Pulling the Plug on Kelly's Pool Party
Am I the only one that doesn't want to play in Kelly's pool?
Last week, after receiving a press release from the Kelly Slater Wave Company, we put details of the venture on our site and Facebook feed. The response was overwhelming. Thumbs up all around. 'Give me a go', 'build one in Melbourne', went the sentiment in a string of wholly uncritical replies.
I find this unquestioned advocacy of wave pools truly perplexing. Are we that unhappy with nature? Do we not have better things to waste money on?
I was only young when the ASP held the Inland Wave Championships at Allentown, Pennsylvania, but I was old enough to remember the woeful slop it was held in. I am also old enough to remember Tom Lochtefeld claiming his 'Flow Rider' would change surfing as we know it, and lately I've seen footage of the Malaysian Sunway Lagoon - the state-of-the-art in wave pools - serving up mushy, three foot burgers with all the push of a four second windswell.
Years ago Donovan Frankenreiter uttered the immortal line, 'wake me when we find Kirra', while on a surf trip. The brains behind the wave pool push haven't even found Bondi, and I expect it will be a long time till they do.
But just for a lark, let's jump into the future. Let's assume Kelly & Co get it down pat and make a four foot barrelling wave: how fascinating will that be? I won't lie, I think it'd be great to get barrelled on it once. But once the nuances of the wave are understood and anticipated - and remember, it will have a solid bottom contour so every wave will be similar, and hence predictable - then how long till boredom sets in?
Selfish motivations aside, one justification for wave pools is that they will be the saviour of competition surfing. Utter, utter rubbish. Oh yeah, I imagine the existing webcast watchers will tune in to the first two or three comps, but I also imagine that the realisation that every wave is the same will have surfers tuning out just as fast. What value spontaneity? Or the ability to predict a changing wave?
The level playing field will be the death of competition surfing as we know it. Ask yourself why vert skating doesn't have serious competitions or a world tour. And consider that skating is way more accesible than surfing.
And does anyone believe - as Kelly Slater implies in the press release - that 'surf culture' is going to spring up wherever a wave pool is created. Really? That young inland kids, who have a thousand other things they could choose from, will want to learn to surf in a chlorinated pool. In a chlorinated pool that costs a shitload of money to use.
My local pool - just 50 metres long and waveless - costs 5 bucks a visit. Let's double the area, triple the insurance, and just scratch our heads at how many millions will be spent on R&D and then passed on to the consumer. Does $50 a visit sound realistic? Go on, get a season pass, it takes it down to $30 a visit. Now sign the indemnity forms and take your place in the queue.
If the queue is too long then chillax with your bros at the Boost Juice Barrel Bar, walk in the footsteps of greats along the Quiksilver Surfers Boulevard, or watch the surfing from the Hooters Grandstand underneath the billboard advertising the upcoming competition sponsored by Hogs Breath Cafe and Clark Rubber.
Surf culture indeed. I think Kelly has, like many people who surf, an inflated sense of the sports self worth. They fall into a mode of thinking that surfing is a noble pursuit and people will be clambering to do it no matter the environment it's provided in.
Kelly makes it sound like he is doing surf culture a service by creating wave pools, but remember this is the same bloke that thought appearing on Baywatch would help the credibility of our sport. Great surfer, lacks judgement sometimes...
Wave pools are yet another ridiculous example of man trying to control nature, and if Kelly's pools go ahead they will end up as gated communities for boring, rich surfers.
Related links: Kelly Slater Wave Company to Launch World Class Wave Pool
Comments
Another great article Stu. Incisive as always.
A couple of thoughts...on one hand I surf...I too think it is a noble sport and don't think I have an inflated view of its "self worth". BUT, I also agree that the most significant part of the sports worth is its spontaneity...nature's unpredictability.
While I do live in Perth and don't get a lot of time down the coast, and am able to site in my office and think "oh, joy waves, consistent, reliable and on tap", I can also still see that the greatest joy I get from surfing is paddling out at a nice beachie or reef... From each wave, let alone session, being unique.
Mainly, given how little I've surfed this year...the joy is just being in the ocean...can't see that joy being present standing in a queue waiting for my turn on the 'playstation'.
Stuey, youre argument as to level playing field is crap. Consider some of the high level sports which are contested upon a "level playing field" from Half pipe snow boarding to Vert ramp skating, from tennis to ice skating, heck even botchi.
