The Subculture of Surfing: A Shared Passion

I’ve been a surfer for ten years now.  It is a huge part of my life, especially during the summer, and over the years I’ve become immersed in the subculture that surfing possesses.  Dana Brown, a filmmaker and life long surfer, beautifully defines this aspect in his movie Step Into Liquid: “there comes a point in ever surfer’s life when he realizes that he’ll always be a surfer.  It’s no longer something that he does, it’s who he is.  It’s a part of his inner compass.”  What it comes down to is that surfing isn’t a lifestyle; rather it’s about life, where style is just an option.  For those who don’t surf it may be hard to grasp this concept, but for those who do, they all understand the connection that we have with the ocean and the force of nature we ride in ocean waves.  This is probably why a surfer can talk about surfing for hours, especially with other surfers. 

    A little over a year ago, I came across and article in the New York Times about the murder of professional surfing Emery Kauanui Jr. in La Jolla, San Diego (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/us/12surfer.html?scp=1&sq=pro%20surfer%20killed&st=cse).  Emery died as a result of head injuries he sustained during a fight between him and a surf clique called the Bird Rock Bandits.  Emery was friends with a couple of members of the group and the fight was due to a dispute that broke out between Emery and one of the group members while they were drinking together at a local bar.  The reason why this article struck a nerve with me is because of the way the media exaggerate the story.  The reason why the media latched on to this case was because the prosecutors wanted to try the Bird Rock Bandits in the same way they would a street gang. This led both the New York Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune to tie the incident to surf gangs and how they act territorial over local breaks.  This leads one to believe that the altercation between Kauanui and the Bird Rock Bandits resulted over disputes that occurred on the water while surfing, maybe over the fact that Kauanui wasn’t seen as a local and was infringing on their turf.  In actuality, Kauanui was a local, as he grew up in La Jolla, and as I said earlier, he was said to be friends with the members of the group. 

    It is my personal opinion as a surfer that one cannot apply this same type of gang identity to surf cliques.  One doesn’t see rival surf gangs, at least not where I surf back on the east coast and certainly not in a town like La Jolla, staring each other down, and going at one another in the streets.  This local’s mentality that is often seen by outsiders doesn’t generate simply from one surfer guarding a break that he thinks is his.  It comes from the notion of respect, or lack there of in some cases.  The majority of surfers out there understand that there are, and are always going to be, enough waves for everyone to surf.  Every surfer was a beginner at some point in time, so we all understand what that’s like.  The thing that we are really looking for on the water is respect.  There is etiquette to surfing that few people outside of the surfing crowd understand.  The aggression on the water comes out when someone exhibits a lack of respect to the other surfers around them.  Also, many tourists to areas that have a surfing population will say that local surfers were rude or unkind to them.  This stems from the fact that more often than not, tourists do not show the same respect for the beach that the surfers do.  As a surfer, you truly work to keep the beach you frequent a pleasant place to be, not something that is riddled with cigarette buts and empty beer cans.  It can be very frustrating to see people not show that same level of respect.  As far as the etiquette between surfers goes, I’ll try not to drown you in surfing terminology, but it’s about waiting your turn in the lineup and respecting other surfer’s waves.  In all actuality, we are all out there for the same experience and the same passion.  One of the beautiful things about surfing is that it has the power to bring people together.  A great example of this is the story of the brothers Malloy.

    Brothers Chris, Keith, and Danny Malloy hail from Ojai California, and have left the world of competitive surfing behind to pursue the sport at its roots.  At the same time, they are paying homage to their Irish heritage.  The brothers have been taking annual trips to Ireland, not only to surf, but to also bring their passion for surfing to an area that is largely oblivious to the sport.  Here are some of the things the Malloy’s had to say on the subject.
Danny: “I mean it was only one hundred years ago that our ancestors came to the U.S. so if they didn’t sail, we’d probably be in a field somewhere, herding sheep or something.”
Keith: “Basically, your coming over hear to drinking a Guinness, put on warm clothes and beanies, put on full suits and boots, I mean I love going out in all of this gnarly weather, a rainstorm to me is fun.”

Chris: “It’s awesome to see the reaction of the locals when they watch us go out, because you can tell that they’ve definitely never seen anything like it before.  To them the ocean is some big, dark, menacing thing, and they see us put on these weird rubber suits and go out into it.”
Keith: “Yeah, they can’t believe that you’re actually doing it for fun.”

