Psycho point?
A stranger at the point, a drop in, and a showdown out the back. In the last of a series on violence in the surf, blindboy relates an all-too-common scenario and traces the root cause of the problem.
*****
It was all there for an astute observer to see from the moment he paddled out, but it was a sunny afternoon with a few fun waves at our local point, so no-one saw the signs. The aggressive stare and the threatening body language, all tension, clenched jaw and clenched fists, passed us by until he kept hassling for the inside position in the narrow take off area. He was on a body board which would have been an advantage had he been more competent, but as it was he was wasting waves, demonstrating a complete repertoire of misjudgement and poor technique.
We had worked out an equitable arrangement with the local bodyboarders over the years but we had never seen him before. As might have been predicted, people started dropping in, which clearly pissed him off, but left him with no grounds for complaint as he wasn't making the waves anyway. That is until Johnny dropped in. I'll call him Johnny because that isn't his name and, not having caught up with him for a while, I don't have his permission to tell the story. For simplicity I will call the body boarder Arnold because he was built a bit like Arnold in his prime. Lots of highly conditioned beef.
So Johnny, who was a fair build himself, dropped in on Arnold who, against the odds, came around the section. Johnny looked over his shoulder, saw him and hit the gas down the line heading for the back door section looming ahead. I was paddling out and my call was "fair enough". Arnold had made it around the first section but had little speed and was at the back of another longer section. It was the kind of thing we did to each other all the time, on the basis that someone might as well get barrelled. Disputes arose from time to time but were inevitably settled by no more than an exchange of insults, varying in intensity from friendly to pissed off.
Perhaps it was that long history of non-violence and the amicable atmosphere that almost always prevailed that lulled us into, what proved to be on this day, a false sense of security. So when Arnold paddled back out and swore at Johnny we didn't think much of it. Nor even when Johnny answered back with a fairly accurate description of Arnold's surfing abilities. We expected a few more hard words and then back to business as usual. We didn't even pay much attention when Arnold paddled up and pushed Johnny on the shoulder. It was only when Johnny pushed him back that we noticed that look in Arnold's eyes, the clear sharp edged anticipation of violence.
Most of us have experienced long hold downs but we know it's a wave and since it is not really trying to drown us we know that sooner or later it will let go. When Arnold grabbed Johnny and pushed his head down, there was no such guarantee. Now as a method of discouraging degeneration into more extreme violence there may even be something to be said for this method in subduing a potentially aggressive opponent, provided that it is done briefly. If that was Arnold's intention it soon became clear that our standards of brief differed.
I suppose it was at about the 20 second mark that we became concerned. I called out. Arnold sneered. I poked him gently with the nose of my board. He glared at me, turned away and pushed Johnny a bit deeper, so I gave him what might be described as a clip around the back of his skull with a nose rail, hard enough to sting, but no more. This solved Johnny's problem as Arnold let go and lunged at me. Now there are few things in life I am better prepared for than a larger opponent trying to get hold of me in the water. I had a big brother. We often played in the local pool. I used to annoy him. You get the picture. My board was already positioned between us. I flicked it in his general direction and dived deep.
By the time I came up, as I had been counting on, the others had formed a circle around him. Arnold looked around. "So one in all in is it?" he asked. We all nodded our absolute unwavering agreement. No-one said a word. He turned, paddled to the inside, took the next wave unchallenged and we never saw him again. At the time I think we all agreed he was a psychopath but we were probably wrong as there is a much more common condition in young men that can produce the kind of behaviour he displayed. That being, unstable high self esteem.
Self-esteem was once considered a key component of mental health and, with one serious qualification, it probably still is. The qualification being that it has to be based on a realistic self assessment. This is where all those positive thinking programs go wrong. If you doubt your ability to do something, you will almost certainly fail, but believing that you can do it, or be it, is only ever a pre-condition and never a guarantee. The problem of unstable high self-esteem arises when young men keep up an extravagant self-assessment with insufficient basis in reality. In this situation any challenge to their self-perception becomes a potential trigger for violence.
