Stop the stoke, no more beginners!

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philw
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Post by philw » Tue Feb 10, 2004 3:37 pm

stuey, you need to get out of the closet mate. you're constantly on about spanking it and looking at chicks and coming across all tough guy and all that but you're obviously in denial. you like surfing 'cos it means you get close to MEN don't you eh??? ya big sausage jockey. if i see you out surfing i won't drop in on you 'cos i don't want you looking at my arse!

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matt...
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newbie...

Post by matt... » Tue Feb 10, 2004 3:59 pm

If you are an experienced surfer, and go out for a surf at Manly or Bondi (or terrigal for that matter) on a 2ft sunny summer Sunday.........then you are a bigger fool than the 50,000+ kooks out there trying / learning to surf !!

...but just thank christ the surf schools don't set up camp at the better quality breaks !!

Everywhere gets crowds in summer - we all know that.

Common courtesy to your fellow human is key here - for beginners through to the experienced surfers.

As for places like the Bower (or the Haven up the coast) when it pumps, if you're fit & experienced - you will get waves. If you're not - you won't get many at all. But that's all part of the learning curve - and we've all been there at some stage...

3 years ago i picked up 5 stitches in my heel, from a fin chop, as a result of a session out at 6ft Haven. The main reason was i put myself in a silly position on the inside, just before a set came through ! The guy on the wave was wide-eyed, full of stoke - as we all would be !!

The moral is, young or old, we eventually find out what to do & where to be in the surf.

if you're a beginner - keep learning (and don't be a booger!)
if you're a hot local legend - you know better.

stay well & enjoy !!

caspa

Post by caspa » Tue Feb 10, 2004 4:00 pm

Blindboy,

Seriously now .. I wish to heck that I had someone to help me out even now that I've been surfing for 7 years *(and I started at 26).
I appreciate the wish for a different system that is somehow more organized with less risk of injury which ensures that everyone has a good experience surfing and is challenged according to their skill level.
I've rarelly observed friendly advice to beginners in the surf and even then because of the aggro they've gotten from others previously, friendly advice is seen as a threat.
So it is the way it is, getting more negative about it will not make it better and undoubtedly our half serious ramblings on this forum will probably have little impact towards the better.
So, while I'll always be some sort of intermediate kook, I'll always be content with the peace and complete satisfaction that I get even from floating out there let alone catch waves as best I can. If others want to try it, good for them. I guess I could always move back to Melbourne and surf Phillip Island in winter. :?

bikerboy

Post by bikerboy » Tue Feb 10, 2004 4:07 pm

get over yourselves,
I've been trying to surf for 7 years now and am beter than hopeless worse than good. nobody has rights in surfing. Locals ha, what is a local? someone who is 25 years old never paid local rates and contributed to the community pot themselves but has surfed out of mum and dads house for the past 20 years or some Pommy expat that comes to aus, emigrates, serves his patrols in the local surf club for 5 years pays all the local taxes and hasnt explicitly taken from the state once, who should have more right of way?? You cant answer it and nor can I.
A few dings and stuff rarely killed anyone, get off your high horses and try walking a mile in a learners shoes. I have done triathlon at a reasonably serious level and never once complained about the newbies that I had to avoid on the road (let me dodge surf boards in water over bikes on 80Kph decents any day).
I Bet your slightly happy that there is money in surfing for the pro ranks do you really think all that money comes into the sport just to keep "Hard core" surfers happy??

anter5

Post by anter5 » Tue Feb 10, 2004 4:55 pm

kimmy wrote:Hey Stuey,

Just be grateful. With such a tiny tiny penis, your balance will never be affected.
Nice work kimmy!
this bloody post is such a waste of time! lol but funny. yah im a kook.....deal with it! i kinda understand but coz i hate it when my beach gets swamped with BLODDY TOURISTS!!!! arrrrrgh!!!!!!

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fletch
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Post by fletch » Tue Feb 10, 2004 5:23 pm

blindboy wrote:If I could go back in time I would try to set up surfing the same way martial arts are organised……you start at the bottom, do what you’re told and respect the masters! So grasshopper, paddle point to point for a month, spend another hour a day just sitting on the beach watching and then, maybe, you’ll be worthy to ride a wave, otherwise you’re just another kook, just part of the floating debris to be dodged…forever!
Depends which martial art you are talking about. The ones that actually teach you to fight (Zen Do Kai, Kyokushin, Kick Boxing) mix the training with the fitness right from day one. You start to compete against others of the same ability right from the beginning.

So I'm not seeing this simile dude. Group people of similiar skill, is that what you're saying?

