History of Surfing
In 1970 The Gooroo was six, His Dad had a factory in Brookvale, on the northern beaches of Sydney Australia: a Mecca for surfboard manufacturers. The Gooroo was an addicted beach kid, and would constantly give his parents a hard time to take him to the beach.
The old man had a guy who worked for him casually; Grant 'Dappa' Oliver was his name, an amazing surfer from that time. The young Gooroo grew up hearing stories of Dappa's exploits in the water, and was always fantasising about becoming a world class surfer. As you do when you're a kid.
The Gooroo was given a Midget Farrelly foamy, with a big rubber fin that weighed more than the board itself. This in itself was an interesting difference between now and then. Most learner surfers were kids and were learning to ride on foam boards, they were also learning away from the more experienced surfers.
A year and a half later and the Gooroo was on his first fibreglass board, it was a home made piece of crap! And The Gooroo thought it was just so cool. The Gooroo was on his way and he was about to learn that there is a lot more to surfing than just riding waves. The first time The young Gooroo paddled out with the big guys he was confronted with a milling crowd that seemed to be going everywhere at once. He was totally out of his depth. But an older kid in the water called 'Ginger' soon took care of the young Surfing Gooroo.
The parents in the neighbourhood knew him as a problem child, but to the kids he was the older guy that just shredded on a skateboard at our local shopping centre.
They were all in awe of his ability on a skateboard, but the young Gooroo didn't know he could surf too.
He paddles straight up to Gooroo and says something like, 'hey I know you, follow me'. The guy takes him in to the beach for a minute and explains to him, where was safe and where The Gooroo should avoid until he got better. He then drew a little diagram in the sand; pointing at it he says 'one wave, one surfer. You got that' Don't mess with this rule kid, you upset the wrong guy, you'll get a smack in the head. See ya round'
That was it, the young Surfing Gooroo had gotten his first lesson from one of the older guys, and it wasn't particularly gentle. Back then surfing wasn't that gentle, but it wasn't the aggressive self- centred bullshit that we have now either. The lesson that Ginger gave the Gooroo was more than it seemed. It covered respect for the older guys, don't drop in, and stay out of the lineup while learning, and at the same time it let the young Gooroo know that he was being watched. Meaning
1. He had better behave, and 2. He was safe as well.
Back then there was a very different attitude amongst surfers, we were all part of the same tribe, sure you got local factions, and the odd bit of name calling, but there simply wasn't the naked aggression towards other surfers that there is today. The aggro guys were the exception rather than the rule, and they were often encouraged to cool it just a little, if things got heated.
The Gooroo won't try and sell you a load of bullshit about the good old days; back then we had our problems too.
There were fights, there were greedy assholes in the lineup and there were bigots also. But that behaviour wasn't encouraged the way it is now. The general attitude was that surfing was an art form, a lifestyle and a means to get out of the rat race and take it easy for a while. The emphasis was on style, cool and letting go. It was about being part of something different and enjoying Mother Nature.
Surfers did make an effort to try and look after each other.
Learners were put in their place for the safety of all concerned, and there was a sense of camaraderie that was all about being surfers. Not based on the style of board you rode, but a connection from the fact that you rode a surf board at all. That was the direction that surfing was headed way back then.
The 1980's:
Taking a peek into the 1980's we see things were starting to change. There was a movement to have surfing recognised as a commercially viable sport. The world tour was starting to look like big business and the competitors were pushing for bigger prize purses on the circuit.
The soul of surfing was changing. More and more grommets dreamed of becoming pro surfers, the general public became more aware of 'the sport' of surfing. Funny how making money can both corrupt the soul of a movement and at the same time make it appear much more socially acceptable.
In the 60's and early 70's Surfing was a lifestyle that revolved around the art of surfing. As surfing struggled to gain social acceptability and become a means for making money, things changed. As they have a habit of doing.
The hardcore surfer movement was on its way, but a few more things were yet to happen before the surf Nazis appeared.
The early 1980's saw the resurgence of the longboard.
Longboarders considered themselves a different breed, soul surfers or purists if you will. But it didn't take long for the commercialisation of surfing to infect this group of individuals either. They were soon grouping together in clubs and holding competitions of their own. These comps were meant to be in the name of fun, and to some they still are! But for many, it soon became a serious business and it wasn't long before the ASP made room on the world tour for a Pro longboard circuit. The idea of surfing for money and the belief that surfing is a sport, rather than an art form was working its way through all areas of surfing.
*Don't get The Gooroo wrong here. The Gooroo was one of those competitors himself. The Surfing Gooroo also got momentarily sucked into the pipe dream of making a living from surfing as a sport and he had minor sponsorship deals for many years. The Surfing Gooroo is not saying that what happened is right or wrong. It's just the way he saw it all go down.
The inevitable started to happen, to pay for a world circuit in any sport takes big bucks! Where does the money come from?
Sponsorship of course and sponsors need to get something out of it or they are just throwing their money away. They need stars; they need people that others can look up to, so that these people can then be marketed to sell product. This is simply the natural order of professional sport.
But there is a side effect, which perhaps none of us wanted to really think about or accept resposibility for. To make the money to support the Pro Tour, the sponsors had to start selling more and more product. Surfing became a commercial venture that had to be promoted to the masses to survive. As there simply weren't enough surfers to buy enough gear to pay for the 'circus' as it had come to be known.
So how do you sell something? Well you gotta make it fashionable. Once something is fashionable then everyone wants to have a go. And there you have it instant crowds.
