OVERSOLD
Point of view provided by blindboy.
I have believed for a long time that surfing has been oversold. By this I mean that the thrills, benefits and general attractions have been exaggerated. If you want to contend that I have obviously never experienced the full extent of its attractions, then I cannot agree. No I have never surfed like Kelly Slater but I have done enough to understand the nature of the surfing experience for the vast majority.
I grew up on the Northern Beaches of Sydney when you knew every face at your local. I surfed all the north coast points when a dozen was a crowd. I had two seasons on the North Shore when it was still possible for a visiting surfer to get a reasonable wave count at all the main breaks. I surfed Bali for months on end when most days there were no more than a dozen surfers on the whole Bukit. And for the vast majority of my time, between the ages of about 18 and 28, if there were waves, I had time to surf them.
In later years I surfed Desert Point when there was no land access, perfect G-Land, the Mentawais when there were only three boats operating in the entire area, and I have sought quality uncrowded waves up and down the east coast at every opportunity. So I have ridden my share of barrels, big ones, long ones, ultra perfect transparent blue ones and big black mean ones and I have been smashed into coral, caught inside and nearly drowned, slapped in the face with my own board, had sun stroke, sunburn, windburn, Bali belly and a back spasm that left me staring at the ceiling of a primitive hut on an isolated island for a week before I could walk . So while Kelly and the rest of the pros have probably ridden more barrels in the past couple of months than I have in my whole life and bigger and longer and better, that is not the point. The point is that I have experienced enough to validate my claim that hyperbole and overstatement have been the rule rather than the exception in virtually every publication, promotion and discussion of the sport.
This has traditionally taken two main forms. We could call them the "athlete" and the "aesthete". The athlete uses the vocabulary of sport in a competitive one upsmanship manner, seeking to describe the surfing experience in ways suggesting an unparalleled need for personal courage, physical fitness and skill. The aesthete, though scarcely less competitive, uses the language of transcendent experience to suggest that nothing else in the vastness of human experience could possibly rival that of a deep barrel. Both of these forms are essentially full of shit.
The truth is that surfing, at most levels, is not particularly demanding of courage, fitness or skill. Even at the extremes of high level competition or serious big wave surfing it is far from unparalleled. People climb the Himalayan peaks without oxygen, free dive to incredible depths, jump off cliffs in wing suits, wind surf the Bering Strait, and indulge in numerous other activities that compare or exceed the demands of surfing for courage, fitness and skill.
Similarly the aesthetic experience of a big, perfect barrel, thrilling as it is, must surely be rivalled by experiences in activities like hang gliding, kayaking through rapids, various types of climbing and a host of other activities. If this strikes you as heretical, maybe you need to broaden your thinking, try something different or even just talk to someone seriously involved in another activity.
It is traditional to blame the large surfing corporations for increased crowd levels and there is no doubt that they should take a significant part of the blame. For decades they have traded on a distorted image of surfing to build their market with complete contempt for existing surfing communities. The saddest aspect of this is the way so many have unquestioningly accepted it and how so many groups, which should really have known better, were fawningly grateful for the scraps thrown their way.
Yet for this policy to succeed it needed a level of complicity, a level on which it accorded with the hopes of the individuals making up the communities they were trashing. And we have been complicit, we too readily accepted the hyperbole because by doing so we boosted our own egos. By promoting this overblown collective image, they enhanced our own image and not just our self-image. By marketing the image of surfers as romantic outsiders we were perceived that way by others, usually to our benefit. The fact that over time surf culture had degenerated to just another variant of privileged middle class conformism was never to be allowed to even enter our consciousness let alone our public discussions.
Yet reality is hard to deny and truth can only be obscured by image making for as long as it holds the collective gaze. So as we dawdle into the 21st century, self-absorbed in our own iconography, we fail to even notice that the bullshit doesn't work anymore, the imagery is exhausted and the hyperbole rings hollow. Since the wider culture noticed this a long time ago we need to face the realisation that surfing, for all its charms, is just another pastime, just another way of temporarily averting our attention from the cascade of catastrophes we call history. //blindboy
Comments
My goodness you're bleak sometimes.
As a pastime I happen to think that surfing is really fun. Keeps you healthy, keeps you nimble and gives you something to look forward to.
