Surfing in SF: A Feeling of Freedom Many Won't Share

I wish people would stop picking this scab.

Localism in most of California is dying out (thank god). There are too many surfers nowadays to know who's who. The old guys who grew up perpetuating it are dropping away, getting weak and ineffectual, bit by bit.

I don't like how crowded it is, but I don't miss all that bs. There's so many reasons to NOT perpetuate localism:

Ultimately it won't work- a losing battle, a chump's game.

It's arrested development teenage male behavior that's only cool to stupid jerks you don't want to hang out with.

Male male male. Woman don't do this (unless they're nuts), and I don't know about you, but I love surfing with women over dudes.

You want to travel? Me too. You want to be treated fairly at a break you visit? Me too! But you can't have it both ways.

Dammit, the ocean doesn't belong to anyone! Anyway, where do you live at Ft Point? Seriously? Same for Deadmans. I'm supposed to give you respect 'cause you live in Seacliff? Yuppie and proud of it? Sheesh.

Finally- how much time do we all have left? We are SO LUCKY to surf, crowds or not. Life is meant to be enjoyed. Every guy I know who was ever aggro at some point always regrets it later. Always. Enjoy this life you have... and be kind to others, like you'd want them to be to you.

I like the quote in the article from Scott "Cobra" Schofield. Ooooooo. Cobra....hiss. Watch out for the cobra in the lineup. Maybe he's from the Cobra Kai Dojo from Karate Kid. Sweep the Leg!

I love surfing Ocean Beach because whether you're Cobra or Hamster, the currents sweep everyone up and down the beach equally.

If the Cobra is giving you hard time, wait 5 minutes. Chances are 95% the Cobra won't hold position and he'll take his vibe on down the beach with the tide.

agreed. the size of the beach, the strong tidal currents and shifty peaks are wonderful equalizers at ocean beach. to be honest, i'm so completely spoiled by it that i find it hard to surf anywhere else. it's sometimes easy to overlook how amazing it is to have this non-impacted surfing location on our doorstep. god bless ocean beach.

hey jonathan; totally appreciate your sentiment - and agree with most of it. . . except for the male/female part.

there's a lot of angry old birds at linda mar (and angry old dudes for that matter). a few times i've taken beginners surfing there, only to have them yelled at for "dropping in" on some biatch's waist-high dream.

this begs the question; can you "drop in" on a waist high wave? or is it more of a "float in", or do you just kind of "appear" and then you're standing up. "quit appearing on me!" says the lindy local.

angry birds and dudes. funny. Aint it amazing how mad people can get in the water?

My favorites were 2 old guys that growled at me; like angry dogs. One down at Sunset Cliffs in San Diego and the other (presumably not the same guy) out at Palomarin north of Bolinas.

A more humorous subcategory was the young grom next to me at Blacks down in La Jolla. Big set comning in and I was in position on the peak. He kept saying "You better not miss it. You better not miss it !" . I didnt and he didnt drop in on me. So that kind of pressure is OK, certainly better than the growlers and cagefighter a-holes.

It seems to me that the only reason localism has any traction anymore is that people, by nature, seem to get off on conflict (or more accurately, viewing conflict from the sidelines).

Furthermore, some people are just plain dumb, and lack empathy or perspective. They're loose cannons out there that can't be reasoned with. I'd guess that men who don't grow out of violent behavior by their twenties are in this category.

BTW, it's funny that The Valley is the stigmatised group wherever you go. I always thought it referred to the San Fernando Valley (I grew up in LA). I was surprised to hear the term used when I came up to Santa Cruz in the eighties. What geographical valley do we pick to hate in SF?

Noe valley? Hayes valley?

Oh, regarding angry old birds... there was an act of surf rage that was being reported in the news last time I was in New Zealand: a woman in her sixties had assaulted a man in his fifties, for dropping in on her. He explained that he had been retaliating because she had been dominating the lineup. Longboarders, no less. Weird on a bunch of levels, huh?

...And then the two old grumpy Kiwis lived happily together forever :)

It's sad when feminism is interpreted by some women as "be as big an asshole as a man".