The other aspect of the Malloy’s trips to Ireland is something that is awe-inspiring.  Where the brothers go in Southern Ireland is very close to the boarder of Northern Ireland, which is technically seen as a different country.  Northern Ireland has an ongoing conflict between Protestants and Catholics.  What the Malloy brothers do is bring kids, who are predominately Protestant, down from a school in Northern Ireland, to surf with Catholic kids in Southern Ireland.  One can see that once the kids get in the water there is absolutely no difference between them.  The Malloy’s commented that they didn’t know if the experience hit them or the onlookers on the beach harder.  The Irish onlookers seemed to fully grasp the heaviness of what was going on because even though the beach was fifteen minutes away from Northern Ireland, many of those kids had never been to that part of the country before. (Brown Step Into Liquid)
  
One doesn’t usually see the personal side of gang life.  However, one can see the extremely personal side of the subculture that surfing has.  A extraordinary of this is the story of Jesse Billauer.  Jesse was the number one pro surfing prospect in the Pacific series in the mid-nineties.  However, on the morning of March 25th, 1996, his life changed.  Jesse was out surfing with his friends and had just come out of the barrel of a wave.  Upon doing so, he was struck in the back by the crest of the wave, which pushed him forward into a shallow sandbar.  Jesse ended up suffering a complete spinal cord injury (same kind that Christopher Reeves had) and he is now a quadriplegic.  He has no feeling below his chest and has somewhat limited use of his arms and hands.  After his accident Jesse made it his mission to get back in the water.  With the help of his friend, and pro surfer, Rob Machado and his person trainer, Jesse has been able to get back into the water (now he surfs laying down on his board).  He was recently a featured story in Dana Brown’s film Step Into Liquid.  In the movie, Jesse explains, “It doesn’t matter if I’m standing up, kneeling, sitting down, or laying down, to me it’s still surfing.  I have a lot of burning sensations and pain in my body, but I soon as I hit the water it all melts away.  To me nothing, NOTHING, can compare to that feeling.” (Brown Step Into Liquid) Jesse has gone on to spread his determination to continue doing what he loves and in that has founded the “Life Rolls On” foundation.  This is a foundation that helps support other athletes/individuals who have sustained similar injuries to Jesse’s, who still wish to do the thing that they love.  The foundation also provides donations for further research on spinal cord injuries.  

    As I stated earlier, surfers often get stereotyped negatively.  Whether it is the territorial violent surfer, or the dope smoking, dropout, beach bum.  Usually the more you say about surfing to someone who doesn’t surf, the worse off you are.  Surfing is something that is very personal and deep, and it’s hard for an outsider to fully grasp that concept.  That is why surfers can talk about surfing for hours, especially with other surfers.  When researching this sport from a cultural and/or anthropological perspective, one can really see the depth and complexity of the subculture that surfing possesses.  Once one becomes immersed in that culture, it is impossible to leave it.  One can then recognize the connection that they have with other surfers.  This connection is not based on location or protection or socio-economic background, but rather it is based on a shared passion for the sport and a shared respect for the ocean and force of nature that are ocean waves.  As I stated earlier, I believe that this is a primary reason why one cannot equate surfing cliques with street gangs.  In the case of Kauanui and the Bird Rock Bandits; because the fight originated at a bar where Kauanui and one of the members were drinking together, not because of some ongoing turf war over a certain break.  The group member simply got into an altercation with Kauanui and called his friends to come back him up.  That to me seems like the only gang like aspect of the crime, unless of course it turns out that the attack was indeed premeditated.  But as of right now, based on what I have read, the media cannot rationally or morally apply these gang aspects to a surf clique, and certainly can’t generalize those aspects to all surf cliques.  In a brief bit of irony, Kelly Slater (seven time Pro Tour Champion) said, “Once you’re a surfer you’re done, it’s like the mob or something, you’re not getting out.”  (Brown Step Into Liquid) How ironic that someone as prolific and well known as Kelly Slater compares surfing to organized crime.  He is commenting on the addictiveness of the subculture of surfing, how the sport keeps bringing people back to the ocean, and makes lifelong surfers out of those who are part of that culture.