Getting over being a kook

[IB_Surfer]

I'm a good vibe kind of guy when I'm surfing. I hoot on every good wave anyone takes and always smile and congratulate anyone in a barrel. However, one thing that drives me crazy, and it's weird cause I have loads of patience, is when beginners try to break out with lingo that is lame and a tell-tale that you are a kook. Nothing against kooks, we all start as one, but here is what to say and not to say as you get better at surfing:

1) Don't talk about board volume: only boards on CNC machines have volume determinations, so in essence you bout a mass produce board.
Most surfers talk about 3 basic dimension, thickness,, width, length

2) Always know the tides, someone always asks

3) If a swell is coming only tell your friend, talking about one in the lineup means you are helping to bring a mob on a good day

4) Like #1, know your board dim's, it comes up in conversation

5) When talking about catching waves don't refffer to them as green waves, that's for little kids and begginers.

6) Never complain about your ability in the lineup and don't get upset if you miss on. We can tell you suck, but you might be having a bad day, so leave it up to the rest of us to either think you are a kook or a good surfer on a bad day. On the contrary, it's funny to joke when you wipe out

7) If you are surfing it's a good day, regardless of conditions

Get you know your surf spots, what tides it likes, what swell direction, form, etc. It will come up on conversation.

Others can chime in...

[oldmansurfer]

That is great dialog. I can just see how all that plays out in the water. For myself I rarely talk to others mostly because I am only out for 30 minutes at a shot and I pretty much look for breaks with less people because I am only out for 30 minutes and can't spend that time waiting my turn. I never discuss boards or politics or anything but might make mention of how fun the waves are or how the waves were yesterday or last week or where the big surf is. I am not a complainer but I don't care if someone else is. Surfing is my escape, I don't let negative stuff into my mind but if someone is negative I ignore them. So feel free to complain away but don't count on me listening to you. I don't care how well someone else can surf. I know all the regular surfers where I surf because I am the most regular one of them all and I grew up here so if I don't know them personaly I often know their parents or grandparents If I see them get a good wave that's a bonus but generally I am too busy trying to get waves myself to evaluate the other surfers.

[Big H]

#6 is a golf course favorite.....everyone is "better" than they are at that particular moment....

[oldmansurfer]

I think once in a while I wipeout on takeoff or somewhere else and get back out quickly and see someone who looks like they are wondering what happened to me so I will tell them whatever happened. I think other surfers are more concerned about what I do than I am about what they do...maybe because I am an old man and they don't want a dead corpse floating around the lineup

[waikikikichan]

In Japan, I always try to "kook out" on my first wave. If you surf good, everyone views you as a threat. Totally opposite of Hawaii, where if you fall off on your first wave, you might as well leave the break. Surfing too good, means you "stand out", and Japan has a group mentality. "The nail that sticks out, gets hammered down".

[Big H]

Yeah....kook out on your first wave here and you'll be fighting for scraps.....interesting about Japan.

[billie_morini]

You guys are too funny! Examples:
"We can tell you suck, ..."
"I kook out on 1st wave in Japan"

By the way, have any of you read the book, [url]Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave[/url] by Peter Heller? It's pretty funny, too. I met Peter and he shared stories additional to those in the book.

[drowningbitbybit]

1) Don't talk about board volume: only boards on CNC machines have volume determinations, so in essence you bout a mass produce board.
Most surfers talk about 3 basic dimension, thickness,, width, length

I think we're going to be really showing our age with this one very soon. Like it or not, the next generation of surfers will talk volume in the same way we talk length/width/thickness.

[waikikikichan]

Yeah, before finding a girl, you were concerned with the Bust,Waist and Hips dimensions. Now the new generation is probably using a Match making volume calculator. Factors in future earning potential, cheating probability, blah, blah. Before it was easy, "Wow, she's hot !"

Come to think of it we do the same with our boards, we think it's good. we buy, we ride it, we don't like it, we get rid of it and move on to the next one. Maybe we can learn from the new generation. NOT !!

[oldmansurfer]

I don't do crowded lineups so none of this matters to me but it is very interesting. Japanese have different values, interesting how it all plays out in the surf. What bothers other surfers is more interesting than the idea that someone might want to "pretend" to not be a noob. Me I could care less what others think of my surfing. I am not surfing for their enjoyment and I don't need their permission to have fun. I think I will buy that book Kook.... sometime in the future. Well I am an old man who keeps trying to learn more about surfing. If I did with my girlfriends/wives/significant others as I do with my surfboards I would be arrested for bigamy .

[oldenglish]

My custom boards from a semi local shaper have volume on them. Foil changes the character of boards a whole lot. But other than that I aggree whole heartedly with your post. Thumbs up!