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Bunker Spreckles
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Post by Bunker Spreckles » Tue Feb 10, 2004 10:30 pm

ahenshaw wrote:I would like to join most respondents in giving this Sebastian person the big GF. I am 48 and female and got onto a surfboard for the first time in my life yesterday. I guess that in the eyes of most I won't even rate as a 9. But I don't care, I had fun and plan to keep doing so. I didn't see a patch of water that had anyone's name on it, I was under the impression that individuals don't own the ocean. So lighten up Sebastian, you were a beginner once and most likely annoyed a few people.
Exactly the attitude we DON'T want to see in learners-you're handle should be changed to no idea, lil' darlin!

Peace Out

wayback
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Post by wayback » Tue Feb 10, 2004 11:30 pm

A thought for all the frustrated surfers who yearn for the good old days. Take it from me, and I'm an old fart in his fifties who's been surfing for more than forty years: these are your good old days. The waves will never have less crowds than they do today.

Here's the good word, though: as you get older, you learn to accept and enjoy what you get, when you get it. Stop hassling, ignore the bad side and enjoy every moment out there, because there's bugger all you can do to change it.

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fletch
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Post by fletch » Tue Feb 10, 2004 11:42 pm

wayback wrote:A thought for all the frustrated surfers who yearn for the good old days. Take it from me, and I'm an old fart in his fifties who's been surfing for more than forty years: these are your good old days. The waves will never have less crowds than they do today.

Here's the good word, though: as you get older, you learn to accept and enjoy what you get, when you get it. Stop hassling, ignore the bad side and enjoy every moment out there, because there's bugger all you can do to change it.
totally agree

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marcus
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Post by marcus » Wed Feb 11, 2004 1:21 am

my 2 cents worth
i dont worry about it too much, as when its big everywhere is empty, its just that we have to wait soo damn long for the good stuff.
just keep this to yourselves guys but everytime its stormy ang getting big (like the days when the swell and wind are on the day before it gets perfect but everyone says its too wild out there) i get it all to myself, every time, yeah its bumpy but it has size and its just me out there.
next time theres a warning about rooves blowing off houses and a building 6-8ft + swell get out there for a solo surf and you will love it.
Oscar Wilde - "I am not young enough to know everything"

blindboy

Post by blindboy » Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:36 am

NezQuik, I think you're on to something, though there's no need to go over the top, I was thinking of something more like a trawler with a drag net, just send it through the line up a couple of times before paddling out....no problems. More seriously though, you're right we live in the best part of one of the best cities on the planet and we have surf at our door and we should never forget just how lucky we are but that doesn't mean we should just passively accept whatever change comes along.

Consider this slightly different take on things: for many of us surfing has been a major cultural force in our lives, I have always been taught to respect other people's culture.....in Indonesia for example, you show respect for their culture by imitating the excessive politeness with which they conduct their lives, closer to home I wouldn't hack my way around the local golf course in board shorts and thongs.

Surfing, I think, has failed to assert its culture strongly enough in the face of external pressures. For example, yesterday, the few after work waves availabale were totally infested with tourists who presumably had nothing else to do all day. We should make our position clear; it is inappropriate to come to Sydney on a surfing holiday, there are hundreds of kilometres of uncrowded beaches; go there. If you are in Sydney, do not surf in the after work time slot. I don't see how this sort of thing is much different from being told that certain parts of the temple are closed to visitors or whatever.

I'm not suggesting that these things be legally enforceable, just that we start to develop a much stronger set of cultural practices and assert them to tourists and beginners.

caspa

Post by caspa » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:03 am

Yeah ... we should make the tourists wear these large yellow T stickers on their clothes - better still - confiscate all their own clothes and make them run around in a sack with holes for head (no holes for arms so they can't paddle).
Then we could make a law that beginners must display large Ls when in the water and they can only be in the water between 10PM and 4AM (no lights as they would disturb the beachside residents).
The sack suggestion need only be applied to Caucasian looking tourists as they look too much like us to easily distinguish - especially the pommy ones.
The Asian looking ones we should just not let in in the first place.
After work slot --- whose afterwork slot? Does it count if I do nightshift and I surf between 8am and midday?
Dammit - we should only allow tourists to go to Alice Springs - that's a good enough experience of Australia - put them on a cattle truck after taking all their money --drive them round the rock a few times and then ship them out again.
They don't need to crowd our beaches and polute our air with their touristy stench.
And hey -- if the rest of the world gets pissed off and sends all the aussie expats home .. well ... then Stu will just have to use his lame warezboy spelling to do a report for Northie and issue apologies to women - unless we ban women from surfing.....

PS .. the above is sarcasm in the Sao Paulo death squads vein.

KLXracer
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Carrying on from that blindboy . . .

Post by KLXracer » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:06 am

How about we also get the tourists to not use public transport or travel on our roads during rush-hour. When concerts / gigs are on, perhaps we could ask them not to attend as a sign of respect to locals?

