"I won’t teach her about perfection, I’ll teach her about loving nature and the ocean. About loving your family and friends and being at peace with yourself." Photo: Haro
There is an enormous change happening in the world right now. Demonstrations about tearing down dictatorships are happening here in the Middle East, New Yorkers are occupying Wall Street, and people around the world are shouting loudly that they are tired of the rich stepping on other people in order to get what they want. No more, they cry, and it’s getting bigger and bigger.
Now, what does this have to do with surfing? Well, everything.
Years ago, the big surf companies, along with the ASP discovered that the formula to make money for themselves was aggressiveness, competitiveness, unrealistic, perfect waves, unrealistic, perfect surfers, unrealistic perfect faces and bodies, and unrealistic lifestyles. It looks like they are going to stick with this marketing strategy, but it’s not surfing, not even close. To sell this illusion is wrong and to buy it is even worse.
All surfers (including professionals), know that surfing is more about not surfing in dream waves with flawless style and a smiling bikini girl on the beach. The epic moments are rare and demand very hard work with a lot of sacrifices. If you believe the advertisements, all you have to do is buy a shirt it and a world of sunny, perfect waves will come with it, inside the bag.
My disenchantment started when Andy irons died and I realized that even the greatest surfers will be chewed up and spit out by the Surf Industrial Complex if they don’t feed the machine.
The ASP and the big surf companies seems like a cartel or a dictatorship to me. If you do not surf small waves, you’re out, just like all the incredible big wave riders out there. If you do aerials in the 80’s 90’s, like Christian Fletcher and Matt Archbold, you’re out. If you don’t do 360 aerials in 2011, like Mick Fanning, CJ Hobgood, or Joel Parkinson, you’re out. If you’re scary, like Sunny Garcia, Bobby Martinez, Bruce Irons, or Koby Abberton, you’re out.
As for the rest of us, the dedicated amateurs who buy all the clothes and boards and DVDs, we are not worth mentioning. It’s as if we believe that we do not have anything interesting to tell, that we do not have stories that can interest other surfers.
Surfing can be approached as both sport and art, but today I only see the sport. I think that’s going to change. I hope so. I want to see more representation of the artistic, the different, the crazy, the emotional… we are all part of this life, part of the water, and part of the unique combination of both.
We can change things. Surfers can change things. We are part of the 99%, belting out the awakening cries that are coming from every corner of the world. I know it seems too big for us, but the world must change, so it is our responsibility to change it for the better.
In the future I hope to teach my daughter about this amazing thing that is called surfing. I won’t teach her about perfection, I’ll teach her about loving nature and the ocean. About loving your family and friends, and being at peace with yourself.