BB, do you still have fun surfing? Longing for those salad days aint going to bring you any joy.
I respectfully think you worry a little bit too much about other people, the haves, the have-nots and those that never will.
Relax old boy, re-discover that inner child.
well said zen.
i have done multiple indo trips and so on but the joy of surfing even 1 foot beachies after being out of the water injured for a long strech is very very refreshing.
Do you need an injury?
The righter you are the better off we'll be.
Dear Blind Boy,
"I have done enough to understand the nature of the surfing experience for the vast majority."
What the fuck is there to understand about surfing?
If you keep being so grumpy (why ride a mal and now this), please go away and sign yourself in to an elderly home with good palliative care.
Agree with zen, re-discover that inner child
"surfing, for all its charms, is just another pastime, "
I am well aware of the charms of surfing, my point is that, to our long term cost, we have habitually exaggerated them. I know this seems impossible to some, but there you go, we can't agree about everything.
Bleak? Dunno if I'm getting the same message out of it as you fellas. I take it as a swipe at surfers who carry an inflated sense of self-worth and the media that provides it. As if surfing is one of the most meaningful pastimes someone can undertake.
Exhibit A stunet - 10 Ways Surfing Improves Humanity.
http://www.theinertia.com/surf/10-reasons-surfing-improves-humanity/
Mate, all you seem to write is negativity related to surfing... For someone who authors a 902 word piece which includes 298 words about their own surfing pedigree, which clear as day demonstrates they had it better than most of us dream about, one would think you could share something a little more positive.
Well there you go, Blindboy is over 40.
BB,
It seems you enjoy exposing brutal truths but do they have to be that brutal? Whats wrong with getting carried away with surfing, thinking you're doing something special and adventurous - if you're not hurting anyone, so what? It's probably good for your self esteem, and it's definitely good for your wellbeing. Serious questions.
oooooofffffff reading BB's stuff is like going to the dentist.
Pretty sure if you read a mountain climbing, kayaking, abseiling, scuba diving, hunting, knitting magazine or publication they would all have the same common theme.
The same day you've got BB telling us how mundane surfing is you've also got Marty Tullemans asking if surfing is art, dance or religion!
http://www.swellnet.com.au/news/3826-martin-tullemans-asks-what-is-surfi...
Love ya Swellnet.
PS: It's art to me.
I agree with you BB - not to say that I don't wax lyrical about the joys of surfing and am known to talk about how cold-water surfing makes me a stronger person. But..... I do know that it is bullshit, and despite surfing being the primary driver in my life, it is also just surfing... It doesn't mean anything to anyone except me... It's not as if me going for a surf is going to achieve anything.
Surfing oversold? Absolutely. We can see it in the proliferation of surf porn at every level. Images, clothes, magazines, screen savers, blogs, Facebook, Tony Abbott for heavens sake. Surfing is everywhere. We have been absorbed into the mainstream. We have been prostituted. Me? I was sold years ago.
To reduce what we love (why would anybody be reading this if they didn’t love surfing) to a mere pastime may be seen to be an insult to your readership. I don’t mean the people that wear the clothes and maybe go for a splash in the summer either. I mean the people who dedicate themselves to this sport – the true subculture.
“The thrills, benefits and general attractions have been exaggerated†– true, by anyone who ever caught a good wave. From the wide eyed grommet, the blokes at the pub and to media in all of its forms. The hanger ons, however cling to something they cannot achieve, and that is the surfing lifestyle. They will eventually fade into the distance.This is something that must be earned. Chart checking, swell alerts, consulting the ocean most days. Pastime or passion?
The general public can have their opinions. They lack understanding. They do pose immediate problems though, notably crowded lineups. The question remains, however, have we merged into “another variant of privileged middle class conformism? Hard to say. I’m not a demographer.
Pastime be damned.
Lifestyle!
Hi BB,
Most of this (and you other stories) I find to be thinly veiled attempts to say "you should have been here yesteryear". So what, get over yourself.
A breaking wave knows nothing about your past and cares nought fro your future. Ride it for what it is and if that's not enough, give it to someone else.
Is there anything more joyful than look on someone's face who has really enjoyed there last wave, leaving the land life on the land.
