The Tribe:

[Wilbur Kookmeyer]

That is what this is. This art of it. A tribe. A universal tribe.

It does not matter that Doc and Honk are peaceful. That Doc after a couple beers will tel you how much of an a-hole you are while Honk will likely meditate.

It does not matter that SooLoo and I are aggressive.

It does not matter that Koon and Fish and NMM will drink you under the table while Sparky sips his grape knee high.

It does not matter that some of us truly rip, while others flounder in the creek.

WE are all part of the same tribe.

Different people, different backgrounds, different politics, different approaches, but one major commonality....a sworn oath to the faith. A personal choice to be part of this tribe for the rest of our lives.

Maybe not everyone has made that commitment yet....but most of us have. We know in our hearts that we will belong to this tribe for life.

There is a lot you have to go through and prove to be a full member of the tribe, but once in....you will never leave.

I one is aggressive to another in the water...it is just their approach.

It does not take from the idea that we are all related. That we are all brothers and sisters.

I will continue to push people in the water...it is what I do..it is the purpose I serve in the tribe.

But...I will...look upon my brothers and sisters as part of a whole...as opposed to outsiders in my world.

Welcome to the tribe....

[orriginal]

I get close
Then walk away
I get caught up
in other routines
I forget what it is like
to be there
to be in it
to be a part of it
for it to be a part of me

Then I get there
to the edge of it
I wade in up to my knees
and look at the heaving horizon
beckoning
waiting
swelling
falling
calling

I scream headaches
and noodling shoulders
it is too big
for a person like me
but then i get there
to the outskirts alone
feeling the life below me
lifting me
carrying me

Here it comes
the grand invitation
I turn as if to run
but I only paddle
it picks me up
leaves me with
no choice
but to stand
and drop
and fall
and roll
and smile

It goes on
and on
and I go to return
my rental
and return with it
my invitation
to the tribe
the rite
has passed
but I have not passed the rite
or the right

The tribe it scares me
and lures me in
simutaneously
and that frightens me
it is too big for a person like me
or is it?

God, I need another board.

[thurgood jenkins]

I want a mohawk and war paint.

[Timoteo]

Take me to your shaper!!!!!!!!

[finger]

It doesn't matter what you do for a living or what kind of car you drive or how many you have in the driveway. I don't care how big of a house you live in or where for that matter. I could care less what kind of board a person rides, as long as they ride. Their place in the lineup depends on how they surf.

All my friends are surfers. They own surf shops, are dentists, plumbers, farmers, etc, some are even unemployed- it doesn't matter to me what someone does to earn money so they can surf. They're my friends because they surf. A handful I've surfed with for many years, many waves and many good times. We've surfed through marriages, births and deaths.

The common thread is that we're surfers. It's more than what we do, it's who we are.

A friend once told me, " if you don't still surf, you never really did".

[surfnride]

There is a lot you have to go through and prove to be a full member of the tribe, but once in....you will never leave.

You may think you can leave and live outside of the tribe but the void, the emptyness will lure you back.
Nothing can take its place and I tried hard to replace the void only live in a denial that I was happy.
Those around you outside the tribe will never understand.
Stoked again and loving life!!!!

[wfo]

There are those that do what the flow of traffic does in life.....school, college, marriage, kids..etc. And never really deviating. Never really looking to find a passion in life, just getting by with new cars,house, pretty wife or husband, cool gizmos and do-dads, status quo

Well, I burn the campfire I call home far from the BMW BS, pretty nail, and shiny cellphone, tailored suit , and spoke in the machine and brick in the wall way of life. The darkness when I look in their eyes is terrifying to me. The soulless routine of old hatereds and this is the way it is nonsense. To have a passion in life that you actually do and live is truly a miracle in these days. And to surf, to keep that connection to the ocean and really the natural world around you is a path that a lucky few take. Take your life and live it fully, passionately and fully and may that lifeless darkness never extinguish that light in our eyes. I'm tribal all the way my friends.
WFO

[Guest]

It does not matter that Koon and Fish and NMM will drink you under the table while Sparky sips his grape knee high.

....

i'm calling bollocks on that one. abbot ale vs bombardier, ask fishy who the victor was... ask fishy who cycled home and who was was driven home safely by a coke drinking pal...

[Sparky]

It does not matter that Koon and Fish and NMM will drink you under the table while Sparky sips his grape knee high.

....

i'm calling bollocks on that one. abbot ale vs bombardier, ask fishy who the victor was... ask fishy who cycled home and who was was driven home safely by a coke drinking pal...

i'm calling bollocks on that one too. I would never sip grape knee highs! Chug perhaps but sip.. never, not strong enough.. now a Barqs Root Beer.. thats a sipping drink

[Sparky]

Personally I think membership to the tribe is something that has to be from within each individual. Some people try surfing and say to themselves, OK that was kinda fun but whats all the hype. Where as a true tribe member trys surfing and deep inside themselves they realize that this is something they not only want to do the rest of their lives but something that calls to them. It may call to you in differnt ways then it calls to me, but it still calls. For me, even if I go out and struggle for 3 hours to get one clean wave, that one wave, no matter how long or short, can fill my desires. Sure I perfer days when I have many clean rides, but for me I would rather go out and get one clean ride out of 3 hours then to sit at a bar or stay home and watch TV..

[redliner]

My tribe has been in long battle with the tribe of Wifes. We were once a band of strong warriors, then, one by one, they began to fall. Now, there are only two of us left. Me, and some hawaiian kid. However we have a new grom, fresh off a trip from Baja who is super fired up. We are a roaming murder of silent crows, perched, waiting to tear sh!t up and leave no scraps. We are there, somewhere, ripping.

[Saigon shakes]

Just because I surf doesn't mean I belong to some brotherhood or tribe or team with you and the rest of your passive-agressive, hypocritical, in touch with your feelings, I'll kick your @ss but I'm in touch with the earth moon and stars B.S. Yep I surf, your a chump, and it's not only your eye that stinks. I think you get the point. I dont like you and just because with surf the same peak sometimes doesnt mean we share some stupid packed. You damn butt-rockin, @ss kicking, hippie.

[redliner]

share your own "packed" Saigoon. Save it.

[orriginal]

Just because I surf doesn't mean I belong to some brotherhood or tribe or team with you and the rest of your passive-agressive, hypocritical, in touch with your feelings, I'll kick your @ss but I'm in touch with the earth moon and stars B.S. Yep I surf, your a chump, and it's not only your eye that stinks. I think you get the point. I dont like you and just because with surf the same peak sometimes doesnt mean we share some stupid packed. You damn butt-rockin, @ss kicking, hippie.

chump

[jerichv]

saigon shakes is tryin to clear this whole sh!t out. ya'll gonna let him talk to the tribe like that? lol...i sense a war party brewing.