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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor,

I believe that your brutal distain for our American surf culture jumps to too many conclusions. It slaps surfers in the face, That there are surfers that you depict as being better, when really the only difference is a corky accent. (Which I will admit gets a lot of girls attention in the states, but ultimately is useless in Australia.) It is those people who live upon the coast, beyond those poser commercials used to depict a main stream market. Its all a matter of perspective. In Australia, the surf culture is main stream, it is the norm, not something to be marketed because its just accepted. You can see that in towns all along our own coasts as well. But like everything in America, it lives a symbiotic life with commercialism.

Everything is comparable, and if you think Australia is that great than maybe its better you move.

Way to go to highlight all your so called tarnishing moments, which one way or another has shaped the surf society we are now living in. Everyone has a choice and there a people to prove the different levels of dedication on both sides of the ocean.

There will always be the posers, there will always be the weekenders, and so on. Bros will be Bros. Sounds like somebody just needs a good surf sess???or two??? -Travis Allain Santa Barbara, Ca.

"Bros will be Bros."

Wow, that is trite. Are you sure I didn't write that? - Ed

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Whose Aussie ass are you kissing with this ridiculous piece of bad writing? It reads like you came off a hangover with deadline staring you in the face, or like you pumped it out while still drunk and in love with your Foster’s lager.

Just because you’re a gas-guzzling SUV-er, GPS-led, ‘Net surf report-junkie yuppie longboarder does not mean we all are! You probably don’t even have stickers plastered all over your big shiny car or so much sand and melted bits of wax in the trunk you give up cleaning it.

American surf culture is and has been extremely rich for decades and has permeated parts of the country (Hawaii, where I grew up, IS a state!). America is where surfing started! If you were a real journalist you would get out and do some serious research before bitching all your pettiness right out in public. Sure, Aussie surf culture is “rich and ripe” (is that really the best adjective?) but American surf culture, even with its oil slicks of commercialism, deserves better than your trite tirade. You could have actually communicated a useful message, but no, insults and gross flattery annihilate your legitimacy.

And what insolence to write that “Australia is perhaps the only continent where the waves are more legendary than the men who ride them.” Yeah, and what about the Aussie women who ride them? Anyway, surf breaks have always been more legendary than the men and women who ride them, we ephemeral beings who pass into dust no matter how many barrels or airs we get during our short lives.

And learn how to write. You made at least a dozen spelling, grammar or punctuation errors and yet you call yourself an “Editor.” You need an editor!

Teia Maman Quartier Costemale FRANCE

Research? What about Captain Goodvibes? In 1989 I spent five long months in my mate Maca's "greenroom" (it wasn't called the greenroom because of the colors on the wall) scouring over every issue of Tracks magazine between 1970 and 1978. It's just that I forgot most of it.

By the way, I didn't say I was an "Editor." I said I was an "Online Edtoer."- Ed

You've got some things incredibly right about Aussie surf culture, and missed a couple that are a little more hidden from general view, but that really hold things together for the Aussie surf culture like nothing else in the USA.

1. The social security system. In Australia the twice monthly social security cheque for unemployment used to be a rite of passage for those that knew they'd never make it as a pro surfer or ever make it to instant easy income and/or wealth or didn't have rich parents. In between jobs an Aussie can go surfing confidently able to pay rent, repair boards, eat healthy and have a few beers on the weekend. Timed correctly with the seasons this can really do wonders, allowing a bloke to concerntrate on surfing FULLY for as long as you can hold out from being 'responsible' again. I know, I've done it back in my youth, more than once. We called it "John Howard's Surf Team", in honor of the most out of touch Prime Minister we've ever had.

4. The Sickie. This is an institution in Australia. And it's a well known fact that the days of great surf see a loss of productivity in the workplace as all those that have the gaul and vision to take the day off from work on the premise of being a little "under the weather" go out and get under some lips. No employers have ever publicly attacked this phenomenon as they know that general productivity will suffer if they do. Because a happy surfer working for you on a flat day can generate a lot of good productivity, but if he's shitty caused he missed it yesterday he's not going to be highly productive untill he gets his next good surf.

5. Mark Richards. It's hard to define the power of the influence that MR had on the next couple of generations of surfers. He set the stage for us to feel that we dominate the sport, and it's still felt today. Despite Kelly's staggering run at titles it is assumed that 'overall' we're still the best surf nation in the world and it's also assumed that is something that will never change. The Aussie mags have always tried to capitalise on this by preaching the next world title aspirant from Australia and running down Slater....but......

I could go on and on, and list a lot of the other negatives in Cali that slow surfing down, but that'll do for now...

Cheers, Andrew Long

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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