This spot will remain unnamed. Photo: Tim Bonython//Swell Chasers
I have been threatened, called names I can’t repeat here, and had my card pulled by local surfers. When I first started out as a surf photographer on Instagram, I was informed in the clearest words possible (namely the four-letter variety) that when it comes to posting shots of certain spots, sharing is NOT caring.
This is probably why, when I asked friends the question of whether or not social media contributes to crowded lineups, their collective answers could all be summed up this way: “duh.”
“That’s not even a debate,” says Santa Cruz aerialist and Puerto Escondido charger, Austin Smith-Ford.
West Coast big-wave pioneer Ken “Skindog” Collins agrees. “Totally contributes,” he says. “100 percent.”
But I’m not convinced that it’s so cut and dry.
Long before the ‘Gram, exposure by its media ancestors (surf magazines and movies) was blamed for the “blowing up” of breaks. The revelation of Cape St. Francis in Bruce Brown’s 1966 film The Endless Summer was the first share heard ‘round the world. Over the years, the mags dropped similar bombs; Surfing yanked down Skeleton Bay’s shorts and SURFER pulled the towel off of Maverick’s. In 2015, the video Kelly’s Wave wagged The Surf Ranch in our faces. Viewed by millions on Instagram, it made every surfer in the world vow they would surf it one day.
Even if this did show up on the ‘Gram, would you go there? Photo: Tim Bonython//Swell Chasers
It’s a no-brainer that major media platform releases of new wave discoveries result in tidal waves of try-ers descending on those places. Look at Skeleton Bay and Mavs now. Though I don’t think there’ll be a surf camp at Mason Ho’s new dry-reef-and-cold-water-closeout slab anytime soon. That’s more medieval torture chamber than surf spot.
Upon seeing the world record-breaking bombs of Nazaré for the first time on the Internet, Australian big-wave filmmaker Tim Bonython started spending entire winters in Portugal.
“Before news of that wave spread, Nazaré was dead in winter,” Bonython says. “But with all of the social media exposure; The 100 Foot Wave project and all of that, people flock there every year now.”
But very few surfers are capable of riding the kind of waves Bonython posts via his Swell Chasers Instagram (which has 260K followers) and his Surfing Visions YouTube channel (or even want to). The Right, Shipsterns, Cape Solander? No thanks. The average surfer ain’t crowdin’ up those places because of social media. The majority of everyday surfers aren’t even traveling to the less gnarly, most posted wave destinations like Hawaii, Tahiti, Indo, etc.
Pure beauty. That’s all you get from us. Photo: Tim Bonython//Swell Chasers
The places we surf most days are, sadly, already kaput, finito, overcrowded to the point of caricature. So much so that there’s no point in trying to protect them from a social media sunburn anymore. And instead of Instagram, we have the surf forecast services and human instinct to thank for that.
Or blame the good ol’ Coconut Wireless. No, it’s not a new internet service provider. It’s the Hawaiian expression for word of mouth. You think it’s hard not posting about the morning’s score? Try not even talking about it! The highest at-risk group for potential blow-up is the rarities; the infrequent or hard-to-get-to break, a short-lived sandbar, or an extraordinary swell event. And this is the blabbermouth’s delicacy. Bragging rights are the far-more-likely culprit for crowded days in this category than social media.
So if your bread and butter sessions are typically on the fringe, say somewhere you have to hike to, or that only breaks on combo or extreme-angled swells, you probably hate it when you your favorite stash break becomes someone’s “Story” on InstaGlam. But is your ire justified? How much power is there really in the average user’s post to muster the multitudes onto your shores? Based on available data, a LOT!
According to Facebook (which owns Instagram), 83 percent of Instagram users look to the platform to find new things to buy or experience; clothes, travel ideas, wives or husbands, good waves, etc. Brands find that tested users take a further action of interest after viewing their posts over 80 percent of the time! It’s marketing gold! Add to that the eye-gasm element of surf porn and is it any wonder we can’t resist checking our Insta feeds on a multi-daily basis?
And we all know that whatever we see on the Internet, we can have. Right? Even if it “belongs” to somebody else. Entitlement is the real enemy here. But we can’t stop that, so what can you do?
The overriding takeaway? Don’t be a part of the problem. If you surf alternative spots or hunt sandbars or “Swells of the Century,” you’re going to post about it. But learn what I learned and follow these three basic rules if you want to protect your stash:
- Don’t name the spot.
- Don’t show landmarks.
- Wait until the special conditions or sand banks are gone.
Don’t want the keyboard cowboys to find you? Don’t give them a map! Want that sandbar to yourself? Don’t send out an evite to every surfer in town when it’s firing!
Because that sort of behavior has a way of boomeranging on you. Next thing you know, surfers strange to you start frequenting your spot, and posting photos of their own, including its name, landmarks, and best conditions.
And you will not “like” it.
