“Unprecedented Times”
This phrase has never been thrown around more so than in the past month. Just go to your email inbox, type it into the search box and re-read how many times you’ve been hit with that phrase, coupled with something along the lines of, “we’re here for you/we’ll get through this together.” I counted 18 in my inbox. I guess not as big of a number I was looking for, but you get the gist. These all came within 8 days, might I add.
Sure, we are going through some wild shit right now, and who really knows what’s on the other end? I’ve had some pretty wild conspiracy theories sent over my way. It seems to be there are a lot more questions right now than answers for most of the world, at least on our western side. When will it end? When can we go back to work? When can we surf? (If you can’t right now.) Which brings me to my next question, something a bit more – light hearted.
What’s next for surfing?
Not in the sense that everyone is talking about right now either. I do realize the surf “industry” is fucked, or at least looks that way. I’m really not sure how its going to rebound and what’s to come of all these employees, surfers, and companies. I’m sure you have probably conversed this by now via text, face time, in the water or parking lot if you’re still out there sticking it to the man. Seems to be a hot topic, so were going to skip that for now.
I’m wondering what’s next for surfing as a whole. As a sport, culture, lifestyle, whichever you refer to it as. I am as stoked on surfing right now as I have ever been, honestly, so this whole question doesn’t come from a negative perspective. I have been spending a lot more times indoors like most right now, browsing old surf films, reading books, etc. Watching Stranger Than Fiction I think is when it hit me. We are pretty stagnant as a sport/culture/lifestyle right now.
Talent wise, style wise, and equipment wise we seem to be stuck. The only argument that I feel holds any ground would be the whole wave pool deal, but we’ll save that shit for later.
As far as talent, sure maybe guys have gotten a bit more consistent as far as landing rate and what not, but for the most part everyone is doing the same exact shit that was going down in at least 2007. Except for Ian Crane and his backside stale-fish. That is fucking nuts. But even that has probably been done sometime before. Chippa is still doing some wild stuff but we saw a lot of that in Lost Atlas. And Kevin Schulz’s backflip wasn’t sneezed at, but it was in a pool. The newer technology has made movies and clips look a lot better, thus being arguably more enjoyable, but the surfing has been at a standstill. Technology has also made surfing a bit more accessible, with jetskis able to make some wild waves actually surf-able (or rescue-able). I’d go as far back as 1990 and say that a few waves from Kelly Slater Black & Weight would still hold weight if they were posted on your instagram feed today. But how much more can surfing progress on the talent spectrum? How much higher can people actually boost? How many spins do I really want to see before landing? Snowboarding bores me just a little bit for this reason specifically, although no knock on those guys because I really do understand how gnarly and hard that shit is. The most progression I think I have seen recently, and I honestly think in the past at least 10 years is coming almost single handedly from Kai Lenny and the big wave guys. I only named dropped the one because some of the clips I see of him are just absolutely jaw dropping, but the whole lot of them are pushing the limits I think of what can be done. Sure, the girls are improving a bit as well (thanks Caroline Marks) but again, nothing really substantial. So, where do we go from here? How much longer will we watch surf contests and movies with the same surfing, but featuring new faces and names? Again, I’m not complaining, just posing questions at large. I know I will be behind the screen whenever the first contest does get back to running, and I’m still at home watching the bigger film projects that come out.
The What Youth/Modern Collective phase helped bring in a bit of a new era of style to the surf world, which has since become a fixture amongst parking lots everywhere. Also, still remains stagnant. Sure, trends will come and go and switch up a little bit of the fashion – 5 panel hats, dad hats, shirts while surfing (instead of a rash guard or top), the extremely small folded beanie, horizontal striped tee shirts, now cargo pants or pretty much any pant that’s folded way above the ankle. And Vans. I will never (for the time being) buy another pair of Vans Sk8 Hi’s until I can make it through my local parking lot and count on one hand how many pairs I see. Also, the front deck pad fad seems to be making a marginal come back for the past few years now and that is just ugly. There are no more baggy trunks or backwards hats. Surf brand tees and slips. I thought surfers were supposed to be “anti”. We are conforming to the commercial commandeering of our culture. At least regarding our style and fashion sense. Influences seem to be coming in mostly from skaters, but I would guess a lot of it is whatever is trending on social media. I have no idea what is supposed to be next, or what I would even want to wear other than my 501’s. Simply making an observation.
The most glaring evidence of surfing being dormant comes in the form of our equipment. Since the dumpster diver dropped in 2010 almost every short board looks identical to the naked eye. Different tails here and there, maybe some wings down the bottom of the rails, channels near the fins. Nothing of major change has come, or at least stuck around at all. Other than in the form of a few guys really testing things out (Ryan Burch), it seems we’re not even trying to see what we can do with surf equipment. The asymmetrical board I guess seems a little intriguing, but it looks like its been tested out enough and not caught on that it may just pass us by. Some of the boards I have seen on Stab’s Electric Acid Surfboard Test have been pretty interesting, but again it seems like nothing is stick-able. Torren Martyn winning most stylish surfer of 2019 was pretty big because he rides the alternative surf crafts, but those mostly just seem like a blast from the past. Going back to what used to be ridden and putting a small new twist on it. I have quite a few friends who actually love to surf boards like this, and I doubt it’ll ever get old, but in my taste there is a time and place for those crafts, not every day shred material. My quiver consists strictly of performance short boards, and if you ask any of my buddies they will tell you I’m always pushing for people to ride performance first. Why not enjoy the fruits of our labor from surfers before us? We have been here and done all of this in the past, will we just revel in our own yesteryear?
I had a great 3 hour marathon session today, and I plan on getting back out there tomorrow barring any unforeseen roadblocks. Surfing maybe is a bit idle for now, at least from my point of view, but I actually don’t have a single issue with it. Drop a comment below if you’ve got any ideas, feedbacks etc. I will leave you with this,
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
Albert Einstein
-hwilsin