And if you're looking for meaning, try the fact radiation generates life on earth and each wave of radiation is unique and the only way humans can ride that radiation is via the ocean.
And if that's not enough, read a 1st rate existential philosopher's works > life is meaningless, its only ,meaning is the one we give it > get positive, I experience you trying to squash an unquantifiable personal experience into a sport, with all the attendant over-analysis.
@prg1972 In terms of mental health it may be harmless to think that your favourite activity is inherently superior to all others, but it will probably cease to be harmless if, on that basis, you centre your life around it. Others may disagree but I think human values need to come ahead of a desire to surf. Equally self-esteem is not an unqualified good despite what they told you at school. One of the key psychological indicators of potential violence is an unstable high self-esteem. If surfing, as it has been known to do, boosts an individual's self-esteem beyond how he is generally esteemed by his peers, it is profoundly bad for the individual's mental health.
@Variousothers You shouldn't confuse my opinions about the broader culture of surfing with my perceptions of my own surfing experience. Thanks to those offering free psychoanalysis but if I ever feel the need I will consult a professional.
whoa pass the bong @radiationrules - that must be some good stuff...
I hate that surfing is 'cool' and hence marketable, sold to land and city dwellers, or landlocked eurpoeans - Surfing will make you tanned, strong and live-the-dream with a bunch of toned lauging grils with skinny arms and no leg-ropes on their boards sitting in a open van without a care in the world. The dream that has been sold to them - I am sure that is why approx 50% of the people in the water (in summer time) at my local. I got a fat lip from one of their boards hitting me when they bailed it the other day. BB if you are trying to make surfing uncool to try and clear the waters a bit you are doing a good job of it with your incessent old-man rants. Keep it up!!
Busted monk!
I don't think I have never been so conflicted about an article I have read....
I get what you're trying to say, but I think it stems from an apparent hatred of pop-culture and corporate marketing....... can't say that I blame you there, but calling things like surfing, B.A.S.E. Jumping and Mountain Climbing 'just another pastime' implies that 'a pastime' is something not highly regarded, or something frivolous....but I can tell you that when some people dedicate their lives to these pursuits, there is nothing frivolous about it.
My pastimes give my life focus, depth and meaning....and those who have 'oversold' surfing have obviously seen and/or felt something similar. Just because you don't see or feel the same, doesn't mean it isn't real for them.
Oh look, another ranty negative drivel piece from BB. Everything has been oversold... Like your viewpoint on today's so-called surfing climate. You have a skewed vision of surfing, the northern beaches of Sydney is one of the epicentres of posers, wannabees and silver-spooned surfers. I had a great session in the south east of SA a little while ago. No ego to be seen, no mass marketing, no crowds, no pessimism, nothing but pure enjoyment. Forget your egocentric woes, yep, you probably can't surf cracking Bower with just you and a few mates, but you also can't get a pint of lager at the Steyne for under a buck anymore. Move with the times and provide not only insight, but suggestions for the future of surfing. People make a life's work of climbing Everest once, but surfers will happily paddle out in squally freezing conditions time after time to get a wave. That's the difference, and that cannot be sold. (Well it probably could with a constructive marketing team, but meh whatever...).
"human values need to come ahead of a desire to surf ".
"boosts an individual's self esteem beyond how he is generally esteemed by his peers".
"been conflicted about an article I've read".
Like most sports extremists and corporate professionals, what they do is there 'god'.
The real problem they have is that they don't realize it.
Which can only end badly for them.
Tricky: Are you talking about the end game state being relevance deprivation syndrome? I think BB might have it.
Definitely has it as well as most commentators & opinions.
"my pastimes give my life focus".
"1st rate existential philosopher's works - meaning is the one we give it".
"rediscover that inner child".
"I mean the people who dedicate themselves to the sport".
Don't get wrong, surfing has what most sports have not !
BB is right that he's been "promoting this overblown collective image"
"it is traditional to blame the large surfing corporations for increased crowd levels and there is no doubt that they should take a significant part of the blame".
and "just another way of temporarily averting our attention from the cascade of catastrophes we call history".
Forgive me for I'm without a decent surf now for awhile, which allows me to rant on blogs.
I'm one of the older guys that just doesn't have the body to find that inner child in 1-3 ft crowded inconsistent swell.
