Etiquette....Here's a gray area to rule on....feedback?

[jaffa1949]

And kooks don't realise they are a danger to everyone else

[Big H]

Was small today and the wind shaped the waves really well....awesome small wave day and there were multiple peaks working all up and down the beach spilling peeling waist to head high waves that were beautifully shaped over and over......consequently it was the busiest day in the water is seen for a long time, all the schools seem d to have students for their full come mementos of boards and is was CRAZY in the water. Saw 8 take off on one wave....there was a good vibe though and everyone seemed to "get" that 4pm on a day with waves like that 1000 foamies a would be in the water. I caught something ridiculous like 25 waves.....it was an all you could surf buffet....supposed to be like this more or less for a few days....good times!

[Big H]

So here's a shareable etiquette event....no need for a ruling, the offender was clearly wrong, just want to share....

So I catch a wave the other day....really crowded, but I get on and have a good ride and manage to connect to the inside making the section that most don't and I hadn't that day until that wave....there were several learners with foamies on the inside standing next to their boards then jumping on to try and catch waves.....I'm coming down the line and one of these learners is watching me bear down on him....we had a "moment" making eye contact so I know that he not only saw me but processed that I was on line to run him down (which I was not going to do but how was he to know)....so I turn down to the flats / straight to the beach so that I can go around him as he is exactly in the line of the breaking wave I am riding with a big foamie blocking the way.....I start to round him on the low side and he inexplicably jumps on his board and launches himself to the beach, ignoring the fact that I am directly in front of him (maybe explicably....perhaps he thought that he was getting out of my way as I turned to go around him not knowing I was going to turn to go around him.....this is called benefit of the doubt)....he takes me out at the knees like a linebacker, have a good bruise from that and comes right across the middle of my board.....wipeout and tumble, I feel a violent tug and a wiggle on my leash....I surface to see the guy thrashing around with my leash wrapped around his neck.....he really managed to garrot himself and I quickly did what I could do to help free him but he'd done himself pretty good....anyway, he finally gets the leash off and squares up to me and I ask him in a way too loud voice "are you ok?!? You need to be more careful!!!" Whatever ideas he had seemed to evaporate and that was that and I paddled back out and he left the water. Another day at the zoo.

[oldenglish]

Woah sounds like home

[waikikikichan]

Same situation happened to me in Waikiki. But the guy who landed on me yelled " WTF you cut me off for ! I was going straight !!" I just couldn't respond back out of the shock. Plus it's worthless to try to reason with kooks anyways.

[Big H]

" WTF you cut me off for ! I was going straight !!"

...the bruise was elevated to a leg injury when I woke up in the morning yesterday....was enough to keep me out of the water....better today, tide is right for another favourite spot when I have time to surf today so I'll be giving the Krazy Kuta break a rest....

[BoMan]

My favorite break is very crowded when the waves are firing and the local surf shop offered safety advice I wanted to share and get feedback on.

1) Always study the lineup before you paddle out. If the conditions are beyond your abilities, go somewhere else or surf another day.

2) Whenever possible, paddle around the lineup, not through it.

3) Beginners/novices should stay off-to-the-side of the crowd, observe, and only attempt to catch waves that pass through unridden.

4) If a collision between a paddler and a rider looks imminent, paddlers should “keep their line” and let the rider be the one to take evasive action.

5) Try your best not to be a wave hog – wait your turn.

6) Never ditch (abandon) your board.

7) Unless previously agreed to, it’s one surfer per wave, or two surfers per two-way peak.

In general, first surfer up, closest to the curl, has the right of way.

9) If you inadvertently drop-in on someone, immediately and safely exit the wave, then apologize.

10) If you lose your board, you are responsible for it. This includes any surfboard damage or injury that may result.

11) Don’t be an ASS. Apologize if you drop-in on someone. Explain firmly yet kindly when an unknowing novice breaches etiquette. Do your best to share. Help other surfers in trouble.

12) Always pick up your trash.

[Big H]

I posted this in a thread that was closed due to it devolving into name calling and personal attacks.....


It's just crowded....

I surfed Kuta today with the usual group on the main peak....we were all blocking for each other and keeping the tourists with no respect off the main peak and down the breach....two drop in free hours....your wave is your wave...localism with no confrontation....bliss.