During the 80's, surfing underwent a wild transformation. Boards got shorter, crowds got bigger, modern longboards appeared. The Pro tour gave us stars that were marketed to the general public and the baby of the commercial jugernaught that is surfing today was born.
The 1990's:
It is The Surfing Gooroo's opinion, that it was somewhere during this decade that we, surfers as a sociological group got ourselves somewhat lost.
During the 90's The Gooroo was going through one of those phases where he had decided that he was bored with longboarding and it was time to get another shortboard. So The Surfing Gooroo had to do a little research, to see whom he wanted to get a board from.
The Gooroo bought an issue of 'Tracks' a long trusted Australian publication that is more aimed at the shortboarder market. While taking a browse, The Gooroo started to read the 'letters to the editor' section. It was a very frightening wake up call, quite simply because The Gooroo didn't realise there was so much hatred out there. The Surfing Gooroo must have gone through the 80's with his eyes closed, while half asleep and self-centredly following his own dreams.
Here were all these letters from the community that The Surfing Gooroo had always loved and felt a part of, that were demonising anyone who didn't quite 'fit the mould' of the 'hardcore' surfer.
It was pure insanity; there were letters against surfers from surfers. There were complaints about longboarders, bodyboarders, ski-riders, and shortboarders against other shortboarders for wearing the wrong coloured wetsuits and clothes. The list goes on and on. The Gooroo was blown away with sadness, when did our tribe become such a bunch of narrow-minded fascistic rednecks?
The split had begun, the tribe was falling apart, and the factions were gaining strength and momentum. The surf Nazis had arrived and they had plans for domination.
People were no longer known as just surfers, they were given labels and the Nazis put themselves at the top of the heap.
There were now many tribes, and they started to go to war.
It all sounds a bit familiar doesn't it' Humans, we're a serious worry sometimes.
While all this was going on, we then had the sudden emergence of the modern surf school. People realised that there was a fortune to be made from the newcomer to surfing.
This business was so profitable that surf schools started popping up all over the world. The problem was that you can't really teach someone to surf in a school; it takes months if not years to really learn to surf. The absolute best you can do is give a crash course that can be used to build a surfing foundation later on.
The surf school industry also gave birth to the 'hire board industry'. The crowds in the water began to increase at an exponential rate. While the crowds grew, the median level of surfing experience in the water dropped dramatically.
The crowds became and still are ridiculous; there was aggression and resentment bubbling up everywhere. Surfers started hating others surfers, the damage was done, we, surfers as a whole, were lost.
The new millennium:
The factional splits in the surfing world were becoming more pronounced, people stopped passing on their knowledge to the newcomers and surfing became a dog eat dog sport. The commercialisation of surfing was complete, the soul had been utterly corrupted and the sense that surfing was an individual art form was fading fast. Even being seen as a soul surfer had become an economically valuable pose. Resulting in the pseudo 70's retro set all vying for the cameras attention and a chance to sell themselves as 'the last of the hillbilly surfers'.
The average surf session would now end with a dinged board, or abuse from another surfer in the water. There was intimidation going on all over the place. The Nazis were winning, a substantial portion of the surf media had adopted the 'hardcore image' as its focus, and aggression was increasing rapidly.
It was starting to look as if there was no hope left in the surfing world, for those who just wanted to have fun.
But humans are resilient, and surfers also.
Yes folks, there is hope. There are little pockets of resistance popping up all over the place.
Every where you look there are people starting to ride different styles of boards. Single fins, twin fins, wide tail hi tech fish's, traditional style longboards, hybrids, bodyboards, skis and kneeboards and of course shortboards are also constantly changing and evolving.
So what? What's it all mean if people are starting to ride different boards?
Well there is once again a movement (small though it may be) in the surfing world towards open mindedness, individuality, and surfing for fun. People are starting to break out of the mould once again; this is always a very healthy sign in any sociological group. Surfers are starting to talk to each other again in the water, checking out each other's boards, and communicating with one another. There are still many problems, and there are still way too many 'Surf Nazis' out there in the world. Not to mention hillbilly posers. But there is hope and the signs are promising.
The reality is that only a very small minority of us will ever be famous or Pro's and even a smaller number will be successful at it. For the rest of us, the future of surfing lies in our hands, after all we are the majority, it is us who need to lighten up and remember that surfing is about fun. It's not about how cool it looks; it's about how good it feels.
Can we find our way back?
The Surfing Gooroo doesn't know if finding our way back is even a good idea.
There are many people who waste their lives dreaming about the good old days, but the gold old days never return. Perhaps we would do well to aim at a better tomorrow. And the only way to do this is to take action today.
It's up to all of us to be a little more mindful in the water. This means being aware that our behaviour does affect others.
No matter what goes down on the pro circuit, or in the media and fashion worlds.
Remember this:
The Surfing Gooroo says: surfing is an art form, a pastime, a leisure activity and a lifestyle. It is self-expression, it is individual achievement, and it is a humbling experience of flowing with nature. It is fun and frightening, frustrating and rewarding, gentle and overwhelming and a potent form of meditation. Everything else is extraneous: fashion, politics, aggression, judgement, and hierarchy. It's all there and it's all irrelevant and whether or not you decide to get involved, will govern the future direction of the lifestyle that we all love so much.
So grab your board, have some fun, open your eyes, and go out and help to make the water a safer and more enjoyable place for us all to share.
It's well worth it!
Peace love and mung beans to you all.
THE SURFING GOOROO