You fail to address the fact that surfing is an artistic expression upon a blank canvas. Even if the canvas is the same wave rolled out each time, then we will certainly see the performaces differ between athletes.
just like wakeboreding - thrilling
I agree stu,
a fantastic waste of money, and yet another stab at the enviroment from the so called surfing community.
I notice that when i find myself away from the water, i love jumpin on the skateboard, hittin a ball or playing some music..... I wonder how wettie warmers would be seen by the wave pool staff?
guess its good for the loaded, who dont give a fuck though.
peace
I was kinda half expecting and hoping that you would write this article. After reading the little release about the pool i was a little perplexed at how this could possibly benefit 'surf culture'?
Putting a wave environment in a fucking mall surrounded by corporate interest? Openly and explicitly inviting /encouraging and associating pure corporate entity with surfing? Wtf. That is its own culture. It is mall culture. It is a theme park. It has nothing to do with surfing whatsoever. If it provides a good quality wave then of course it would be fun, how could it not be fun? But that is all it could ever be. Surfing is not 'fun', the aspect of 'fun' that arises from the sensations of riding a wave face in whatever fashion you so choose or are able to is an important but ultimately small part of the entire experience.
It could definitely work for competition. But it would basically be like vert skateboarding on a surfboard or whatever other predictable surfing type sport you care to name. Surfers could learn to do crazy stuff with that kind of consistency but it would be fundamentally different to current surfing competition as we know it.
Inland kids, well rich ones anyway, who had little imperative of opportunity to surf before could learn to surf but what would they actually be learning? Certainly not to be surfers. They would most likeluy gain an entirely different concept of surfing. One I fear would be far more superficial and robotic, soulless even.
I accept the benefits of certain corporate involvement in especially 'pro surfing' as a partly necessary evil. Though I have deep and growing reservations regarding certain aspects of their involvement, I still tune in
to watch the skill and drama and take the good with the bad. (though i don't know how much more bullshit i can take before i tune out)
But this... from Kelly? The guy is smart, obviously. The guy also appears to care deeply about surfing... but like you Stu, it would be a hard sell to make me see his support of this venture as it is being presented as anything else but very bad judgement.
I would however, to almost give kelly the benefit of the doubt, be very surprised if he himself didn't have his own reservations pertaining to the extremely corporate friendly nature in which it is being marketed. I would suspect that his vision started out with more [naive] purity and good intention but was gradually and increasingly corrupted as the logistical and financial realities of making the damn thing any good rendered it impossible to avoid the support of the big boys who would inevitably want their pound of flesh. I'm sure, if such a situation is anywhere near representative of what actually took place then it would have been very hard for kelly to pull out once he was too deep even if he had wanted too. His name and support of the product would have been crucial to any corporate sponsorship contracts.
Or... maybe he is just a complete money grubbing sell-out surf star whore who wanted to make as much cash as possible. I doubt it though.
Sorry for the essay. The idea presented just makes me feel so damn dirty and it seems out of character for Slater these days.
How good would it be if you were rich enough to be able afford one in a ya backyard!
I was under the impression that the bottom could be changed with some sort of computer program... maybe that was in the same dream as the dream where I had enough money to have one in my back yard. Good dream that one, so many barrels.
Wettie warmers!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha would they have the purple dye that we were told about as kids?
Ah the memories....
@ Philthy
It's people with a missionary zeal for the 'healing powers' of surfing that have a distorted sense of its self worth. You know, the argument gets trotted out now and again how surfing can 'change the world' and it leads to a thinking that surfers are somehow better than others, or that life would be better if more people surfed. In this case, if more people had access to wave pools.
I love surfing as much as anyone but I think that type of thinking is narrowminded. Localism? Surf rage? We're no better than the rest of the populace...
@ Rusty
"The level playing field will be the death of competition surfing as we know it." It's the last four words in the quote mate. Sure, snowboarding and tennis manage to sustain competition on a level playing field, but they are a long way from surfing as we know it. Me, I like the reef at Pipe, the sand at Snapper, a west swell at Chopes, I like the defining characteristics of each surf spot and how they play out in competition.
@ Grug
Nice essay, no need to apologise.
Just back from driving down the Mornington Peninsula hoping for a surf.
Instead took in the view at Flinders and swam at Gunnamatta
Lunch at Balnarring then on home.
No surf but a good few hours out.
