The Ugly Face Of North Shore Surfing…: TWC recently posted an item (click and scroll down to Tuesday’s posts) about a gang of vigilantes enforcing surfing etiquette with their fists at Pipeline on Oahu’s North Shore. The surfing establishment took an ambivalent attitude about this ugly practice, rationalizing the violence with the argument that it was necessary for the greater good: to keep Pipeline surfing safe. Well, now there are some videos of this goonery in action. They document the savage beatdown of a guy who apparently breaks the “rules” during a surfing competition, and then tries to defy the enforcers. This long version puts the confrontation in context, listing the victim’s etiquette infractions. And this shorter version just shows the assault and battery. I don’t know enough about surfing to know how egregious the victim’s infractions are. But I do know enough to know that no matter how punkish his behavior these videos depict a crime. Plain and simple. And I defy any surfer, or member of the surfing media, to watch this beatdown and defend it. Is this really the image they want surfing to have? It made me sick…



“What? You want me to police the beaches?

Update: Here’s a response from my surfing buddy Wyatt. I still don’t agree that violence is justified (think of the riot the outdoor world would become if bikers, climbers, paddlers, sailors, and divers also responded to novices crowding the best spots with their fists…). But it’s interesting to get the surfer perspective:

“Settle down! Listen, you gotta understand what’s happened to surfing and surfing culture. It has been inundated by popular culture, especially Hawaiian and Australian surfing. It used to be that someone that was interested in trying to surf learned through the watch and try method. No one got or gave lessons, that would be for Barneys and kooks. As a greme (beginner) you got yourself a board and went off somewhere alone and struggled until you got it to the extent you could venture into a lineup where the waves were better. You wouldn’t go to the BEST spot but to a spot a little better than where you were before. Eventually you would work your way through the pecking order of spots and would then be allowed to hang with the big boys. Attrition thinned out the wannabees and every now and then some kook would show up at a premiere break without the necessary skills or local knowledge and often they would not show the proper respect and get their ass kicked. As a kid I often got my ass kicked but not at the beach and I always showed respect to the top of the pecking order because they would give hints (under their breath, where no one was around) to improve my surfing. Now every wannabee in the world, from Kansas to DC wants to surf and the real CREW is culturally assaulted by these people, who don’t have the interest or desire to treat surfing and real surfers with the respect they deserve—and have earned. Bottom line this guy from who knows where, goes to one of the WORLD’s best breaks, during a contest, and when asked to do the right thing and leave, refuses!….Hell yeah, that’s justification for an ass kicking. He didn’t get it that bad either. It is all about respect for the old ways…”

“He didn’t get it that bad either.” I love it…