The secret stokereport handshake?

ummm...if you don't know... Well, OK I will tell you. It involves body parts. Email me and I will get you in the know.

Actually, super nice people very open to surfing with others.

I met a guy named todd on this place. He has not written for a while I think. He had a bike with a cool rack that he rode all they way from SOMA to OB. Now that is hard core.

"Do I know you from the Internet?" works.

Also, asking any girl if she's Cynthia and any Japanese guy if he's Manabu is a useful trick. Eventually, you will run into the actual person you're looking for, but in the interim you get to meet all sorts of interesting surfers!

If someone wants to meet stokereporters, one way it to have a real photo as your avatar.

this is my real photo. Don't you recognize me? ...I'm out there like every day

Great question. It's funny! People who know my name have come up to me to ask if I've ever heard about the site. I say "Why yes, I have."

Here's a handy matrix that may or may not help you:

breaking boards: stokereporters
getting to the beach first: stokereporters
dropping in on people: probably not stokereporters
hugging clams: probably a stokereporter (nom nom)
showing respect in the lineup: probably a stokereporter
big wave surfer: probably a stokereporter
a local: could be a stokereporter (or could read stokereport because they hate stokereporters (Howard Stern syndrome)
a grom: probably lurking on stokereport. (delurk and report already!)
unfazed by enterococcus: probably a stokereporter
wearing a leash: probably a stokereporter
bodysurfing when it's otherwise unsurfable: probably a stokereporter
smiling and laughing in the lineup: probably a stokereporter (lighten up already!)
tweeting from the beach: probably a stokereporter
ripping at the riptide: probably a stokereporter

What am I forgetting?

As @Kooktastic points out, the real photo is helpful. My eyesight is bad enough in the water that I can really only tell people apart by their boards. I'm on the big green log (sometimes a white one, sometimes an red one from the 60s). Say hello sometime.

How about a new version of Marco Polo for the lineup? As you're taking off on a wave, yell "Stoke!" And if anybody yells back "Report!" then you know they're out there.

Eventually, tehdely! There's only one Manabu, but I wonder how many of us Cynthias are out there...?

I also am squinty in the lineup and also go based on board color and fall type. There's a few stokereporters I can spot easy after seeing them bite it enough, but for the most part I go by boards/wetsuits, any identifying visual features.

One exception to my spotting rules is cyrpto who I can hear laughing wherever he is.

I don't surf OB enough to know that many of the Stokereporters but I love it when some of them meet up with me in HMB. Its great having a surf geek community and I look forward to seeing/meeting more of you in the line up / Riptide.

@tracey, your man @crypto also has a unique paddle style that I can spot a mile away. :)

Hah I think I know what you're talking about. I think I've seen it a few times at LM and Bolinas. Figured he was trying to scramble out of my way as I came barreling at him with my longboard. Didn't realize it was a "style"

The squinty method does have some problems with mistaken identity. There's a guy at LM who has a similar board to @cowgill, same color wetsuit, and nearly the same falling style. He, however, is not as friendly or easygoing as cowgill. I've paddled out to him many times with a big smile of my face only to get about 20 ft away and realize it was very much not cowgill.

It's fine on a crowded day, but when there's only a handful of guys out the NotSteve gives me this look like "you again? what's your problem?" and tries to paddle away from me. I don't think he's a stokereporter, judging by the angryface.

+1 clamhugging

tehdely, Manabu was an automatic ID back when he always wore his gath.