That's the spirit of surfing.
Consider some of the high level sports which are contested upon a "level playing field" from Half pipe snow ...heck even botchi.
shit article, sounds like it was written 40 years ago.
the link between corporate interest and surfing is already well established, main case in point being the various pro tours.
wave pools will never detract from the more soulful aspects of surfing just as having a world tour sponsored and ran by global, multi billion dollar industry doesnt detract - they are two different things and appeal to different sub-sets of the surfing population. wave pools are just a natural progression/ augmentation produced by the existing corporate surf world. so i think the article and several shock-horror comments are ridiculous. its just not that big of a deal, if its not for you then odds are you will ignore it and it wont affect you. ever thought that greater contrast adds the unique character to both?
"Are we that unhappy with nature? Do we not have better things to waste money on?" - i thought you were a smart man stu but these are shallow, thoughtless comments, wrapped up in a thoughtless, deliberately sensationalist article.
Greatest idea ever - seriously! Imagine how many wannabe's, stressheads, tough guys, heroes etc will be lining up for these things.....while I have the local beach break to myself. God its good being selfish! I say free entry on any days with more than 3 foot of natural swell.
PS - can we have a SUP pool ASAP please!
if it means i can surf in mother ocean, with less people, then great. Start buliding them EVERYWHERE.
The corporate element has stuffed up, with beer tents and all the related shit what was a unique sport.
Wave pools just add more shit on the heap.
So you think these wave pools will take hold in middle America, eh Spy?
Because as much as you've overplayed my comments on corporate staging, acceptance by the inland hordes is the crux of the issue...
Its all about the corporates buying a name to add legitimacy to a product that they need to sell.
Simple!
true... like flys to shit, maybe it could help to clean the lineup a bit.
It is true, Thespy, that it does not need affect those that do not care to pay attention to such things and cannot ever detract from each persons own enjoyment and experience of surfing. It is also true that the corporate control of pro surfing and what they sell as surfing culture is now well established and such a venture is only a natural evolution of that in order to expand business to previously untapped markets. This also need not make one iota of difference to mine or your surfing ideology etc etc. All valid points.
You probably could of made them without calling the article 'shit' and making derogatory implications about the authors intelligence based on one small opinion piece. Insults do not help or encourange intelligent discussion.
"Are we that unhappy with nature? Do we not have better things to waste money on?" - i thought you were a smart man stu but these are shallow, thoughtless comments",
They were questions Spy.
He was asking questions.
I think they are perfectly valid ones.
And I couldn't see anything even remotely sensational about the article.
Crowds, attitudes in the water: especially by new surfing nations who only know Pro Surfing as their behavioural model are all influenced by Corporations.
We are lucky in Aus because we have a Pre-Corporate surfing history which still anchors a lot of our attitudes and social mores (Morning of the Earth, early Tracks etc etc).
When this gets overwhelmed by the Corporate model surfing might not seem to fun or satisfying anymore.
I agree Freeride, well put.
Thespy, I believe that all further misrepresentation by corporations of what the values that surfing can and should stand for in the name of materialistic greed under the guise of improving the 'reach' of 'our sport' and 'sharing its unique and healthy lifestyle' (and all the other bullshit spin) etc is an attack on the future atmosphere of any lineup in the world. It's march may be inevitable, but that doesn't mean we should not speak up while they appropriate and propagate a twisted and morally bankrupt image of what it means to surf to the up and coming generations and newcomers of any age that may be tempted to try at their new local 'kelly slater wave pool'
Our shouts may be futile but as the corporate ideologies gradually infiltrate and influence the atmospheres out in the water more and more, at least we'll be able to say we spat, whined and kicked some sand as we walk down the beach or around the headline looking for an empty bank/reef.
I`d like to give Ka-ka-Ka-ching Kellys wave pool a go.
As long as I could get there by board-rack equipped Monorail and upon arrival move to the wave arena by Segway. In between sets, Toshiba HD DVD`s would be nice. None of that Blu-ray rubbish. Also, I`d like to be able to check my wave tally and style rating on my Palm Pilot. For lunch, I think I`ll have the Billabong burger, a side order of Hurley fries and wash it down with a Quikshake. God, why would I go to the beach?
I think he`s on to a winner.
This is a shocking attempt at a big money grab by Kelly and Suits and a insult to the pure form of surfing on crowded point breaks where you can fight for waves!
