Surfing has become to commercial, it’s run by clothing and accessory companies and a few surfboard labels that have grown large enough to control the majority of surfboard sales…. so they say.

I seldom look through the two major surfing publications, Surfer and Surfing magazines. I find them hard to look at and certainly not directed to my demographic. But in the past couple of weeks I’ve bought the latest issues of both. Looking to get the magazine for my son because his picture was in an ad that was in Surfing not Surfer, I made the mistake of buying Surfer. Then bought Surfing when my son informed me I’d got the wrong magazine.

So we had both magazines at the house… I looked through them, the first time in a long time I’ve picked up one of those publications. I wasn’t surprised at what I saw, but I got to thinking. Between both magazines I saw only one picture of someone riding a long board that was part of an article. Only one surfboard brand that had an ad with a long board and only a few ads with a picture of someone riding a long board, excluding the section in one of the magazines of surf schools.

I’m not going to go look now but I don’t remember pictures of alternative boards either. It’s all the pro stuff, which is fine because that’s what those mags are all about. But the funny thing is the modern short board does not hold the highest market share of surfboards sales… at least that’s what I’ve been told.

There isn’t any publication that is dedicated to long boards and alternative boards even though more of this type of board is ridden and in the water most of the time. How can that be?

No adds, no pros, no magazines hyping product, yet people buy most of their equipment at places that sell surfboards made by little known core builders. Not unlike the early days of surfing and surfboards, thankfully, surfing is still mostly the same. As Wayne Rich would say… the underground lives.

D.R

Wayne Rich with my wife and Twinkie the kid hanging ten.

My story post 34

I was in the ninth grade, before there was middle school, it was Junior High then. Junior high was grades 7,8 and 9. High school was grades 10, 11 and 12. Patrick lived across the street and was a couple years older than I. He went to a private high school and sometimes drove his mom’s station wagon… He had a license to Drive!

One day he asked if I’d like to go to the beach with him and a friend… like the next day. ‘Well yeah, but it’s a school day’ I told him. Well, his friend had a cousin that lived in Torrance Beach and he kept a few surfboards in the garage there so we could get away without boards and use the ones his friend had access to.

“So” Patrick said, “ here’s the plan. I’ll have my mom’s car. We’ll make like we’re going to school but instead drive down to Torrance get the boards and hit the surf at Torrance beach. Surf for a while, take the boards back and head home before school’s out so our parents will be none the wiser… you wanna go or what?”

I was a little apprehensive but what dim wit would say no to a chance to go surfing? OK… it was a school day, but…. I said ‘yes, I’m in’.

The next morning everything went off with out a hitch. We made our way to Torrance and the house where the surf boards were stashed. Got the boards from the garage, stuffed them in the station wagon and headed to the beach. Lucky thing Patrick’s friend knew where we were going because I sure didn’t.

It was such a nice day. Warm, sunny, light variable winds and the surf was about shoulder to head high. I’d never been to Torrance Beach, don’t remember ever going back but I still remember this particular day… the surf was fun!

Finally after surfing and hanging at the beach for a couple hours we were hungry and decided to find a small market to get a soda to go with our lunch. I packed a sack lunch just like I did every school day and had it for the trip. We ate and flipped the soda bottle caps around the parking lot of the market a bit before climbing in the car and heading back to the house to put the surfboards back.

When we got home all seemed fine. We all made like we were coming home from school just like any other day. I was a little nervous but didn’t think I let on. At home everything seemed normal… until I found my parents setting in the screened in pouch at the back of the house. Actually, my brother told me they wanted to see me. So I walked in and the first thing they asked… “So Dennis, how was school today?”

Geez… right then and there I knew something wasn’t right. They never ask me that, they had to be baiting me. Some how, someone, I didn’t know but, they knew I had ditched. Lucky for me intuition kicked in and beside the fact that I’m a terrible lier answered their question with ‘um… I didn’t go’ “You didn’t go” my mom asked. ‘No I went surfing with Patrick’

My parents were pleased I had told them the truth but didn’t let me off the hook. They wrote a note for me to take to school the next day that basically said I had an unexcused absence. I got something like 7 days after school detention. I remember sitting at a desk in detention doing my home work with maybe a dozen other kids I didn’t know and visions of a nice day at the beach surfing running through my head.

I only ditched school one other time. It was high school senior ditch day. I told my mom I wasn’t going to school that day because it was senior ditch day. I didn’t go to the beach though. I stayed home and worked on surfboards.

D.R.

My son Robin at the same age I was when I ditched school. He didn’t have to ditch, he could surf any day he wanted after school… and he did almost everyday there was a wave to ride…. Lucky kid.

What is it that makes up your favorite surf break? One thing of course is the wave. But what about the times that you surf a particular spot and how the conditions are or your performance that day that help you label a spot as your favorite, or one of your favorites anyway.

While growing up I surfed Malibu all the time. Was it my favorite place? No. That may sound dumb, after all Malibu is an all time place. Yeah, but back then my favorite spot was Secos, or Leo Carillo. Why? There were a number of reasons…. Like there were no where near as many people on the beach or in the water there. The wave is very consistent in shape. It really only blows out with a south wind.. so it’s either glassy or has a nice textured wave face. It’s tide sensitive but you can work around that. But all in all I always had a good time surfing Secos.

I really liked Hammonds Reef when I was younger too. Didn’t surf it very much but still liked going there when ever I did. And again don’t ever remember having a bad time there.

There are a couple other spots I’d say were my favorites too but everyone was a place I’d go to and have a good time. So really it’s not just the wave the makes for a spot being your favorite. It’s the mix of all the other ingredients that make surfing more than riding waves. The look of the water, what you see in the line up when you look at the beach and landscape. The feeling or vibe, the people, or lack of. And if you have a good time, time after time going there.

Visting your favorite spot can really help your stoke level too. I can remember going to a favorite spot when there were no waves just to sit on the beach and dream. Even that can make you feel good.

I’ve had or have a few favorite spots. I don’t go surf them these days so they stay a fond memory. I do think of the days I surfed my favorite spots but that’s as far as it gets. Maybe living at the beach and so close to places to surf makes it that way. I don’t know, I sure would like to go back to Kauai and surf some of my favs there.

D.R.

Secos on a day I sat on the beach and took a few pictures.