I'm looking to the future instead by looking into the past.
Cheers
And I think tricky dicks need to quote other people to validate his own argument, at a guess, I would say he subcribes to Festingers Social Comparison theory.
Cheers to you too you forward thinking cat;)
One can only try.
imagine the utopia of conformity to head in the sand theory.
Sounds like midlife or midriff drift BB, just need a few men in grey a suit to sort out the lifestylers, it's worked wonders at the odd place in wait a while. Sell out, it's called shareholder value and return on investment, surfing is a global business like any other and evident from the 70 buck bits of fabric they peddle. I bet you were he why kid.
Interesting post if a bit dry for my liking. The comments, however, are where the story really begins.
After a week of research I've found that one in every 3.5 posts on Swellnet is a complaint about how ubiquitous surfing has become and how the companies have sold it out. Now, someone has examined it further, come up with a few causal links (correct to my mind) and what do we have? The majority of posts saying he's too 'negative', or too 'bleak'.
Also, in his last few articles Blindboy has copped criticism along the lines of, 'you're not a REAL surfer', or similar pronouncements meant to undermine the validity of his words. Now, he outlines his experience to validate his argument and what do we have? People criticising him for bragging about his experience. One person even counting the words despite completely misunderstanding them.
Blindboy, I believe you have found the extent of Surfing's Statute of Limitations, where scope replaces time.
Heals, in defence of BB and that you chose to pick a word I used I re-read BB's latest contribution.
First, I like his writing and I like the fact that he, on the most part, has a logical, lucid and balanced point of view to back up his argument. I also like that he never gets personal.
But, on the whole I feel his writing paints a pretty negative picture sometimes and he tends to pigeon-hole most surfers into certain categories. I compared his writing a while back to the story of an Emporor quizzing his artist as to why he always painted demons and never horses? The artist replied because demons are easier to paint.
There is no doubt that BB is a skilled wordsmith and an artisan at that but one day, I would like to read about something fun. I'd be interested to hear about his travels to empty Desert Point, or what the Mentawais were like with only 3 boats throughout the chain. How he woke up one day with a stinging hangover, lying unshaven in bed with 3 Thai prostitutes, an oversized leek and a small, but enthusiastic donkey. It just seems that everytime a new article is posted, Stu should preface it with 'Here's another maudlin article by Swellnet contibutor Blindboy', because that's what I'm starting to expect.
I reiterate what I said, surfing is fun, sure it's not the be all to end all- I also love snowboarding, golf, going for a run, travelling with my wife, burning cash everytime she starts online shopping, playing with my cat, looking at Swellnet etc., but I refuse to buy into the notion that surfing has sold it's soul or how you should have been here yesterday. That comes down to personal choice. There are blessings to be found everyday, even in the tiniest and most crowded lineups, you just gotta keep your eyes open.
Heals, I hope a nice big set wave with your name on it comes your way soon and to Blindboy too.
Probably one more in the bleak series then some fun!
I'm all ears (and to some extent scrotum).
I have a theory, it seams you are bored as you only surf short boards. You also forget how fit we as surfers are. My point is have an operation and be out of the water for 9 months and see how long it takes you to get back in shape both fitness and conditioning! (I know I've had a shoulder reconstruction)I'm 53 and still frothing and competing! I think you have just let it become another sport! I'm also a snow skier with a few full seasons under my belt but its only a distraction compared to surfing and its easy to get good at unlike surfing. The main point you miss is that with hang gliding, kayaking skiing, snowboarding ect you can study the conditions from a vantage point and pick an almost predictable line to take with surfing you cannot! That's what makes our sport unique.
You are a deadset legend BB, fuck even went to desert point on a boat! Growing up on the mean streets of the northern beaches, a true surfing adventurer. Peter Troy reincarnate perhaps? I cant wait for page 2 of the autobiography.
See, for me, one of the beautiful things about surfing is that, despite the commercial side of it, at it's core it's a magically simple, clean experience, often in wonderful natural environments. Surfing does, and always has, allowed me to strip away the crap in my life and simplify experience down to a few hours in the surf where it's just me, the waves, the sky, the wind etc....The 'oversold' side of it doesn't impact that at all.
