Experience and guys who rip

[bgdkmetzger2003]

you cant take jabs at the surf companies i mean most of them were just surfers at the start, they built up a company to make money so they can surf all day at the best breaks - What a bloody great idea.

Is it their fault that surfing happens to be pretty cool and wannabies suddenly want to look like a surfer I recon most surf companies profits are made from wannabies who dont surf

anyway surfing is not really that commercialised. I dont see nike or reebok wetsuits around

You gotta thank girls like my ex that get a 500 dollar custom becker and decide to go out in waste deep water and catch the white wash. Hey, its good because I got to use that board, the surf industry made some money, and she was never in the line up. There are probably a ton of people out there like that.

[Surfing-Innovation]

I own about 6 Kelly Slater DVDs

Trust me when I say I'm not having a dig here - but who do you think gets a few quid thrown their way for being on those DVDs?? And you'll find the same Mr Slater putting his name to signature wetsuits too.....

I'm not a HUGE fan of the way surf 'names' are now high street fashion labels (in fact, since certain brands have become so popular, I tend to wear non-surf related clothing - especially on a surf trip) - but getting to your question (in your PM) about what 'commercialism' has brought to the industry (apart from wetsuits) ....... non-glassed fins, every shape and size of board that ISN'T a longboard (with the possible exception of early big guns), leashes, clarke foam (and the subsequent replacements for clarke foam, without which none of us would be surfing at all) - not to mention the DVDs we all watch when we aren't surfing........

My advice?? Don't dwell on it - if people want to have 'all the gear, but no idea', then leave them to it......just enjoy surfing for what you want it to be and leave other people to do what they want to do......

[Otter]

I don't pay much attention to the latest trends. I've ridden a longboard for most of my life, even back in the early '70s when it was totally uncool to longboard. Don't pay much attention to the pro's, they do their thing, I do mine. Just enjoy the stoke, that's where it's at!

[isaluteyou]

I don't pay much attention to the latest trends. I've ridden a longboard for most of my life, even back in the early '70s when it was totally uncool to longboard. Don't pay much attention to the pro's, they do their thing, I do mine. Just enjoy the stoke, that's where it's at!

Why change a good thing whatever keeps the stoke is the way to go

[Hang11]

I don't pay much attention to the latest trends. I've ridden a longboard for most of my life, even back in the early '70s when it was totally uncool to longboard. Don't pay much attention to the pro's, they do their thing, I do mine. Just enjoy the stoke, that's where it's at!

Sums it up perfectly.

[nsidla]

It's good to see alot of you out there see my point and my views here.

And Otter, definite props to you for sticking with the style during a time when (at least from what I've heard) it was blasphemy to not ride a shorter, more experimental board.

Long live the stoke and may it always dictate surfing!

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

Forgive me also for possibly coming off as a dick for I live in a place unlike California, Austrailia, or Hawaii, where surf oftenly appears to be scarce and like half the time we have swell I am unable to get a ride down to the beach :cry: , can't wait to get my license :)

maybe its better that way. the surf here is a nice 3-4 hawaiian scale, and i hardly have time to go out. i went for like 40 min. today after work as it got dark, and it was the first time ive had fun surfing in like 2 months. its been so flat lately. you become really jaded when you are so exposed to something.

[Brisbanebound]

Well I was down at Ulladulla when I was in Oz, surfing some pretty small but perfectly formed waves with 6 mates when a guy wearing a Globe wetsuit turned up. Thought to myself, "hmmm, never seen a Globe wetsuit before, reckon he might be a pro...".
Few waves later I'm thinking "Flesh me, this bloke's the best surfer I've ever seen!!"
Fact is that when you go to the major breaks in a place like Oz you see loads of blokes that rip but its when a pro gets in that you see the difference.
They generate so much speed on the wave and pull off so many moves in quick succession.
These days its not likely that there are many guys out there that rip better than the top pros.
How many wild card entrants have won events on the WCT? And they are normally local to the break and surf it day in day out.
I don't have any issue with the major surf brands as long as they are fairly core, ie they make hardwear of some kind.
The thing that really annoys me is that surfing is used like some kind of bitch by mainstream advertisers in UK and not a single penny is actually given to the sport. Top UK surfers cant get anywhere on the WQS because they dont have the support.
That is what sucks.

[Broosta]

Well I was down at Ulladulla when I was in Oz, surfing some pretty small but perfectly formed waves with 6 mates when a guy wearing a Globe wetsuit turned up. Thought to myself, "hmmm, never seen a Globe wetsuit before, reckon he might be a pro...".
Few waves later I'm thinking "Flesh me, this bloke's the best surfer I've ever seen!!"
Fact is that when you go to the major breaks in a place like Oz you see loads of blokes that rip but its when a pro gets in that you see the difference.
They generate so much speed on the wave and pull off so many moves in quick succession.
These days its not likely that there are many guys out there that rip better than the top pros.
How many wild card entrants have won events on the WCT? And they are normally local to the break and surf it day in day out.
I don't have any issue with the major surf brands as long as they are fairly core, ie they make hardwear of some kind.
The thing that really annoys me is that surfing is used like some kind of bitch by mainstream advertisers in UK and not a single penny is actually given to the sport. Top UK surfers cant get anywhere on the WQS because they dont have the support.
That is what sucks.

Yep pretty much agree, but I would add that often it looks like everybody else in the water rips way better than you but the reality is sometimes that you are only noticing each surfer's best moves and they might only do the one, so the collective spectacle is very impressive but the truth is each bloke only doing one good move then surfing averagely for the rest of the time.

[surferdude_scarborough]

agreed i get a real inferiority complex out in te water. sometimes messes my surf up. especially at breaks i dont surf often.