Does anyone know where you can buy shares in this?
from an experience viewpoint it will never supplant the feeling or vibe from going to beach/coast for a surf or the unpredictability of an ocean surf...then again if you live in the mid west of the US or anywhere inland that is foreign territory anyway...
technology has changed the surfing landscape/lifestyle dramatically in the last 10 years,how many of us now check the webcams before going to the beach, have the short /long range forecast on the bookmarks page..drive or fly thousands of kms on a swell prediction..
i kinda of miss the the grommet stoke of going early every morning expecting to be surprised with great surf everyday
Destined to become the McDonalds of the surfing world, safe, corporate, convenient ,soulless,despised by many,utilised by millions
maybe Kelly will turn out to be the Ray "Kroc"(mcdonalds franchise founder) of surfing
but i don't know anyone who hasn't had fries with a burger!!
I can't see it being a big thing, you might pay to have a few goes but it's just not the same as the stoke of real waves/nature. How much would it cost anyway, quite a lot I'd say and considering normal surf is FREE, i wouldn't pay for it on a regular basis. It'll be hard for them to make anything out of it I'd reckon.
I agree Brendo, I would maybe give it a couple of cracks, but once you have it wired that's it.
It would however provide a consistent training ground for the elite to practice the same air/gouge/snap over and over to perfection and possibly push surfing to new levels regarding arials and the like.
A normal surf is FREE, but how much are you willing to pay to score 6ft barreling pits. We all pay thousands to go to Indo and do this..
The real adventure of surfing is in the road trip and paddling out to a different part of the world and taking it all in. You'll never get close to that with a wave pool.
Before I started surfing a 3 months ago in Australia, I was living in a ski resort in Europe.
I understand that you guys don't like the spirit of enclosed surfing but some will and nobody is pushing you towards that, you can keep your reef as long as you want. As you previously said it is free, sustainable and a lot of fun. That is nothing I will go against.
But if you take a look at skiing and snowboarding and now mountain-biking, all these extreme sports were based on freeride at the beginning. Then some people came with the idea of parks, which wasn't to the taste of everyone around. If you now take a look at it, you can choose you discipline.
Even though nature freeride is beautiful and my preference, when Shaun White pulls out his Double McTwist 1260 at the Vancouver Olympics it was also state-of-the-art in some way and I can't see that happening on my favourite off-piste run...
It also happened with freestyle motocross when some guys turned some old mattresses into a foam pit. They now do double back flips when people a decade ago thought one was suicide. This is not a reason for them not to have fun in the bush...
To end up, I follow the point where this is a total waste of money but beside that, the sport is developed to remain interesting for the mass not for the surfers only (ask Mr Quiksilver if he would be happy to go back to the time only surfers bought his stuff...).
Then you choose your side. If you're interested in the fresh powder run then take a hike with your board, if you're lazy but love spins... go to the park!
So how about those wanting to learn how to surf, which would be the majority of users in the landlocked locations these things will be built right?. They pay their admission (like you say Stu, $30-$50), jump into line, wait behind everyone else for their turn (5 minutes, 10, 20, an hour?), take their spot at the take-off point, paddle, catch a wave, & then fall off before they've managed to get to their feet. Off they go to the end of the queue to do it all over again. I don't know, but it doesn't sound like much fun to me, & I can't imagine it encouraging too much repeat business.
Too cool for pool.
Yo!
MiniJay, I think you've nailed it and that is the reason Slater and Co are investing big dollars in it.
Whilst that vision of Surfing is personally repugnant to me I can see the appeal to the massive scores of New surfers coming from land-locked countries.
Last trip to Bali there were scores of Russians learning to surf.
Fucking Russians!
And they had absolutely No Idea about any kind of Surf Etiquette.
The very reason I stopped going Snowboarding was I grew to loathe the idea of having to pay lift tickets, overpriced food etc etc. They can extract money from you at every turn.
Surfing at the moment is so free.
Who woulda thought the greatest surfer of all time would be the one to throw it in a prison and charge admission.
