Surfing Waves

allright, i have a question. in the movie "endless summer II", bruce brown says when wingnut and pat surf in australia, that ozzie surfers would be 1 many, 2 very good and 3 aggressive surfers. i wanted to ask both american surfers that have surfed oz as well as ozzies that have surfed california, what they think of this statement ?

true or false ?

thanks a mil

MB

I think their culture revolves more around surfing and other watersports. Aren't most major Australian cities around the coast as well?

yeah most ozzies live by the sea and in big cities.

Agressiveness is a personal trait and is independent of something arbitary like where you are born.

You also got to put in perspective of Endless Summer II that the riders and the director are American touring in Oz. Just like when a tourist visits your break you are always going to seem aggressive to them unless you play teacher or tour guide to them. I think all breaks have a little localism and ARGO style surf to compete with wave and wave lineup. It comes with surfing and just being a local I guess...

I've read before that Aussies aren't very popular in California much like the Brazilians aren't very popular here in Oz. The Aussie stereotype in Cali was that they are wave hogs and that they don't respect the locals, just like the Brazos here.

Also Australians love their sports and like to be very competitive about it. They love to rub the competition the wrong way, tease them if you like. It's harmless fun but some cultures don't get it. This got them in trouble in Hawaii back in the day. Watch "Busting down the door" to get an idea about it. Oz has a big coastline and I've surfed with all types of guys so you can't really generalise, you get all sorts of people in the water, just like on land.

i reckon it is pretty dependent on the spot, gold coast for instance is super aggressive at places like snapper ect but down in vicco most people are pretty chill even at the good spots.

i guess that really translates in cali for places like blacks ect but ive found when aussies an seppos are on neutral ground like indo the australians are much more aggro and wave hungry. its cool though, dont piss off the locals and just intimidate all the foreigners and you get a bunch more waves. thats what we're there to do anyways.

Ged wrote:Agressiveness is a personal trait and is independent of something arbitary like where you are born.

Couldn’t agree more.

Besides, I would take anything you see or hear in Endless Summer with a grain of salt.

Ged wrote:Agressiveness is a personal trait and is independent of something arbitary like where you are born.

Yes and no.
Aggressiveness in the water breeds further aggressiveness. If you grow up surfing an aggressive beach, you end up being an aggressive surfer (I dont necessarily mean violent - merely 'forthright' about which wave is yours), and if you dont, you simply wont get any waves.
The 'atttitude' is so firmly established at some spots (particularly where surfing has been part of the culture for so many years like in Oz) that it will take more than a few signs explaining the drop-in rule and how good it would be to be nice to each other for a change.

On the flip side, in my experience, aggressiveness goes hand in hand with talent. The same 'evolutionary push' to be a charging surfer pushes the talent too.

I'm so glad that Jetstar won't carry boards to Queenstown, and that the waves in this part of NZ are undiscovered by ozzies. The whole attitude during winter on the mountains frankly sucks, and I'd be gutted to have to deal with it during summer, at what are largely chilled out, mellow, uncrowded breaks.

I struggle to understand the need for all the booyah go get it whatever the cost and give yourself a loud round of applause for doing it attitude.

why go from cold water aus to cold water nz, when you can fly to indo/fiji for not much more... stay for cheaper... not have to deal with new zealanders?

kind of the same reason aussies don't go to tassie for "surf trips"

haha yeah, who in their right mind would every fly from Australia to New Zealand to go surfing?

actually, i find the tourists are more aggressive than us local aussies, they tend to swear more, and get all fired up when someone accidentally dropped in on their waves instead of accepting others' apologies...
not to mention not apologising to us when they do it to us, worse is when they just paddle away after they dinged others' boards...

but the worse one I encounter was one a guy that would not shutup and swear at another tourist surfer for accidental drop in, he went on for more than half an hour...

subasurf wrote:haha yeah, who in their right mind would every fly from Australia to New Zealand to go surfing?

Exactly. You'd have to be nuts to do it.

hehehe. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you guys don't have great surf but yeah....cheaper to fly to Bali

Hang11 wrote:

subasurf wrote:haha yeah, who in their right mind would every fly from Australia to New Zealand to go surfing?

Exactly. You'd have to be nuts to do it.

ah mate we'll be down there one day, heard there are some amazing points around there. ski one day surf the next

look forward to seeing you.

You'll need a heli to get to the points tho

subasurf wrote:haha yeah, who in their right mind would every fly from Australia to New Zealand to go surfing?

I've got a mate who goes down once a year. Swears by it. No crowds and great waves... He can't understand why more Aussies aren't all over it. He's the kind of guy that explores and discovers and he doesn't mind the cold water either.

We had some Kiwis on my last Indo trip. We were usually only 8 people in the water and they were all wide eyed saying it was unnervingly crowded for them!!! Haha try a Sydney beach on a sunny summer Sunday...... 8 people that's bliss!

hahahah I hear ya dude. I've always wanted to get over to NZ, but mainly for the climbing. Into mountaineering in a big way. I've always known they had great surf but didn't realise it was so uncrowded. Might be worth taking my boards with me

Sweet, I'm opening a surf camp

With a hair salon and latte shop.