We’re here, we park next to you, and we’re not going home

Trying to get this blog going again with a redesign, and something fired me up today. Read on.

Santa Cruz Waves is usually quite good at showcasing the strong and prideful community of the world-class Santa Cruz surf scene, and the people that make it so… communal. Did you post this drivel (You can’t surf here, go home.) just to fire people up and get some extra clicks? If so, well done!

Your post could have been informative about nuances in local etiquette, or how newbie surfers might work their way into a lineup, or ways outsiders can still enjoy themselves by knowing how a break works. Instead, Jack Neenan sounds like a bitter old man telling the kids to get off his proverbial lawn.

Surfers hear this localism crap all the time but guess what? The sport is growing and more people keep showing up at your spot. It’s the problem for the surf ages. Surfer Magazine even tried to tackle the subject last month, and didn’t do a very good job at it.

I don’t live in Santa Cruz. Worse, I live Over the Hill (a topic for another post). But I surf in and around town regularly, as I have been doing — all over the central coast for that matter — for 20 years plus. Now I’m teaching my kids to enjoy the water and when surfing what good etiquette is all about. The author makes the point finally at the end that if you show respect, you get respect. He’s right about that. It works in the water, and it works in life in general. It’s a simple rule that even my kids can grok.

Mr. Neenan, dude, we’re already here. We surf next to you every day, we park our cars next to you all the time. Sometimes we even talk to you in the lineup. It’s usually all fun until someone with this kind of grumpy attitude paddles out and wrecks the good vibes. Even still, I’ll share a peak with you, because it’s the right thing to do and I’m not going home.