What a legacy.
grug, freeride,
the questions in question (for want of a better term), are not only invalid but irrelevant.
mans satisfaction with nature?! unless these wave pools are to be built on top of existing breaks (which is of course ridiculous) i dont see how this is remotely relevant. artificial reefs, groynes, etc are an attempt at improving nature, wave pools not so much. its about accessibility. with that comes more people which equals more money, would you agree? (note: im looking at the motives behind the issue, not trying to justify it)
as for the wasting of money? this proposition just dumbfounds me. wasting our money? i dedicate a large portion of my life and finances to riding waves and there is nothing i would rather SPEND (not waste) my money on. $5 cups of coffee, holographic wristbands, poodle grooming, these things are all wastes of money. you obviously dont think that surfing is a waste of money or you wouldn't be on this website, right?
and stu when you publish a piece of blunt opinion you can expect the same quality in the responses. i hope you werent personally offended, it wasn't my intention and im sure you have sufficiently thick skin.
PS - a disclaimer: im not a corporate sympathiser they can rot in hell (although slats is still alright with me).
true about parks minijay, but XC skiing and biking you don't need a park :) The others you do because it takes a farkin' long time to walk up those snowy hills just to come down again. MTB parks only exist so the snow parks can make more cash in summer, the majority of people still go out at their local trails every week and might hit a park every so often. And as Karlos says, surfing just to be able to stand up takes a lot of practice. Skiing, biking etc. most people get to some level of going down the hill on Day 1, major difference. If you are in the wave pool and some nutter is falling off and getting in your way all the time, you'd be mighty unimpressed after paying your hard earned cash. Safe to say that wave pools would be for surfers who CAN already surf to a required level for refining their skills. Leave the beginners to the crappy beach breaks to suffer and learn like we all did.
Thespy,
What do you think the first motivation for constructing a wave pool is? Me, I think it's borne of a desire to improve the state of nature - either the quality of waves or the quantity of them (i.e due to flat spells). I can't see why anyone would build one if they were happy with what was naturally provided. Note: Kelly even admits is his selfish motivation.
You may disagree - perhaps you think the first motivation is simply dollars? - but the connection between being unsatisfied with what nature presents and the motivation to better it is fairly clear. Personally, I would've thought any intellectual plodder would've made that step...
Wasting money? Waste it, spend it... I signed off the piece saying that, if built, these wavepools will soon become 'gated communities' - indulging myself in a bit of facetiousness. Truth be told, I believe they will shutdown and be business failures because they won't be utilised in the way expected. Is that not a waste of money?
But even if they did exist as gated communities for well-heeled surfers, I find it a bit repugnant that so much money gets spent on rich boys toys while there are many people in need. Hey, I think the same about the money spent on NASA projects, the military, Hollywood, etc...but I write about surfing so I'll comment on surfing.
"There is a spectre haunting surfing" I've resigned myself to being on the losing side of history Thespy, but I'll go down swinging.
"There is a spectre haunting surfing" I've resigned myself to being on the losing side of history Thespy, but I'll go down swinging.".....
Not so sure about that Stu. History shows that the pendulum swings one way and then back the other, often with renewed vigour.
old baldy's the spectre. he's going to love surfing to death.
Building a wave pool is completely irrelevant to hitting your local lineup for a wave. I really don't understand what you guys are carrying on about??
If they can make it work and can reproduce a perfect 4-6ft barrel what the hell is wrong with it? Its GENIUS! Trying to control nature is what man does. If you're living under a roof you're controlling nature.
The money side of the equation is where I can't see it working. Even if they perfect it how could they possibly hope to cover the setup and running costs of one of these parks? It would need a big crowd to pay the bills...
How about you look at it from a training aid perspective. Imagine being able to surf a mechanical wave, practising moves on a predictable section, fine tuning equipment, trying new moves. This is to surfing what a practice fairway is to golf. It will never compete with surfing in the ocean, but it will allow surfers to improve rapidly and push the frontier of what is perhaps possible on a wave by reducing the variables.
But lets face it, the thrill of changing conditions and the innumerable variations of the ocean make surfing in the ocean exciting and dynamic, but it would be nice to have a place to practice those inverted stale-rodeo 720 reverse flips for when the right launch pad presents itself in the wild.
Good luck to him. I can see them being useful for practising aerials and comps but not the thing for me.
from the video the wave looked nice, but piss weak in power. Its going to take Nuclear to generate enough grunt.
Lolo i'm with you mate I cant believe there is so much negativity about it.
It's been a long time boyhood dream of mine to surf a good wave pool I can understand kelly's selfish motivation he would most probably be able to surf the thing with just him and his mates after hours whenever he wants! I know i would I it was me.