And you are wrong to say that surfing isn't an overly demanding experience. You only have to watch someone who is trying to learn fall apart after 15 minutes of paddling in exhaustion and exasperation - they look at you with this new realization that surfing is goddam HARD, and with this newfound respect that this bloke they thought was a slacker hedonist is actually seriously fit and can handle himself in very challenging situations. The harder you surf and the more serious you are, the truer this is. I think you are seriously underselling the whole thing, myself.
@mikehunt207, I make no claim to have done anything extraordinary, that wasn't the point. If you want to take cheap shots you will have to improve your aim.
No doubt its 'sold'; oversold? - naaa, plenty of value to be extracted yet.
Like you say, surfing is no different to any other "lifestyle" (how did we survive without that word 15 years ago) pursuit that can be used to sell a dream.
The issue with surfing, so much more than any other 'lifestyle sport', is the seriously limited resource (waves) - and that would seem to be the frame for much of your writing BB.
I wonder if you had ended up in a place with less crowds your writing would be different. Not that I want that. I do enjoy your piercing of the surfing stereotype.
It seems that no other 'lifestyle writing' is able to disappear so far up its proverbial than surf writing - for good and bad.
Seriously, not surfing is one of the best things you can do.
Yeh mcbain my writing is influenced by my location. In surfing it is hard to imagine how that could be avoided. I suppose the other aspect of it is that my location is pretty typical of many others up and own the east coast so hopefully it resonates for quite a few.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading someone play down surfing's mystical aura for a change. I agree that surfers have spruiked its cool-ness and that most people that own a surfboard but do not ride it - or - paddle out but do not catch waves will unabashedly lay claim to an intimate understanding of that cool. I am grateful for that salesmanship because it is what gave me a reason to seek out the ocean from a landlocked, television-watching suburb once i got wheels. I never forgot that family trip to the beach in Robe when I was seven years old and got blisters on my face from being in the water and the sun too long. I never forgot the salty mineral taste I'd licked from my dry lips. I can still recall the feeling of my skin tingling from the nutrients of the sea and the soreness in my cheeks from smiling elatedly over all these sensations as Mum towelled me off on the sand. wanting to keep the sand between my toes when she told me to rinse before i hopped into bed. I grew up playing football, basketball, squash, music... I know what pastimes are. I argued with my best mate, a banker, about moving interstate for waves a few years ago. He told me to grow up, fancied me as doing better for myself. I told him I'm only ever doing as well as I feel, finances, career, and pastimes aside. I wanted to be able to live somewhere I could surf every day because it gave me a logical reason to get in the ocean, and the refreshment and confidence I feel when I get out has nothing to do with hyperbole. And if I can make a contribution to life around me it is by having the enthusiasm to interact - because I feel good. As for romanticism, blindboy, maybe I have not experienced enough different amazing surf spots or landscapes otherwise to be less than awestruck every time I watch the sky from the water in a changing light of day. After nearly eight years of surfing, the fleeting nature intensity, and immensity of the colours and light an ocean sky can throw out as it rises and sets still leaves me breathless. Anybody who's looked up from that vantage point should appreciate the beauty they've witnessed, whether it's been sold to them or not. Don't worry blindboy, surfing is ubiquitous now, but so was swing music in the thirties. When was the last time you heard Ella Fitz on commercial radio? Those who gravitate to a thing because it is cool will move on to the next thing that can match it's appeal, and you'll be left to a few quiet line-ups to think to yourself, my, my, this is a beautiful, invigorating, nourishing thing I am doing for my soul right now. Love you calling the truth to light blindboy, hope you get some smokers in your next dawnie!
The funnies thing about your article is a $22 online delivery deal from domino's next to it, talk about ‘scraps’ for the privileged middle class...
Hey BB, just for you:
"First, he realized that the sea was blue and that there was an enormous quantity of it, and that it roared and roared - really all the banalities about the ocean that one could realize, but if any one had told him then that these things were banalities, he would have gaped in wonder" - This Side of Paradise, F.Scott Fitzgerald.
All the best, A Panda in the Sea.
ps. well said, Tbass
Hey Blindboy - well said.
Having just spent a few years London I can tell you it wasn't the surfing I missed but just being near the ocean and out in nature. I heard a similar comment from a friend who spent an extended time in inland Spain.
