Surfing Waves

everyone on here always says "respect the locals" and also other things about the "line up" i never understood. im a regular at 2 places and occasionally go to a bunch of others and look for new ones. i see familiar faces at the 2 i go to a lot, but it seems pretty random to me. a few people notice and say hey to each other. otherwise, everyones anonymous. people surf different breaks at different times and theres so many people, what really is a local, when aside from knowing 2 or 3 out of 30 at one break, everyone else is anonymous??? when i surf a place for the first time, my relationship with the crowd is exactly the same as it is at my regular spots.

and every place ive been to ive never noticed a line up. its always either crowded and confused, or go where you want because theres enough for everyone. i have never once been in a line up. not on the north shore or south shore or anywhere.

i read that again and i suppose there is no line up here because most breaks since they are reef breaks break all over the place and it's just pure luck to be in the right place.

A local maeans just that LOCAL But i get your point remember this is still techniqually summer so theres a lot of movement of tourists etc. At my local spot i know about 40% of the people there by face although we never speak we mutaully undertsand we are all locals and respect is shown.

When i used to body board i had celebrity status just jking but every one knew me because i would be there everyday without fail, People tend to notice you after a while i suppose having dreads down past your shoulders and a now thick beard helps to make you stand out

where i surf youve got the local crew which would be terry, andy, arron sean, sean beaver, jersy mike, garry, the aussi life guard ( iv probably mised out a few), then youve got me, mike tim, and some other jr's, we are probably gunu be in the local crew in a few years because were freinds of sean n sean beaver who own sorted so the local crew look out for us if we get hassely cas wer jr's, then youve got other small groups of regular surfers and then youve just got people who live here and hardely surf, but dont bother interacting. then youve got non locals.

there are so many people that surf the breacks around here you only think of the locals as your self and the local crew, its a very confusing world in the south of england

when i surf a place for the first time, my relationship with the crowd is exactly the same as it is at my regular spots

Yep, agreed. So as to the question, "what is a local?" - who gives a xxxxx!

as long as you dont go to a breack thinking your better than them all

i would consider myself a local at a couple of breaks here on gower, but theres probably plenty of other people who consider themselves locals who dont know me and i dont know them. On a busy day at langland theres so many people in the water it would be impossible to know all of them but there are certain people that i see there maybe 80 or 90% of the time i go there no matter what time of day all year round. Those are the people i consider locals.

What used to make me laugh where the guys who would give the full on hardcore "locals only" stares, then get in their cars and drive home while i walked back to my house 100yds away

The main aggro here is between the locals and the students, locals being local people who surf there in groups, and the students being visiting students who come down in groups and act like they own the place. Was a lot of aggro a few years ago but it seemes to have died down a bit, saying that i just steer clear of langland when it gets really busy (summer weekends).

Ye the locals do hate students. Ive only been to Langland once or twice, just haven't bothered really because I heard about car breakings and wax on your car by the locals there...etc
When ive gone ive had no problems , but cant really be bothered to risk it when theres other reef breaks on the gower that work better.

i was down in braunton once, and there was a car and on the windsheeld in had "locals only so f off", wirten in wax, north devon is noramly quite acepting to non locals because its a popular beach destination.

Local, n. -
i) an inhabitant of a particular area or neighborhood. ii) Brit., informal, a pub convenient to a person's home. iii) a local train or bus service. iv) Arrogant surfer who is under the impression he or she has more right to the ocean than someone who, by chance, lives further afield.

I believe you'll find that this is lo cal.



KS

Damn funny KS

Over in N Wales a local would be someone wearing a mayor-esk type chain and shouting "My Wave" everytime he paddles towards the shore!

this is a local forum for local people, we will have no trouble here

I'm pretty easy when it comes to randoms turning up at the break in north wales. in fact anywher I surf reguly I'll give new people 3 strikes...

Past that if they don't show respect for other water users they will get back exactly what they've dished out.

The only problem I do have and this also goes with the whole secret spots thing... some places are secret or have a locals only vibe to them for a reason and thats usally cause its a f00king dangerious break and if everyone and their dog starts turning up its gets dangerious for everyone else. Also alot of people turn up to dangerious breaks with no ideal abotu their own ability and are going to get hurt or get swpet off out to sea if they don't know how the place works....

I'll always be happy to live and let live if they adhear to the genreal surf ettique and more than happy to give a little advice to someone who puts the effort in in the first place. I think thats fair.... :roll:

sometimes its not non locals who act like priks, i was down saunton and i saw a boscombe local who i new , and there was this kid on a red longboard who is the son of a local i know, and he was acting like a prik, he droped in on me and the other boscombe local twice, he wasnt wearing a leash and there was loads of people in the water, he snaked me loads and he just droped in on everyone and didnt try to aviod people who were paddeling liek mad, i swear he tryed to hit me, so i got a wave, then he snaked and got it behind me and he started yelling at me to hurry up because i was riding the wave up and down not cruising.

i kicked out of the wave and me and the other boascombe local sat right at the peak bloking the kid, sevrs him right if you ask me, its not his water.

why block him just adds to more agro then, just move to a diffrent peak and let him get on with it

if you have to ask what is a local then your not a local

also i think at main beaches around here you cant really call your self a local and expect everyone to give you waves, the whole pecking order thing went out the window along time ago with the whole surf boom. so long as you dont drop in, snake and take all the best waves i dont see there being a problem with localism at any break in the UK

i guess hawaii is much diffrent than over here though

PapaWoolacombe wrote:The only problem I do have and this also goes with the whole secret spots thing... some places are secret or have a locals only vibe to them for a reason and thats usally cause its a f00king dangerious break and if everyone and their dog starts turning up its gets dangerious for everyone else. Also alot of people turn up to dangerious breaks with no ideal abotu their own ability and are going to get hurt or get swpet off out to sea if they don't know how the place works....

I'll second that, the localism at langland gets to some people but it does do a worthwhile job. Its not a safe beach for beginners with sharp rocks and strong rips when its working. The talk of heavy localism keeps learners away, there is another beach less than half a mile away (caswell) which is known as a beginners break so they stay there where its safer. As a result you can expect aggro at langland if you act like a kook, but at the same time you can surf caswell without any aggro, but expect to have to dodge a few learners on the way in.

Phil wrote:also i think at main beaches around here you cant really call your self a local and expect everyone to give you waves, the whole pecking order thing went out the window along time ago with the whole surf boom. so long as you dont drop in, snake and take all the best waves i dont see there being a problem with localism at any break in the UK

when im down saunton, i normaly stick to the outside of that main group near the rocks, i dont want cause an acident, noramly i give locals alot of respect, this kid just thort he wond the place becuase he was a local. i recon in about 10 years localism will stop, thers no point in it anyway, if everyone learns the rules.