Jay writes: The Pacific is going off. Waimea is bombing and the lineup is packed beyond capacity. But the real story that should never be told is how many surfers are right now scoring waves to themselves without cameras or jet skis. All over the islands and Cali there are endless little nooks and crannies that with a little imagination and skill offer all the potential thrills without all the distractions. Surfing has (as I alluded to in my last post) become the sport we all thought it deserved to be: a high profile, high paying professional endeavor, but it has lost more than it gained in terms of the spirit and purity of the adventure.
No doubt, all the folks making bank for their performance art in front of the camera got the same goosebumps as you and me. They look at a good wave with all the salivating hunger and see all the blood pumping possibility in a perfect section. But they are giving surfing to the world, handing it over to the masses. All our passion has been monetized and packaged and, yes, word processed and spell checked into blogs (like this). I understand my part in all this. Can we go back to a time when being a surfer was dangerous and would prompt elevated eyebrows or (even more satisfying) a scowl of disdain?
