Did you think the line-ups were crowded last summer?

[Sparky]

If you thought the lineups were too crowded last summer then your REALLY going to hate this summer. Out of the last 8 surf trips, I talked with guys and gals who just took up surfing within the last few months. It was not like one here and one there, but 3 and 4 on every outing, at every spot.

Good thing, bad thing, does it really matter? Personally I do not mind seeing more faces in the lineup, though the one thing I did notice is most of the people I saw practicing in the white water were on short boards and not doing very well. While I am sure some will catch on and learn on a short board, if they want to run they really should learn to walk first.
My only concern is being a LBer myself, I hate to see some of the SBers get all pissy when its small, mushy and crowded and they feel like they are not getting their share of waves. And summer time normally means small mushy waves.

On the bright side of this, the obstacle course will be more challenging this summer

[spray]

Summer is when all the lazy fat longboarders come out. I wish it could be winter all year long.

[Sparky]

Summer is when all the lazy fat longboarders come out. I wish it could be winter all year long.

Being a lazy skinny longboarder I like all the seasons, now if I could just learn to duck dive a longboard

[leashplug]

I don't mind the crowds after logging four years in San Diego. I usually follow one simple rule: the more crowded it gets, the longer the board I ride (mostly applies to summer when it’s smaller).

When there's just a few out, I'll ride my 7'0". When the lineup starts filling up, I’ll move to my 7’8”, then my 9’0” and finally when it packs them in, I’ll break out the 9'6" tanker, also known as the "crowd buster".

If the waves are really pounding with critical drops, I don't like dealing with the crowds if there are a lot of beginners out. You do get those days when the crowd knows what its doing, the channel is working, everyone is staying out of the way of the wave and the rotation is working.

When it's really small, I don't care either way. I just sit on the outside with my tanker and catch everything, I am up and riding before it's even a wave. Plus I don’t mind sharing waves on those days. Though on the smaller, clean summer days, almost every beachbreak along the coast is working. I usually take off to places you’d never even consider surfing in the spring/fall/winter. I avoid all the well known spots on days like that.

Between June and August, when it's the smallest and most crowded there are a million little peaks working all along the coast. Get out there and explore.

[Ron Burgundy]

i love a few people in the line-up because it always makes things a little less nerve-racking. as for newbies in the line-up, that doesn't make me feel a whole lot safer.

agate was pretty bad last year; the beach was peppered with rentals. though most of em stuck w/the white water, i'm afraid they'll be back this year to do some real surfing.

wish i had a pet dolphin i could train to swim around just under the surface. that would be a sweet trick to play on the crowds.

[leashplug]

wish i had a pet dolphin i could train to swim around just under the surface. that would be a sweet trick to play on the crowds.

Better yet, build a remote control shark, like Jaws. You can sit on shore and clear out the line up before you go out.

[Wilbur Kookmeyer]

More kooks in the water this summer?

Oh....how i am sooooooooo going to enjoy this.

Last Summer @ SS I was driving down a smallish right and this guy just keeps paddling...head down..not even looking....I holler...he keeps going...by the time I get down to him...he has managed to drop stright in on his belly and proceeds to try to stand...and falls over. Of course by this time I had pulled short and was glaring at him.

He gives me the "oh man..i'm sorry I didn't even see you"...to which I glare him in the eye and say..."That's 'cuz you didn't even fuking look"...the I paddle back out.

A bit later he paddles back out and is just to the inside of me and i hear him say to his partner in Dweebdom..."I guess not everyone out here is all friendly and shite huh?".

I paddle right to him..and tell him to tallk some more shite. He and his friend paddle off.

I love that shite.

[Koo Nass]

You should have one more option for "just don't care"

During the summer I don't surf weekends, and if I come to a spot that is crowded, I move on to another spot. My experience is that only a couple of spots on the northern coast get crowded (SS & IB), and that is fine with me.

The only good thing that I can think of when summer rolls around, are the beauties that are sunbathing on the beach while their shopping mall outfitted kook boyfriends are trying to hang on for dear life while a measely little summer swell rolls onto the beach.

[goofyfooter]

I like leash's idea with the big board. I should get my own "crowd buster" for this summer. The 9' ain't enough when the dudes on the 10's are 20yards farther out and already standing.

[XBlueSilverX]

acctually this last summer i got a few clean, sizeable waves at a certain spot.. and no one else was there surfing except my girlfriend.
Then i was up at the car getting some more beer and food when a bunch of surfers showed up in a jeep, some chick asked me how it was and i said it really really sucked, too mushy.. so they all left BAHAHAHAHA
so i hada few beers and went surfing again for 5 more hours.
what a great day.

And Wilbur, if i ever see your punk a** out in the water, im going to talk all kinda of trash, kick you in your junk and run for my life.

[Sparky]

Last Summer @ SS I was driving down a smallish right and this guy just keeps paddling...head down..not even looking....I holler...he keeps going...by the time I get down to him...he has managed to drop stright in on his belly and proceeds to try to stand...and falls over. Of course by this time I had pulled short and was glaring at him.

He gives me the "oh man..i'm sorry I didn't even see you"...to which I glare him in the eye and say..."That's 'cuz you didn't even fuking look"...the I paddle back out.

A bit later he paddles back out and is just to the inside of me and i hear him say to his partner in Dweebdom..."I guess not everyone out here is all friendly and sh#t huh?".

Gawd Dam Wilbur, how many times do I have to say "I am sorry "

Oh wait, that was not me... never mind

[tippy toes]

i'm going to be living just south of big sur this summer. 5 minutes from the ocean. los osos. i don't really care what happens in this place. all i know is i am tired or 2-3 foot summer "swell." i know i will have more of a crowd to deal with, but that has never bothered me. i've lived in hawaii and surfed cali. it's all relative. i don't mind taking the bad with the good. i'm excited to spend the summer in a new place, meet some new surfers and surf some new breaks.

[Stiffler]

I like leash's idea with the big board. I should get my own "crowd buster"

Ferro-cement longboard....

[XBlueSilverX]

I like leash's idea with the big board. I should get my own "crowd buster"

Ferro-cement longboard....

im going to buy a huge crappy longboard and affix spikes/nails to the outer edges.

[Koo Nass]

im going to buy a huge crappy longboard and affix spikes/nails to the outer edges.

How about a barb wire leash to complete the look?