Huntington Beach Surf Culture and Surf Etiquette Under Threat
♦ The popularity of the Costco Wavestorm soft-top long-board threatens to change surf culture as surf etiquette possibly becomes something of the past.
♦ We have all seen them, those long blue and white Costco Wavestorm soft-top long-boards, you might even have one. They are a great bargain and a cool ride for both beginners and veterans. It serves its purpose. There is nothing wrong with it, go Costco.
♦ The challenge (concern) is this, there are so many people in the water that were not in the lineup before. Many of the Wavestorm riders have never surfed, most likely they did not ride a body-board. So basically surfing is new to them, they are still trying to learn how to do it, as such they may not know surf culture or surf etiquette. Add a few people to the lineup that cannot surf and that do not know surf etiquette and there is most likely not a problem, but add them by the dozens, by the hundreds, and the problems begin.
♦ Imagine 10 people who cannot stand-up on a surfboard bobbing up and down in the lineup on either the southside or northside of the pier, plus 25 that can stand-up and half of those able to ride the wave, some okay, some good, all of them right there in the two prime lineups of Huntington Beach pier. Do that and you have problems. And you are going to have people getting hurt; too many people not knowing what they are doing right in the most crowded lineups of the beach. Too many people doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. That is the point here.
♦ For the past two summers we have seen mass numbers of people taking surf lessons right there at the pier, sometimes in multiple spots, at the same time, all on Wavestorms, the majority are ignorant when it comes to surf culture or surf etiquette. They just have a knack for getting right in the way.
See that set of empty peaks down the beach, closer to 17th Street, farther away from the pier, conduct your large surf lessons down there. That is actually a much better situation all around for the student; they do not want to learn in the most crowded and aggressive lineup on the beach; they want to catch waves.
♦ The number of people on both SUPs and Wavestorms is not going to decline anytime soon, in fact both should continue to see a rise in the number of Wavestorms and an exponential rise of the number of people on a SUP in the water. And it is the people on the SUPs that will be dominating the waves within ten years. But Wavestorms will be the most popular board in the water, and Channel Islands will be reduced to #2.
♦ So let’s leave the Wavestorm portion of this post and move to the important part, the part every person in the water should know. Period.
Surfing Etiquette – Visit that page to understand what Every Person In The Water Needs To Know – EVERYONE
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