Where the Buffalo roam

[headmount]

There have been several threads on this forum about interactions between others in the water.  For those of you that got into SUP without ever being a surfer here's some history.  Surfers, from which we have all been spawned, began as rebels, social misfits and there's has been a law of the wild aspect about being in the water that has existed even after surfing went mainstream and there was actually money to be made from surfing which was suppose to mean better behavior.. at least a little.  But the old way persisted ... once you stepped into the water you were on your own and all the laws that may have protected you on land no longer existed.  So in a Darwinian manner, some became strong and mean, others became fast paddlers to get away and when all that failed some went searching for places off the beaten path.  There are still uncrowded spots in the world but not many and with the crowds that exist in this day, a change of outlook needs to take place but that has to be sold to many who have that old outlook entrenched in their minds.   I've lost the energy to hassle and my search  has led me to downwinding where there are no crowds but the farther you go offshore the wilder it gets. 

There are lifeguards now and police and video. So consequences for anti social behavior exist.  But it's still there.  I'd like for everyone to get along and also want world peace.  More realistic is observing the totality of a line up and behaving accordingly. 

[Tom]

I think Hunter Thompson said it best;

 It was the Law of the Sea, they said. Civilization ends at the waterline. Beyond that, we all enter the food chain, and not always right at the top.
 

[Smokey Carter]

Give it up for whirled peas......

[Pureadrenalin]

So Bill are you saying like what happen with the clown Sunny Garcia is alright? If so then every surfer  has the right to pound on anybody in the lineup? Now that would be just screwed up if every surfer starts thinking that because the reality is when you hit the beach and that person has a surprise for you in his car or truck what then. All that stupidness for a wave.

[headmount]

SUP Ninja, No I don't think it's alright.  I've never thought it was alright.  But I do know it exists and because of that I observe well especially when I'm in a new break or far from home.  I don't make up the rules or create the mind set in other people in the water.  My point was that I think many who haven't been exposed to surfing before they got into SUP, don't realize the long history of that dog eat dog mentality that surfers take on out in the water and are astounded by the anti social behavior.  This isn't a new thing.  It just becomes more apparent with bigger crowds.  Catching waves is an addiction and unless someone changes their POV then there is never enough.  You're absolutely right about escalation.  It never ends well.

[Weasels wake]

That 'hopey changey' thing is a tough nut to crack.

[XLR8]

I think you've made a great observation, headmount.  It was well said too.

Tom, is that Hunter Thompson quote from Fear and Loathing?  I don't recognize it but it's great.

I think you two are dead on...

[Tom]

I'm pretty sure its from The Curse of Lono, which is the story of Hunter on the Big Island of Hawaii when Sports Illustrated sent him over to write about the Honolulu Marathon.  And speaking of Hunter, "Where the Buffalo Roam" is the title of the movie staring Bill Murray about Hunter Thompson.

[Strand Leper]

Headmount,

Well said.  I have a much less perfect wave a few hundred yards closer to my house than spot X... Doesn't work as well on winter swells... usually its empty... so in the winter I often drive to a very uncrowded spot about ten minutes away... but every once in a while I think to myself... "f*** that, my house is here, I can walk to spot x... I am going to surf it before the crowd fills in..."

I can sense crowding... and holes in the lineup... and set frequency... and the vibe... better than most... I know when it is not safe... not cool... and will f*** up the lineup.  I don't enter at these times... or I leave quickly when the mood/conditions change... not because some a**hole mouths off... I will NEVER leave because of that... EVER.... but when I sense that there is tension, and that everybody's stoke is waning... Favorite line from last Winter, just loud enough for lots of people to hear:  "Guess what dude, I WAS going to paddle home... then you f***ing lipped off... now I have to stay awhile just to avoid giving you satisfaction... and that is going to make me late for my breakfast with the wife... now, you are bummed and I am busted... Nice going."*

I don't want to bum other people out... I don't want to ruin anyone's day... I can't account for those who are begging for their day to be ruined, though.  I am willing to oblige them... and then have more fun in one session that they have had in the last year.