Surfing is fun, a great head clearer and important in my life in just the same was as spotting a new train, jumping out of an airplane or scoring a goal is for other people. We can all become obsessed with our own interests but that doesn't make them universally profound.
Personally I'm just as happy to have a good swim and a body-bash nowdays.
Thanks for the thoughtful article blindboy. It reminds me of an interview with Andy Irons who said (something like): "It's just surfing you know .. it's not like we're trying to cure cancer or something". ..... i.e. a lot of surfers get so caught up with surfing and all the BS that goes with it, that they lose sight of the really important things in life and the bigger picture.
you know im not a smart man and im not as articulate as blindboy, but i do know that i feel ten million times better after surfing and being in the water than if i havent surfed! its not just surfing its the whole world were greedy! we overuse shit we dont need! everything is overmarketed and surfing is no different! i went to an opp shop today and found so much stuff i could use instead of buying everything brand new surfing is the same just walk 200 metres further and i bet the crowds wont be there !
Love it BB.
Emotions flow from the masses thoughts, like candy being taken from a child.
Cant wait for season 3 , episode 6.
:)
From 'why surf a mal'
"Who cares it's just surfing!" Just surfing! Just surfing! If you don't fucking care about surfing don't fucking surf. Go ride a bike or climb a mountain, find something you do care about, it's the meaning of life.
For sure tonka,
I spend time researching and looking for these hairy guys, big and small?... Tell me what you think?
&feature=c4-overview&list=UU-8jwCzGmaeIXIrJe-hFmVgIve been following Rusty 222's expeditions for awhile now, this guy cares.
Well I've got no idea if it's oversold, the benefits exaggerated etc. I don't know much about the commercial side of surfing as I'm not interested in surf magazines or wearing surf clothing or accessories etc. I surf simply because it's great fun. I love the beach, love the scenery, the beautiful sunsets and sunrises, beautiful glassy waves breaking, crystal clear waters etc. It's that simple for me; I surf because it makes me feel good.
Thanks for that Welly.
Now I probably won't sleep tonight;)
Surfing has many more dimensions than most sports - pure fun, exploration, discovery, confronting fear, beauty, etc. It also has huge extremes between the peak experience and the poorer surf. Grovelling in 2ft closeouts is about as much fun as doing the washing up. But a 5ft righthand point break with a few friends is something very special. The peak experience is not oversold so much as the day to day surf experience for those who live in crowded locations or who rarely see really good waves.
That's the truth.....Loved the article! Keep it up Blindboy.
Its not that surfing is particularly special, otherwise everybody would be surfing every day. Its our reaction to it. Some people fall in love with surfing, and persevere with learning what for most of us is a difficult sport to truely master while others give up and find something else that gives them that special feeling.
I play cricket, and it, too has many dimensions including one that surfing doesn't - that social aspect, and the feeling of working hard and winning a comp is all the better with your teammates.(unless that teammate is Watson and you are Michael Clarke)
Having said that, you don't have the freedom in cricket that surfing does (regulated time,duration, place, equipment and many many rules). I love that you can wake early one morning and have a cracking surf without anyone else, no rules, no timelines, no cares or responsibilities.
I find it interesting that surfing is shown as this peak experience, but I still feel the stereotypical surfer is not recognised as a fit and skilled athlete.
tbass, your description of the surf experience has me mentally nodding and smiling - your pure joy is there to see, thank you - I'll carry that image with me all day.
I reckon surfing is cool but not in an I am better than you way, just cool fun. I live in Melbourne for work reasons and am lucky enough to have a beach house on the Mornington Peninsula. Nothing better than getting down the Nepean State park and walking through the bush often with my son to spot the surf every moment I can. That is cool and gets rid of the city stress, empties the sinuses, and helps keeping me fit. That experience can never be oversold although it isn't for everyone, but then again they can play golf.
So how were we complicit in this? What actually happened? Buying big brand name steamers for example? I don't get the bit about how we accepted the hyperbole...for example: what do ya do when ya ex-misses used to tell people I was getting up at 3am to drive for an hour, then paddle in the dark across the "sharky" seaway? That kinda talk exacerbates the romantic outsider image, but what can ya do?