Considering the recent discussions about who's who and what not, I thought this self-described "hippy reflection" was worth putting in the mix. If only to keep up international interweb relations.
"If a surfing company or business targets “outsiders” or beginners, or their products are seen as merely commodities or accessories, they’re ridiculed. Non-core participants who consume surfing are devalued and much-maligned as wannabes and poseurs."
What a bunch of hypocrites.
"Boardshort Technology" anyone?
It's probably not something that's given much thought to up here since we're always in wetsuites, but in Socal we got to go wetsuitless during the summer. IMO, the $200 boardshorts (I never bought any so this is just speculation) probably don't work any better than the $50 boardshorts and those don't work any better than the $15 boardshorts from Target or Walmart.
Open up a surf mag or peruse surfline and one is bombarded with "boardshort technology" hype. AFAICT, it comes from the "hard core" companies as much as anyone else.
I don't know about the $15 boardshorts, but I recently bought a pair of $10 ones and have since learned my lesson; anytime they get near saltwater they chafe to the point of inflicting poison-oak style welts (not the easiest thing to explain to the gf). Also, the drawstring has the awkward tendency to slowly loosen, so that one invariably exits the water to the horrified screams--or winks, as the case may be--of fellow beach-goers. I think I'm now in the market for something in the midrange, maybe $20-$25....