Couple of local groms in the lineup... they blew two of my waves (paddled over the face rather than take the wrath of the foam, killing my angle...) it was all good.  I gave them sh*t about it... we laughed about it... the next set came and I said to grom number one as I was paddling for the takeoff angle... "Now you only owe me one."

Why the Aloha?  They live there too?

Because they are excited about surfing.  Their parents probably aren't jaded entitled "wear it on their sleeves" surfers.  They are young.  They don't feel entitled.  They are just stoked to be in the water on a Monday morning at spot x.  They just started landing their mini punts and don't think that they are the next big thing.  They haven't made signifincant life-altering  (in retrospect, perhaps stupid) decisions so that they can surf more at spot x.  Because of that, they don't think that the ocean, or karma, or the lineup owes them anything.

They were just sixteen year olds, excited to be in the water, riding waves, smiling, wishing that the waves were bigger...   Same as me, I just happen to be thirty years older.

Aloha,

Tim

* By "lipped off" I mean saying something aggressive and rude.  Not a polite request that it might be getting too crowded... but a threat or a command to leave.  When I get the polite request, (I have once), I apologized acknowleged my error and paddled home... Or my personal favorite... the "get the f*** out of here" yelled by a person within a group two minutes after I paddled by them... when I am a safe distance away... and won't know excatly who said it...

[headmount]

Gunga gunga galunga

[Tom]

Gunga gunga galunga

so now you're quoting one of the best movies of all time, you must be a real Bill Murray fan.

[headmount]

And HST fan also.  Got to meet him once in Colorado.  He was coherent and friendly.  His account of going into Saigon just as everyone else is leaving is pretty funny.

[PonoBill]

My all time favorite Hunter S Thomson article is "Song of the Sausage Creature" about riding a Ducati 900 Supersport. When he wrote it I had just bought my first Ducati 900 SS-SP, and pretty much every word resonated (though some of it was a little off the wall). I'd been working on Ducati's for years, but never owned one. I also own a Vincent Black Shadow, and I know EXACTLY what he means about going fast on one. They will do 130 MPH, but when they do they will kill you--no brakes, no handling. The Vincent aficionados will scoff at that, but there's a monumental difference between three huge, sophisticated disk brakes and two drum brakes designed around 1935, based on a design intended to keep a horse cart from rolling away.

But I digress.

And personally I think, wait... make that absolutely KNOW, that Caddyshack is not the greatest film of all time. That honor goes to The Blues Brothers. As any civilized human being knows, Caddyshack is the second best movie of all time, with everything else bringing up a wad of also-rans far, far behind.

[pdxmike]

"It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks..."

I love The Blues Brothers.  Besides being my favorite movie (along with The Wizard of Oz) it has to have the record for being The Movie Most Unlike Its Description, Even Though the Description is Technically Accurate--"two musicians organize a fundraising concert to raise money for their orphanage". 

Plus it's a movie about getting along with people, so technically this isn't a total thread hijack.  And they do perform the "Theme from Rawhide" which is somewhat related to buffalo roaming.

[tautologies]

True aloha is a smile and then forgetting about it. No reminding, no getting it back (unless you know them well).

To say it this way, I was out on a local break. Me and one of the old timers (longboarder) paddle for the same wave. It is a point break that works both left (not good), and right (very good). I'm figuring I'll take the left because it goes unused most of the time, and if you make the connection it reforms and have a really nice inside section.

In anycase we both go, and I'm keeping an eye on him as we make the drop, it might look like was was going left for a bit, but then turns and goes right.

To break the ice (and to make sure there are no irritation) I paddle over to him and smile and say I'm sorry if I got in his way that I thought he was going right. All smiles. He replies in true aloha spirit, no worries, jump on any wave he's on (just note these are really good surfers...they've been riding there for 30 years+). We talk for a while, and I tell him the same, that whatever wave they want just to jump in. Once the waves get bigger it is more critical, but party waves can be fun in smaller sets. Even if we both have that attitude, 95% of the waves caught only have one rider on them. This is a pretty crowded spot.

Most people are in the water to relax and have fun and not stress out. It really does not get enough attention that by far most people are nice, and really does not get stressed out by people.

I think instead of focusing on idiots, we can try to build up a way of communicating with each other in a positive manner. Smile. It'll take you really far.