Etiquette

[embo1976]

What's your view on the following scenario:

It's a beautiful day. The sun in shining, the waves are chest high and perfect. The break is busy.

Surfer A is on the inside, paddling out.

Surfer B is on the outside. He takes a set wave and tucks into the pocket.

Down the line, surfer B sees that surfer A is in the way. He bails the wave, holding on to his board as he goes. After the wave goes through, he jumps back on, turns around and starts paddling back out.

There was no collision.

Surfer A unleashes a torrent of verbal abuse on surfer B.

In this scenario, who's got it wrong?

[jaffa1949]

Surfer A. Simple. He is paddling out onto the main race race track from th pits on a formula one track!
Read was rude and other etiquette points. Surfer B was considerate and avoided a collision.
At some breaks surfer B might not be so considerate.
It is the onus of the surfer paddling out to avoid collision!

[benjl]

This exact same scenario happened to me when I was starting out and I was surfer B- I managed to avoid the guy but he went bizerke! Ruined my day and wished I'd had the knowledge at the time to know that he was in the wrong.

Sadly most people in this mind frame won't listen even though their in the wrong. I'm so sick of hearing and seeing people like this, I almost wish there was like 'drivers lisence' of surfing about etiquette etc

[oldmansurfer]

At many breaks surfer A continues on the wave and tries to avoid hitting surfer B. This however presuposes that surfer A is good enough to avoid hitting surfer B he may then cut out but it wastes the wave...at least till another surfer takes off. If you watched that video at Biaritz even the surfers who weren't so good stayed on the wave so the rules change with the beach but pretty much one of the most important rules is to stay out of the way of surfers who are already on a wave.

[oldmansurfer]

Here is a rundown of surf etiquette by surfer mag
http://www.surfermag.com/features/surf-etiquette/#z6Keuhs65EsZuFoA.97

[embo1976]

Thanks for the feedback.

I was really perplexed by the incident because it happened to me (I was surfer B) at my local break. I've surfed for 15 years on 5 continents and no one has ever been so rude and aggressive. I spoke to the guy in the car park afterwards and got the same red-faced explosion. I thought that maybe - after all this time - I'd got the rules wrong.

Several things compounded the situation:
1. He was possibly scared that I'd surf into him, or bail the wave and let go of my board. People don't react well when they're scared.
2. In the car park, he was with his (younger) friends and so had his pride to work with
3. The guy was at least 10 years older than me and was showing a sense of entitlement, you know, the typical 'this break is more mine than yours'.

Overall, the thing that surprised me the most was how intolerant and aggressive he was when he was out having fun on a working day with his friends in the sunshine. People are strange which is why the world is the way it is.

[Big H]

People are #%€£¥£%#<+ if you give them the room to be sometimes.....

I wonder how it would have played out if you had been more aggressive yourself...your politeness could have been mistaken for admission of guilt...a sprinkling of self righteous indignation, a de facto acknowledgement of the incident and an expression of your opinion of who was right and wrong....if even in a single word or stink eye might have put the situation to bed....I wasn't there so I don't know but in my personal experience with $&%#head strangers is that being polite and quiet usually invites them in the door.

Right and wrong can be a matter of perception and in public situations playing to the audience, those onlookers not involved, is usually enough to swing the situation in your favor via being a little loud and aggressive, regardless of the foundations of right or wrong.

Simply put, if you get mad right away, you've been wronged. The converse is true as well and getting mad after the other party usually looks like an embarrassed compensation.

Sometimes life stinks but squeaky wheels get the grease.

[Big H]

An addendum....I have a bridge of false teeth and 14 total facial stitches directly attributed to asserting myself....do so at your own risk....it can be a gamble and in gambling sometimes you lose.

[Big H]

I was surfer a and b on different days last week. I handed the guy for not running me down and apologized for making him bail and lose his wave. We paddled back out together and I made sure he got first dibs on the next two sets. The other time I write about in another thread and I didn't say a word after bailing as the other party looked very sheepish about the whole thing....shot a little stink eye their way anyway though.

[oldmansurfer]

Here is a recent article about why surfers are jerks http://www.surfingmagazine.com/blogs/wave-scarcity/

[Tudeo]

Here is a recent article about why surfers are jerks http://www.surfingmagazine.com/blogs/wave-scarcity/

Great article OMS, thanks! I agree with the writer in thinking scarcity plays an important role in bad behavior. But some people give in to this negative impulse easier then others.

That reminded me on this article about writer/surfer Aaron James and his book Assholes. If I remember correct I think OMS originally posted that link here also.
http://www.surfermag.com/features/surfers-are-assholes/#kOSVPDukv1YCQI0m.97