Have young surfers become obsessed with image
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Yeah I know what your talking about, when I was young other kids took smoking up to look cool, where as I took it up cause I was cool :)
Seriously though surfing cause you like it and no other reason is cool, surfing in the hope of being cool is a waste of time.
Your on the right track kid :)
Lot's of youth will pursue a certain image and follow the trends with their peers not just in surfing but life.
It's great that they will all surf together means that they are concentrating themselves to one break.
.........not just the young ones ThazL. We can deny it as much as we like but we are all profoundly shaped by the projected images of surfing.
For having a feel for the history of the sport and what came before (and surfing it, so yes, profoundly shaped...) the whole retro imaging of the hipster revival of longboarding and singles etc has been a source of total despair. I think I enjoyed riding the boards more when no-one else would bother, and everyone would be laughing at you for doing so. Luckily the boards still have the feel to ride I fell in love with.
well 30 years ago I thought I looked pretty cool with my Hawaiian shirt and sun bleached hair....fitting in and being appreciated by your peers was and is very important for young people. For most of us the act of surfing and the feeling of wellness that surfing gives us becomes way more important....... So that lime green wetty I wear is not cos I want to be noticed, it was on special from the cash converter
Surfing was a bit cool. Now it is not.
When young people go surfing and see most people paddling about are middle aged and older, balding with little pot bellies, they don't think 'how cool'. They think; oh crap, there is Mr Wilson the world's most boring geography teacher.
wally wrote:Surfing was a bit cool. Now it is not.
When young people go surfing and see most people paddling about are middle aged and older, balding with little pot bellies, they don't think 'how cool'. They think; oh crap, there is Mr Wilson the world's most boring geography teacher.
Two birds with one stone, how to reduce crowds and increase surfing's coolness factor? Compulsory retirement at 50!
good point wally......surfing was counter culture, which made it cool, now it is mainstream,,,,,,,all the 'hockey mums' are willing their kids to be the next Kelly or Steph.......I guess thats cool for some......
When I was a grom my father hated me for being a filthy surfer, I was bashed on the trains going home to the suburbs by the Sharpies, I had to swim like tarzan to get my board back, there were no proper wetsuits so the south coast winter trips in boardies were chilly and we would build a big fire and leave the matches sitting next to it so we could light er up as soon as we came in. We were the scum of the earth, man you really had to like surfin to be one in those days and on top of all that you had to ride were home created single fin pigs made from bludged materials and seconds Dion blanks, those boards hardly turned but they caught waves easy and went fast. Gee it was great ! cause there was no one else out most places, I used to surf fairy bower with just my mate wako, Yes its a very cool sport now rather than a lifestyle, the gear is much better and cheaper and the kids all rip but I wish everyone would stop flogging the culture globally as its getting really crowded in the old pacific sea and teach your kids to love people , share and care for people and give lots of waves to older blokes like me...YEW!
Nothing's changed, youth culture has always been obsessed with image.
But now in the digital age there is more exposure to images and also forums for self promotion.
Makes people more annoying IMO.
On the subject of fashion: I own an orange (gasp) wetsuit, not because it's trendy, but because I like it. Don't know how many people could say the same thing.
On the subject of style when riding: At the risk of getting all 70's hippie, surfing is an emotional sport (unless your one of these aforementioned robot), so it's about what you want. Speed runs, arcing carves/cutbacks, barrel riding, lip hits, airs (God forbid haha). What do you guys prefer?
Where the fuck do you and Roy get those orange wetsuits from ?
Not that I want one !
those orange wetties are divers suits, aren't they?
Billabong foil 3x2 cz bought in Easter 2015 I think
..i guess if you really want to be cool in surfing you grow your hair wear an open front shirt whilst goinn for a paddle and you bust a few airs............I remember once reading someones critic of Camel surfing an epic wave at toombestones.......some guy said all he did was go straight down the line !!! .........nothing wrong in picking a good line .....minimal effort maximum speed .......
Ah yes Fong, there were some big battles on the Manly pier...
I think most groms are pretty chilled these days...especially considering the advertising onslaught they receive. Its good to see young guys with their own mindset going on and not have put themselves in the fashion box of different projected images.
I especially notice the image thing when I go to the Gold Coast and I see dingbats wearing copies of old dive wetsuits and sliding through the crowds on old pig boards and no leggie. Sad Sad Sad, If you were a real hip vego groover dude you wouldn't be sitting amongst 300 blokes looking for your 70's peace while running over everyone and being the No.1 wave pig out there. Now that is an image problem and its not the groms doing it ....its grown men.
wally wrote:Surfing was a bit cool. Now it is not. When young people go surfing and see most people paddling about are middle aged and older, balding with little pot bellies, they don't think 'how cool'. They think; oh crap, there is Mr Wilson the world's most boring geography teacher.
That also explains why skateboarding has an endless cachet of cool. You won't catch Mr Wilson at the skatepark!
Well he used to hang out there quite a bit, but it was all a bit sus and restraining orders were put on Mr Wilson and he's now on the sexual offenders register!
stunet wrote:
wally wrote:Surfing was a bit cool. Now it is not. When young people go surfing and see most people paddling about are middle aged and older, balding with little pot bellies, they don't think 'how cool'. They think; oh crap, there is Mr Wilson the world's most boring geography teacher.
That also explains why skateboarding has an endless cachet of cool. You won't catch Mr Wilson at the skatepark!
He may go there stu , but it will most likely be fleeting . As the reality that he's lost touch with his former talent will end pretty quickly in a career ending accident . Old bones are brittle .
...and that's exactly the point Southey. Skating has an endless turnover of youth, which, lets face it, is where the cultural dynamite lies.
Old guys and their brittle bones don't hang around and stink up the joint.
From a commercial standpoint, the good thing about older people is that they tend to have more money. If the average age of active surfers was 18 it would be a cooler sport, but there would be less boards sold per surfer and less dollars available for surf tourism.
But is surfing cool, no. If surfing was cool, hipster surfing would not be a thing. Hipsters having an interest in the quaint and the uncool.
I get the feeling that a lot of groms my age start surfing not because they enjoy it, but because they think it's cool. I moved to Australia when I was very young and had a few lessons, but when i became a teenager I found that I really enjoyed it and got a fibreglass board. Surf wherever, whenever, whatever and however I can. Lots of people I know surf when, what, where how they think is coolest. I'm talking about people who buy a team rider board as their first every, ride whatever beach is considered to be "best" and focus on trying to do the "coolest" turn. What have you observed?