Saw the below description in magicseaweed yesterday when I was reading the Spot Guide for Kuta Beach; it had been changed/amended/added to ; the second bit being the new part has been added in the last 6 months (that's about how long ago I looked at it last).....made me smile and remember that previous conversation,,,,,,

KUTA BEACH SPOT GUIDE
Famous, fine-grained beach that has been bringing surfing to the masses since the 1930’s. Visually, the tropical idyll has been buried beneath concrete, but it still maintains a certain aura that attracts surfers of all abilities to what can be super-fast tunnels or dribbly, knee-high corners. On any given day, there may be a dozen yellow rash vests, proning out their first ever waves while alongside a Balinese local effortlessly punts a 360. The mayhem continues on the beach where endless streams of hawkers offer paintings, jewelry, tattoos, shells, T-shirts, drinks, ice cream, day-trips, transport, beach loungers, umbrellas and board hire, just to name a few! Usually better from mid to high, the trades are more offshore here, but water quality is very dubious after rain.

The Kuta-Legian tourist strip holds quality beach breaks which are well attended, particularly by the local surfing community who demand respect. It’s a long stretch of beach so hassles can always be avoided by choosing another peak. The chaos of the Kuta traffic, souvenir vendors, piles of rubbish and dubious water quality are the downsides of surfing this area.

[Big H]

While I'm thinking about it, another story....

I'm sitting on the peak of a section of a wave with one other guy.....I had just gotten out about 3 min before the set that everyone in that section had taken save for the lone guy left and me who had just gotten out and didn't presume to paddle for the first set that arrived as a new arrival......one guy paddles up slowly, eyeing the two of us who are both on bigger boards than he is, sits inside of us but then thinks better and paddles deeper into the peak so that he's just inside me, about 2 yards deeper, the whole time he looks me in the eye while moving deeper, looking for a reaction I guess.....hahahaha I think to myself, greedy ba#$@%rd doesn't want to share......anyway, jockeying for position is normal as is what followed.....this guy paddles for the first set wave....I let it go in part because I rarely take first set waves and three other people also went for it, two of them catching and forcing each other down in the end as neither yielded.....that guy missed the wave.....he paddled for the next wave which was smaller and by his position was woefully outside of the possibility of catching but he gunned for it anyway.....missed again and paddled back as the next wave came....I am 10 yards further out and start to paddle for the wave....he gets pie eyed and wheels again in front of me and just a shade deeper towards the peak....the wave is fat and I was outside but I'm giving my best when he shouts out right in my ear as I pull up next to him and start to fade him.....I break paddle and we both miss the wave, he was really right in my ear....he is angry and gets up in my face saying "didn't you see me!?!?" I laugh at him and told him I saw him, just like I saw him paddle for every wave of the set and miss all of them, and who the f$%#% told him it was cool to keep trying for every single wave like no one else was out there!?! He starts to squabble back, but there is a wave coming and the guy who had passed on the entire previous set was finally going for a wave....his paddle was deeper in the wave than our little argument; it was his turn for sure.....anyhow, this d$#%@# sees the wave, sees the guy in full paddle and stops arguing with me and tries to get THAT wave as well.....ends up blocking the path of the guy who was on the verge of getting in, and they both miss the wave......I'm on the guy now and I'm in full voice, yelling at him like it's Hells Kitchen.....he is just quiet and paddles off to the next peak where I watch him sit inside of everyone, paddle for every wave and make one a set maybe and generally terrorising that section, three definite drop ins and two more where the priority surfer fell on takeoff which I would guess was due to looking at the jerk dropping in AGAIN....I shouted at him a couple of more times but he didn't come close again......

Finally beginning my surf, t took a wave off the next set and a few Indonesians came and joined me along with some longtime locals I'd seen around and we shared that peak for the next hour in serene equanimity and order....



Saw that guy again yesterday.....he eyeballed me as he paddled past where I was surfing and kept on to the next peak.....

Hahahahaha.....arrogant tourist bas#$%rd!

[Tudeo]

The Kuta-Legian tourist strip holds quality beach breaks which are well attended, particularly by the local surfing community who demand respect.

Like I said before, it's the wannabe locals that are most dangerous, as u show so nicely in stories of ur frequent collisions. I'm sure u remember that.. But let me help u, it was from that moment u started ur unfounded name calling

The other day I had a talk with a German surfer-tourist, he told me how he was blocked and intimidated by a local (a true local) surfing Kuta Beach. When he asked the guy "why can't I paddle for that wave I was in priority (inside) position for?", the guy looked at him angrily and said "u turis" (you're a tourist).

Now the interesting thing of Balinese tourism is that most tourists are attracted to the island by the 'good karma atmosphere', but unfortunately more and more 'bad karma' stories, not only in surfing, are seeing the light.

It worries me what this on the middle long term can do for this so tourism dependent island.