people who surf the same place regularly and so feel at home there, and are not (with the few exceptions) out to get you, do you harm, scare you away or put you down.
Your son will learn that through perseverance comes respect. He'll also learn about the rough and tumble of life. He'll learn that in every environment there are a variety of different people, cliquey groups, bullys and nice blokes that will lend you a hand on your way and give you advice and guidance freely.
You'll also find that if you introduce yourself to the people out there, more often that not they'll have a kind word for you and if you explain your situation they'll make sure you and your son know how not to get in the way but still have fun. So good luck with it and whatever you do, don't buy a bigger screen for the playstation!
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concrete
hahaha ... hahahaha
localism is an entrenched part of surfing culture & is also the way that surfing polices itself. it is, a sometimes ugly, but necessary part of surfing life. there are so many people in the water these days without any idea or respect for the surfing etiquette.
in short, people who lack respect need to be taught a lesson & a harsh lesson is the best way to learn.
long live localism. show respect & you won't have anything to worry about.
in short, people who lack respect need to be taught a lesson & a harsh lesson is the best way to learn.
long live localism. show respect & you won't have anything to worry about.
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Cal
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Morgan The Moon
- Local
- Posts: 601
- Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2004 11:52 am
- Location: Central Coast
Maybe the answer is to not take part in the whole local thing.....
I'll surf 3-4 times a week, at maybe 2 or 3 beaches -depending on the conditions. I'm not a "local" anywhere by anyones description.
I know my limits. I know the rules. I know enough that my oversize board can take all the waves if I want - but I'd prefer to share. I know that I enjoy watching someone else grab a good wave and seeing the stoked look on their face - no matter what they ride, or where they live. I know that after surfing for 6 years at Maroubra I didn't encounter any shit from anyone in the surf, and I didn't give any.
We all set an example in the surf to the others around. Ever been given a wave by someone who had priority? Felt good didn't it? Everyone's attitude in the area dictates how your session goes - so give a little and get some back.
I'll surf 3-4 times a week, at maybe 2 or 3 beaches -depending on the conditions. I'm not a "local" anywhere by anyones description.
I know my limits. I know the rules. I know enough that my oversize board can take all the waves if I want - but I'd prefer to share. I know that I enjoy watching someone else grab a good wave and seeing the stoked look on their face - no matter what they ride, or where they live. I know that after surfing for 6 years at Maroubra I didn't encounter any shit from anyone in the surf, and I didn't give any.
We all set an example in the surf to the others around. Ever been given a wave by someone who had priority? Felt good didn't it? Everyone's attitude in the area dictates how your session goes - so give a little and get some back.
"Stay happy and everything will be just fine....." Jack Norris
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