If I was cashed up I would build one myself, I am not saying it would be better than the real thing but when you haven't scored decent wave in a while and you are stinging for a good wave what a great option.
Not sure if i agree about it only for the rich i'm not rich and I would defiantly pay to ride one it would be a lot cheaper than a trip to indo and you would be guaranteed good waves you also don't have to contend with the local hotties hogging the inside so you don't have to hassle for waves just wait your turn easy !
Also no shitty paddle out no dodgy rocks to jump off no on shores. I do agree with some stuff being said probably wouldn't be to good for the environment power-wise, would imagine it would take a shitload of power to run the thing and it wouldn't be a place for beginners but i hope they end up building one would love to see how it turns out bring it on i say !
After 2 weeks of flat spells and onshore summer slop, with no sign of any swell in sight, who would not consider giving it a crack ???
Depends where it was Fitzy.
If I had to drive to Ipswich or some other god-forsaken inland hell-hole I'd probably be happy chasing flatties in the river.
I agree with lolo-if you can create 4-6 ft screamers, whats wrong with that indeed.
Yeah, its not the same. So what? Don't go, less people in the lineup. Moneywise? Prohibitive at first I reckon, but how much would you pay to be stoked for an hour? I'd pay if there was a flat spell.
And as for the evil corporatisation of the spirit of surfing...ahem, please. Look around, surfing hiked up its dress long ago.
One thing is guaranteed, If technology allows these piss ponds to generate 4 - 6 foot barrels, the lot of you will be coughing up $50+ a session to give it a whirl (at least once...) I cant believe the passion behind the "dont likes" If you dont like it, foget it, let the so called "rich kids" have it all to themselves.
Sounds like small mans syndrome to me. No shortage of that in surfing...
Well written, you've summed up this non experience perfectly.
This will be what wanking is to sex.
Or paying for a blow-job.
I have no doubt that wave pools will never compare to real waves. But having said that, its been flat in Perth for like a month now and anything to surf would be nice...
Does a 'non experience' and 'paying for a blow job' include surf camps or Tavarua?
Not at all. The latter offers no guarantees, the former are foregone conclusions.
to the majority of people using big words and more importantly, the guy who wrote this.. Get off your fuckin soap box buddy...
Or better yet, just shutup.. The world is changing, life changes, technology improves... be the disgruntled old wanker who sits in the corner muttering how "they wouldnt have done that in my day" or "in my day we used to be hardcore" I dont care...
errrrrrrr in my best spastic voice, you my friend need to write about how one day you hope to find a clue..
I hope noone actually paid you for this genius piece of rocket science you call an article..
Minijay, that was perfectly put, the snowboard scene is a big case in point, especially the shaun white/redbull experiment.. He spent countless weeks/months/a full winter season at a perfectly groomed, perfectly pitched half pipe, with a foam pit, so he could practise and practise and perfect moves NOONE thought possible, and indeed suicide (case in point is Kevin Pearce - who almost died in the halfpipe nearly a year ago, almost rendered paraplegic and in a coma).
My point, and a lot of peoples opinions in this stupid argument, is that this kind of thing serves a very important purpose, how about listing the positives instead of resorting to journalistic sensationalism and attention seeking, like a particular magazine and a certain Dane Reynolds argument. You complain and whine yet you still bite the hand that feeds you... The consumer.. If someone pays you to write an article or a review of an awesome Airshow or something of that nature at this wave pool, I can damn well guarantee that YOU will be first in line licking the payers ass for the dollar.
So like I said, get off your self glorifying soapbox, all it does is make you look stupid. You talk about the good 'ol days, the surfers in the good 'ol days had open minds.. so what's your point? bout time you opened yours champ..
Has anyone else considered the sheer ridiculousness of the energy required to build & run these? When the ocean is providing it already for us?
If we start building these, we have no right to smugly scoff and shake our heads in dismay at the building of ski slopes in Dubai.
Nevermind what it means for surfing as a sport, this is reason #1 why the planet is fucked.
As the years roll by and you paddle out to your local break and the crowds are so thick in the water that that you can't get a wave without dropping in on someone, and you won't do that because that's the number one rule you were taught when you were a grommet, so you go home without getting a wave, you just might stand in a queue to make sure you get a ride.
Trevor the elder
That made a whole heap of sense Roll-on.
I agree with the article. I don't want to surf in Kelly's pool.
I want to surf in Greg Webbers......