Its really small on the peninsular for the last few days. However the place to be is along the East Coast, with solid 4 - 5 ft waves coming off a good NE groundswell. I spent 4 hours in the water at Boneyards yesterday, with plenty of barrels to go around. No photos as its so far out to sea you need a super zoom lens, which I don't have.
You probably won't see it being debated in surf magazines, certainly not the big selling ones, but there is a lot of discussion on the forums on commercialism in surfing. Is this a good or a bad thing?
You only need to visit any city beach on a weekend to see how popular the sport of surfing has become. Compare what you see to a photo of the same location 25 - 30 years ago and its obvious that the growth has been exponential.
With such a large customer base, any company already in the industry, with good management can only do well. Add to to this the customers that surf part time or wear the gear because they think it looks good, sell it all around the world and you have a multi million dollar industry.
So its in the companies interest to get out and promote their products, as any business has to do to survive. Part of this promotion is pushing the image of surfing as cool, hardcore, fun or even rebellious. Although it is such a mainstream sport now that you would be hard pressed to argue the rebelliousness of it. With all the promotion you attract new surfers and new customers and an expanding revenue base.
So what is it doing to the sport?
Many years ago, certainly before my time, surfing was considered to be more of a past time or lifestyle than a sport. As history shows that as soon as more than 1 person does an activity its human nature that they will compete to find who is best.
Its also human nature to try and make money. Where there is a market, someone will step in and exploit that market.
By its very nature, the image of surfing is very appealing. To spend your weekend, or for the lucky ones amongst us, your week in the water and riding waves is the ultimate lifestyle. There aren't many sports are there where you come out feeling clean and refreshed instead of tired and dirty. Even in the days before mass marketing, the sport was growing in popularity all by itself.
With all these factors, its easy to put together a competition. To attract competitors you need prizes To pay for the prize you need sponsors. The sponsors get advertising, the competitors get paid, the sport is promoted. More people start surfing and it grows.
Such a market has produced definite commercialism and hyping of the supposed surfing lifestyle. Along with this, the top level of surfing become very professional. Its no longer good enough just to be talented. At the elite level strict training and dedication is required to win. With millions of dollars at stake, its worth it. Every grommet taking up surfing dreams of making it to this level.
At the same time those that have participated in the sport for many years moan the demise of what was once a chance to relax and have some fun.
The next article will examine the detrimental effects of all this but there is one undeniable fact, in the year 2010, if you are surfing at almost any well known destination around the world, you are going to experience crowds.
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