nor have I ever seen so many leashed cats
My cat surfs without a leash. He’s no kook.
And speaking of kooks, if you spot name, I’m going to show up at your breaks. You know, the much-derided middle-aged learner that has some experience in the water and thinks he can surf but really can’t at all. The kind of guy who’ll shoulder-hop and drop in on you on accident, popping up to say “aw, shucks, I didn’t see you there buddy” as you get cut off from your perfect clean section/barrel what have you. The kind of guy who will paddle out right in front of your line because he couldn’t get around you in time to take one on the head in the whitewash. Is that what you really want???
Seriously, though, as the resident central coast kook around here I often don’t know where you guys are talking about a lot of the time. I know the main spots up north that even the non-surfers know about like SS, IB, the cove, etc., but if it isn’t a known break, I’ll be honest, chances are I probably don’t know about it. I’ve got three well-known spots here on the central coast between 20-40 minutes from me. I’ve been coy about naming them to keep with the spirit of the page, but seriously, at least two of the spots are well-known beginner breaks. They hold annual surf contests every year. There’s no secret about them. In fact, it would probably be better to name those spots loudly so all of the beginners go there and stay away from the more difficult breaks. I tend to go there, because I’m expected to be there. If you get burned by a kook at AB or OR, what did you expect? Those spots are where the kooks go to play. Now if we’re talking about an infamous point up north (which for the record, I’ve never been), then yeah, I can see why people want to gate keep.
I keep a lookout for secret/hidden/unknown breaks all of the time. I’ve got my eyes on a couple of spots to the south of me. They’re not visited often and there’s nothing on the internet about them, but I see people in the water out there from time to time. One of those spots I think is becoming more popular, though. I saw more people there this summer (maybe about 3-4 times) than I have seen total in the last 5 years. I guess the word is out. I’ve got another one that I’ve only seen people out on maybe twice. I’m not even sure where the access is, but every time I drive by now I check it out and I’ve seen some nice waves for sure. Those kind of spots I don’t think I’m going to share out publicly.
Because when I see a spot that I think is good, I go right to the internet to see if anyone else has surfed there. I was hiking around the south coast last weekend and found a beautiful wave that had refracted around a point into a sheltered cove. No one was around. When I got back I immediately went to check to see if it was a known spot. While I wouldn’t say it is well-known I am definitely not the first person who has noticed it. Same thing goes for a kayaking excursion I recently went on where the river let out into the ocean. The waves were rolling in perfectly and at the time there was absolutely no one around but fishing boats farther out. I did catch a wave in my kayak before completely dumping it on a second one – proving that I’m no better at kayaking than I am at surfing. Super fun, but I didn’t find a thing on the internet about that spot. As I was paddling back upriver, though, I saw a guy and his three kids hiking down a path with what looked like a SUP and a longboard so maybe it is known. It is to me now, anyway.
The point of this dissertation is that if you spot name a well-known beginner spot that has cams on it and is prominently featured on Surfline, MSW, the OSP itself, etc., then it’s probably no big deal. However, if you spot name a place you want to keep the kooks away from, you probably should keep it to yourself. Because if I’m out there trying to do all of this detective work, then I assure you that others are as well. Plus, it’s kind of fun to learn of a new spot even if I know I’ll probably not able to surf it any time soon. I consider it part of the whole learning process. Maybe someday I'll get to be the gatekeeper