Getting at etiquette.

Don’t name spots. A surfer law. One of those core unwritten guidelines that exists in any group, club or society that becomes part of the definition of who you are as a member. You know and live by it and that’s what makes you worthy of calling yourself a biker or an artist or a surfer. We’re not talking fraternity here. Surfers are not frat boys, certainly not in Ireland. Some surfing cultures have clubs at their core, progressive, cool clubs, but Ireland has largely remained as insular as it’s geography in that regard. Because of this the average Irish surfer could, for our purposes, be described as a lone wolf. It could follow that none of us would give two flying rats assholes about the rules. Not so.

It was a Facebook post by a surfing publication that got me thinking about naming spots. The magazine invited people to enter a competition by posting street view photos from Google Maps of surfing spots. Interesting idea. Born largely from that ingrained ethos to keep spots secret, every surfer loves to see shots of good waves, especially if they’re seeing spots that they didn’t know about before. We’ll study the photo, analyse for clues to the location from the topography of the land, weather, orientation of the shot, flora and fauna – anything that might give it away. The nature of Facebook meant that links to the street view of a wave, not only naming the spot but providing a map to it too, would have to be posted. Some believe that a named spot would be destroyed by plagues of people who had previously been unaware of that wave. I noticed that although the mag had partially named their example spot (it was a well known break so no foul) they hadn’t included anything in their photo that would give anyone directions to the spot. It’s fair to say that anyone who already knew the name of the magazines spot, already knew the wave was there. Chances are the act of the mag posting the picture wasn’t going to be the deciding factor in that person suddenly jumping off the couch and grabbing their board. The posting of links though, different kettle of fish. At the very least it would take the fun out of trying to figure out where a spot was.

This secrecy about spots has always provided me with a conflict of interests. Sure everyone wants to surf alone or with a small select group of friends but life is all about people. If we meet new people who share some common thread we can take inspiration not only from this new friends surfing but also from the waves they honed their style on. I’ve no club I want to join for that inspiration so I take it a different way. Yes my new friend will probably tell their friends about the spot. Hopefully that just means yet another friend and chances are that friend is going to share the same surfing values. There’s another element to finding new and exciting places to surf.

As we progress as a surfers so the waves we want to ride change. As kooks we start out riding white water like constipated Sumo wrestlers with big wide poopy stances swinging more booty then the average hood rat in an Outkast video. Progression from that point on goes hand in hand with the waves we select. Eventually we find ourselves chasing new kinds of waves. Faster, thicker, bigger, more hollow, slower, steeper, smaller and longer. Then comes the surfari. The longing to find new and unmolested spots pushes us to mount up and head out on a journey of exploration. People have traipsed over fields and through valleys, negotiated cliffs and rips, braved military zones, private property and polluted areas and dodged bulls and bullets in the name of new waves. The excitement of finding a new spot is unbeatable. The old saying is right on the money; nothing good comes easy. Putting in the effort to sacrifice a good swell at your local spot to scout some potential new ones makes the stoke of finding something new all the greater. Maybe, and most likely these days it isn’t even a new spot, but it’s little known and little surfed enough to be new to you.

The spot I had chosen for Facebook was a well enough known one. Did it matter if I posted a snap and would coach loads of people suddenly begin to arrive. Would I be consigning the spot to overcrowding for ever more? No fucking way. Still, I decided not to post it.

Every spot has a terminal occupancy, a point after which you’re just not going to see a greater number of people surfing there at any one time. There are many factors that contribute and every spot has a different combination of; location, ease of access, type and technicality of the wave, climate, hazards, water temperature, the frequency and consistency of the spot, neighbouring spots or lack thereof and even the ability and attitude of the core group who would more often than not be encountered at that break. That is not to suggest that the ‘locals’ might be territorial but that some people are sticklers for line up etiquette and aggressively so. Others are happy to live and let live, fostering the attitude that there are plenty of waves to go round. Any one of these things can be enough to dissuade a surfer from paddling out. Every wave has a different clientele and there’s a wave for everyone.

The point is people defend and protect spots for the wrong reasons. Keep your spot secret, not so that you can rest easier in the hope that it won’t get any more crowded, it probably won’t anyway. Not so that you can have your perfect surf EVERY time, life would be boring if everything was handed to us. Keep the secret so that the next surfer that comes upon it can have that feeling of mystery and exploration, the sense of discovery when they find it for themselves and hence be more appreciative of it. Keep your spot to yourself so that the newbies to come can experience that same growth you got from your own path as a surfer. It’s idealistic and borderline hippy in it’s karmic essence but it’s better than trying to convince yourself that you own a spot and no one else is allowed near it. In essence; keep the secret to spread the stoke.