So with the Arnolds of this world the tactics are pretty straight forward. If there is a hassle make sure you do not question their ability, their manhood or any other aspect of their over-inflated egos. Leave it to time and someone else to puncture that balloon. It really isn't your responsibility to bring them back to Earth. Keep the peace! //BLINDBOY
Comments
Interesting story BB. Thanks
So in regards to your last paragraph, what's your solution to the Arnold's of this world? Let them keep paddling to the inside until someone else attempts to deal with it? I know in my younger days I would & have verbally confronted some Arnold's of this world but I wouldn't take the risk these days, just not as fit & strong & also just not so attached to such situations. So I suppose if your suggesting just let someone else deal with it, I would agree from my perspective. Cheers
So, let me see if I've got this straight: "Arnold" was a body builder just visiting from a small fishing town on the Eyre Peninsula. And on a biscuit, you say?
Deluxe call
.....now that you mention it gator, I do seem to remember him mentioning Blacks!
Bloody street fightin' surfees!!! Not only the worlds greatest athletes, but the worlds toughest, two fisted hombres too!!! Except if they get spat on in public by just one guy. Swarms of them just turn the other cheek, to get that spat on too!!!
It cant have been uplift , the dude on the esky lid sounds solid, not a flabby old dude with chicken legs and moobs.
Spoken like a true Pappas!!!
Pappas ? Not following you there uptight.
Or you could not drop in to fucking start with? I've seen too many people get seriously injured by drop ins to have any sympathy for this position.
Talk to him if you have a problem with his surfing....Seriously.
gee BB..violence with a weapon.....ganging up on poor uppity......how times have changed....
I think that its actually low esteem....and the need to show everybody you are a somebody by your ME behavior.......that's why uppity constantly has to remind himself by coming on the forums and putting in writing why beefcakes are superior elite humans .......and we are mere puny mortals.....
Ring a ring a surfee!!! Hilarious!!!
Hmmmm , suffer from superiority complex much Uptight?
Fuck, can we leave it, please? One more Uplift-muscle-eggs-deluxe thread and I'm gonna go Norman Bates.
You forgot 'amasing'.
Bwaaaa ha ha ha haaaaaa!
Hilarious;)
(sorry Stu, couldn't help myself)
Im hearin ya Stu its not very "uplifting" reading, Its a bit "Rep"editive. The "strength" of his material is second to "lycra". I think there are a few people who "mirror" this opinion. I promise never to cast any bait out again.
"Mother! Oh, God, Mother! Blood! Blood!! Aarrgh..."
It was my fault Stu! I should never have taken gator's bait!
'and I'm gonna go Norman Bates.'
Because you love it, or me. You all do.
Actually speaking of psycho, I have my own little psycho moment.
I surf at (and am begrudgingly accepted now) at probably the most localized reef point in Ibaraki. No shit, I mention where my local is to surfers north or south and especially Tokyo surfers and they're like 'no way, you surf there?'. Trust me, it's reputtation is worse than it really is.
Anyway a few years ago on a pretty good day it was crowded (which means about 15 guys out) and I got dropped in on blatantly but let it go, next wave a different bloke dropped in on me and I let that one go too. Third time it happened (and it takes a lot for me to get wound up) but I fucking lost it. I screamed at everyone in the lineup 'what the fuck is this, drop-in on the gaijin day?!!' I singled out a few the guys that had always given me a bit of attitude. 'Fucking you? What about you then? I fucking double dare anyone to drop in on me on the next wave!' I was livid. The Japs hate eye contact and (big toughy that i am- ha ha) stared each of them down, just daring someone to say something. You could have cut the air with a knife. All this said in my awful mix of Japlish, but the intent wasn't misunderstood. The next set came and i went, nobody even dared paddle (lucky I didn't fall off- ha ha) and since that day, I've pretty much cemented my spot in the lineup there, usually paddle out with a cheery good morning and all is good.
Like a true Pyscho Ninja straight to the Point
Hilarious Zen...I actually have the opposite at Sakawa........they actually tell me which set wave to take and get out of the road......Mauri-san wave.....pretty heavy locals for such a good wave.....Familly Sakawa written on their wetsuits!!