Perhaps a certain time bracket where restuarants and takeaway outlets are only for use by locals? How about carparks at the Steyne, maybe they could be only used by tourists during "off peak" hours?

Come on, there is a time when you have just gotta get real. Neither you nor I own the ocean, everybody else has just as much right to be there. Especially when you face 2 foot onshore slop at Manly, who cares who drops in or gets in your way - there's no wave to enjoy anyway. Just being out on the ocean after a hard day at the office should be enough.

When it hits 6 foot plus though, the dynamics change anyway, and if you are a half decent surfer you should be able to maintain an edge on all of the tourists. I spent the last 2 1/2 years surfing at DY Point most of the time, when it was small everybody came out and had a go, when it got big it became strangely deserted bar a few... these are the days you should live for. At a break like DY, all you need to do on the smaller days is get in real tight and charge like a madman down the line - even the cockiest tourist is going to think twice before dropping in on a 6'5" guy blasting down the line with three sharp fins.

blindboy

Post by blindboy » Wed Feb 11, 2004 10:11 am

The psychology of the loser, the language of exaggeration, false comparisons etc etc etc

More later…..

KLXracer
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Exactly my point . . .

Post by KLXracer » Wed Feb 11, 2004 10:51 am

Good to see you can point constructive criticism at yourself blindboy.

blindboy

Post by blindboy » Wed Feb 11, 2004 10:59 am

...that was almost clever, good work KLX but...

It always amazes me how little people actually value their surfing. First of all we allowed it to be used for mass marketing which had a serious downside for existing surfers, now, according to a lot of these posts, we should just passively accept our local surf spots being drowned in kooks. Why? Well because it’s a free world and we shouldn’t restrict people’s access in any way. What a joke!

Personally I’m in this debate for the interest factor, I really couldn’t care that much. I’ve had a good run in Sydney, my best surfing is behind me and I’ve got a nice spot picked out up the coast away from the worst of the mayhem, for my declining years.

If anything you might think that I would be on the other side of the argument and the young surfers, being the ones with the most to lose, would be taking my position. The future of surfing in this area is an ever decreasing standard of surfing, ever increasing crowds and fewer opportunities for the young people of the area to meaningfully pursue their surfing, in other words the trivialisation of that which once had cultural significance.

It’s your future, go for it, but don’t tell me you are in any way a serious surfer. Even if you can do your little ollie jumps or have mastered a roundhouse, it’s a temporary state of affairs. You’re just splash and gigglers, peer group conformers, media slaves and in ten years time surfing will be just a memory, you’ll have a beer gut and a round of golf on the weekends instead, I’ve seen it all before through several generations!

Oh and unless the standard of argument improves dramatically I’ll leave this forum to those who want to endlessly echo the same opinion.

KLXracer
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Post by KLXracer » Wed Feb 11, 2004 11:23 am

Correct - I am not a "serious" surfer - I surf between 5 and 6 times a week depending on conditions. I consider myself to be a "casual" surfer who will surf when I feel the desire, and because I enjoy being out on the ocean.

What I don't understand blindboy, is how you managed to skip the learner / kook / grommet step, and graduated immediately to surf guru. Surely you too used to get in peoples way, unwillingly drop-in, and generally cause people to tell you where to get off - hell, I know I did - and I started stand up surfing on a 3'6" kneeboard when I was 9, ya can only begin to imagine that picture.

Roundhouse Cutties and Ollies - Hah, you give me too much credit . . . sure, I can pull a big cuttie but I usually end up on my ass long before the foam bounce :-)... like I said I am in this sport for the fun of it, and personally am stoked to see the number of people giving it a go - it can only be good for the sport in general.

Like you I have a few spots that I can generally get to myself when it starts going off, there's one 500m from where I live that has a nasty rocky entry and exit that puts most people off, but when it goes off - it really goes off - just ask any Wellingtonian you meet if they have surfed Wairaka on a good day - most of 'em'll just go "huh" and stare blankly at ya... but if you meet someone who has surfed it they will go all glassy-eyed and start dribbling and frothing at the mouth.

Now, you are welcome to leave this discussion any time you like, but it seems that it is you who is stuck on the same repetitive points, I have seen a lot of other new points on the thread, but your's seem to remain the same. But hey, thats just me.

KLXracer
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Post by KLXracer » Wed Feb 11, 2004 11:26 am

Just one serious question for ya blindboy - Just how do you propose we "restrict" a public resource from being used by any surfer who feels like it? Outside of gratuitous violence that is. . .

That question is not posed sarcastically, it simply sums up the issue - I don't think you'll find a way around it that any council, government, or citizen will be accepting of.

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