Open letter to newbs

[red]

How much boards could a board chucker chuck if a board chucker could chuck boards?

[olly]

or.. how many boards could the mongol hordes hoard if the mongol hordes hoard boards.
hmm i think i missed the point...

dumping your board stretches your leash to crap and you're more likely to snap your board and/or leash. i always try and keep hold of it.

[goro]

given these rules, it almost seems legitimate to run the sucka ova...teach the noob a permanent and painful lesson...

i tink i'm trying to rationalize to myself that it's ok, but i can't seem to buy it completely yet...

here's my last situation that i'm still trying to work thru...
i've just made the drop on a wave...i see a guy paddling towards me down the line...he's taking his jolly time so i figure i'm going to have to surf around him...then he stalls, stops paddling for a moment and starts to rubberneck...i think great he's gonna let me pass so i adjust to make the section...all of a sudden he starts to paddle again and not too fast either...i'm on a longboard so i try to swing around him but the turn takes time and i end up clipping him...i forgot i got protec fins on so thinking he's hurt and i need to calm him down, i say i'm sorry as we bubble up...i guess he takes that as a sign of weakness or something and just goes off verbally on me...i almost do a zidane on the chump, but a little birdy is telling me that i'm trying to renounce violence...the chump keeps giving me lip...i paddle away with a good part of me thinking i should turn around and choke his frikin neck...

now i don't say nothing...like no blood no foul...no nothing...
i don't think this is any good either...wat 2 do?

[Puerto_Rico_Surfer]

As har d as it was you did the right thing, and you'r the better man. Tough to swim away though with someone yelling. I hope you stood your ground though at the peak and continued surfing. If you did I bet he steered clear of you after that and stayed out of your line.

[neosponge]

Good stuff Bammbamm. Here's something I wrote a while ago on the subject:
The Unwritten Rules of Surfing

Tribal Law: Surfriders Code of Ethics (sign found in WestOz)

Right of way: Furthest out (or waiting longest), Furthest inside (closest to peak), First to feet or on wave, Call: communicate (left or right)
Do not drop in or snake
Paddle wide using rip
Caught inside, stay in the whitewater
Danger: Do not throw board (in danger of others)
Respect the beach, the ocean and others
Give respect to gain respect
We are very lucky to be surfers - share the water

[uncle]

You're a better man than I Goro.

[goro]

tnx neo for the article with the various perspectives and rules...
gotta think about the give respect to gain respect one further...
if i apologize to someone, even when i do not think i am at fault, but primarily to show empathy or compassion is that not giving respect?
why do u tink if i do that, have people just been going off verbally on me?..it's happened the last several times i've said i'm sorry...i don't get it...not 2 much aloha in the water anymore i guess...or maybe 2 much batu?

as for being mo betta den u uncle...no way...i'm just tryin not 2 repeat the same old mistakes...like dey say, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results...or something li' dat...peace...

[red]

Are you a big guy? There's a lot of politics that goes along with being bigger and looking kinda scary. It's like small guy syndrome but he world's out to get you instead of vice versa.

[goro]

Are you a big guy? There's a lot of politics that goes along with being bigger and looking kinda scary. It's like small guy syndrome but he world's out to get you instead of vice versa.

nah i aint big and i don't got the napoleon's syndrome either...
big guyz wouldn't scare me more than any other guyz cuz the water is a great equalizer...we can just both go for a wee swim to the bottom for some contemplation time...seems to clear alot of minds...

anywayz, to just show more that i don't think size matters here...a few dayz ago my friend, who is a tiny jap national was out at dh just minding her own business sittin on her board when some big guy with a pony tail lost control of his longboard and crashed into her...like most japanese she immediately apologized profusely even though it wasnt her fault...the guy then just goes off verbally on her...what class...what a tuff guy...
what does she get for her apology and not doing anything? bruised and a brand new dinged board...

[surfingcroatan]

Thats some crap man. What kind of man, if you an call him that, yells at a young woman, when he ran into her! Always respect the ladies, that's what helps make a man, not proving you're "tuff" by showing your muscle and beating your chest.

Seems like people have lost not only the Aloha spirit, but also the brotherhood and mutual respect between surfers. Peple have no kindness anymore. You ask someone to bum some wax, and they're like "fuck you." They snake you, and then get pissed off at you for being in their way! Me, Im the exact opposite. You need some wax, here's 2 bars. If its a decent day on the east coast (i.e. more than 1 set an hour), Ill let some roll by so others who havent gotten as many waves get atleast 1. Or if Im surfing with guys that are much better than me, and have been surfing longer there than I, I know my place, down towards the bottom of the pole.

Where has that surf brotherhood gone? Seems like it's a rare presence anymore.