I always have a great time in Japan. Very cool. We might be up there again later next year, down south as always for family, friends and whatever waves come our way.
It's cool isn't it! 'O'hayo Dan-san'. The Japanese are great people. On land and in the water. You get your tools here and there but that could be said about anywhere.
You get around, don't you Mauri-san.
Itterasshai.
I'm hanging for the snow season. Snowboard Sunday, surf Monday.
I'm doing Hokkaido for Xmas and fingers crossed, might be able to convince Craig to hook up again. I want to show him an out of the way place here locally to get his K2 up and boogying.
BB, a guy I know said to get waves in a place called 'Ishigakijima'. Do you know it? Apparently the water is so clear it's like surfing in an aquarium.
Hi zen I was talking to my wife about it and her sister used to work in a hotel there over the summer so she could go diving. I think there is a good chance we will get there next northern autumn.
Haven't been there zen but that whole region is pretty special. We hope to be back that way around September.
Good time of the year to be there. Bath warm water and typhoon swell. I want to get down there myself one day. The furtherest south I've surfed is Ohshima and Niijima in the Izu Islands off Tokyo.
Old bones and warm water are a good combo zen!
Sorry to come in late to the discussion on this but heres my 2 cents....
Regardless of what craft you maybe riding and where you are riding it,surely it is common courtesy/sense to assume that those out there are perhaps locals and of sound mind?
With this in mind, don't then snake everyone from the start because it only starts trouble and deservedly so.....it shows a complete lack of respect for all and will only end badly.
I am sick to death of people not considering others in any aspects of life whether in the surf,on the roads or at the shops even (wherever). What happened to common sense and simple manners? I surfed yesterday and twice had to remind 2 individuals of the etiquette and responsibility while surfing. One was a 16 year old kid and the other a mid 30's adult, of which the adult thought nothing of his snaking at first but soon realised his wrongs once I explained why I was annoyed with him.
In no way does it ever have to come to violence and it never should. I would never back down from a verbal discussion with someone on the finer points of surf or life etiquette however would gladly walk away from someone willing to hurt another person in order to defend their poor behaviour. It sounds to me that in this case mentioned above that a friendly reminder via some kind words may have eased the tension that was clearly building through out this session. If "arnold" was half capable it would not be foolish to assume he may have a reasonable take on the "rules" while surfing and may have responded a little better to a frank discussion!
Once this is done then everyone knows whats going on and he may have been excused to go a little deeper than most on certain waves,who knows? However he disrespected all (and it's incredible that 1 person can cause this!) and then had to fight his way out of a corner and that is what happens if you behave like a prick! You are then treated like one!
I had a similar experience surfing a shallow left reef in WA with a lid rider paddling inside every time. The wave has a real narrow take off spot so me living up the end of the street from the break I know the place well. Easy to push someone too deep, especially those who like to take the inside every wave.
So a few of us start pushing him too deep and instead of dropping in we would fain an attempt to paddle into the wave and pull back at the last second ensuring the wave would run away from him. Next thing hew loses his shit and starts verballing us all.
The difference from the story above is not that he had a misplaced sense of ability, the guy could ride alright and he didn't get violent, he just swore black and blue that the inside rule did not apply and all lineups were a free for all (he must have been from Trigg).
Basically everyone in the lineup pissed em selves laughing at the dude, from the initial statement of no inside rule to when he paddled for a wave ...he got so self conscious at being a laughing stock he got out of the water never to be seen or heard of again.
I now think making the offender a total laughing stock is far more affective than getting violent, people hate being the butt of a joke if the joke has a serious tone to it...truth hurts, especially through comedy.
Sounds like a great plan trippergreenfeet . Some of these guys must think that the rest of us are completely stupid to not be aware of what they are doing! I just don't get it. Would these same people just waltz on in and jump a queue at the shops or an ATM and expect no-one to give a shit? Probably!
And there lies the issue. As discussed many times before, there are people out there that genuinely don't know and have never been taught etiquette. That is of no excuse. they just somehow need to be educated in a respectful manner.
TGF, if he kept paddling to the inside, how the hell did think the inside rule didn't apply? He obviously thought that every wave he went for was his because he was inside and kept paddling there.
"Gday mate.... You can paddle inside of me, again.... But I am taking the next wave... Simple.... Mate, you've had the last 3 set waves by paddling inside me... I've been polite, now It's my turn.... You can surf behind me if you like....."
Then just take off........
Tripper green feet, I surfed Trigg point once, hang on I didnt "surf" i paddled around witnessing the most shitty bunch of cockhead locals i have ever had the displeasure of being amounsgt.
I'm a lifelong local out at Trigg Point and yes, it's a very hard lineup to defend. Probably has the worst ratio of people to 'good' waves (a highly subjective term in this case) of any lineup in Australia I reckon, and that makes it a far from relaxing place to surf 9 days out of 10.
It's not a violent place anymore though, last guy that used physical force in the water was Adam Koleits (RIP) and whilst it's super hectic out there, altercations other than verbal are very rare. Like most beaches I suspect.
We understand the playbook though to a large extent ... most of us have traveled extensively (with good reason when you consider the waves in Perth haha), either o/s or up and down the coast, and pretty much everyone gets on well with locals elsewhere, and understands that we're going to be picking up the scraps they don't want. Can't have it both ways, and what's normal out at Triggs generally gets left well and truly behind.
In pure surfing terms, the smart ones leave of course - which clearly disqualifies me!
Cheers
+1 it's mad. 70 people with a takeoff as wide as a Landcruiser bonnet. Makes a 150km drive seem like the most natural thing in the world.
Inzider - a bit like a "surf" I had at 2 foot seaford S.A back in the late 80s.... lol
Interesting 'stories'. Sometimes though the best laid plans of mice and men bungle down at the 'point'. Things fuck up, and all the circles, maaaytes, contacts, board flicks and whatever don't mean a thing. Reality aint the net. No psycho involved, just one person that wasn't interested in or impressed by, 'its my point', 'legendary' bullshit.
The plan always seems great, but again, just one guy can in public spit on whichever surfer he likes, and circles, maayyytess, connections, just, poof, vanish.
Don't know that the non surfing public would be mesmerised by the story. Is that what the surfee's get up to all day on our beaches?
Yes, reality and the net... the famous 'Fighting Gordons'. Don't bring up that untellable, 'legend', Pulp Fiction Story!!! You can give me the frosty, cold shoulder, but I've vowed to protect that 'legend' to the very end. Speaking of 'shoulders'... what the fuck happened to them... where'd they go?
At least you've captured gatesy's good side.
these are the shoulders you speak of?
Thats better! But that's not you, you aren't fooling anyone, we remember Ross posing for that one with Pete and Haydare at his birthday bash.
Better?
No, that's not you either, that's a recent shot of gaully.
Stop showing off all your scientific computer skills too and hogging the limelight. You are ruining a serious, pivotal moment in the swillnutters lives... stewart's mobile is going beserk, and his email is being flooded with complaints. They should get rid of the likes of you! Or maybe MR BLINDER, or MR ZENNY for that matter (although he's probably down at the gym being really intense... on the treadmill... for fuck's sake), could keep you back after school, and make you write a thousand times.
Its got a kind of ring to it hasn't it... zentensity! Zentensity levels... just slightly less than nanotensity, treadmills beware!
I like it!
With apologies for making an on-topic contribution here .................
BB, self esteem is the greatest piece of bullshit that has landed on modern man in our lifetimes.
Self respect is what people need. You can tell when people have it, their quiet authority, sense of self, and the lack of need for bluster and bastard acts.
An entire generation missed out on the old 'good clip over the ear'. Personally I'm glad for that, but whose idea was it to pump up every little fuck's tyres whenever they farted.
Pop psychology has a lot to answer for.
Appropriate self esteem can be a stepping stone to self respect batfink. Sometimes you have to feel good about yourself before respect kicks in. The traditional clip on the ear was simply one way, far from the best, of providing a reality check to an out of control self assessment.
There are other highly educated points of view.
'Mason said this about Barrett: "In a period when everyone was being cool in a very adolescent, self-conscious way, Syd was unfashionably outgoing'