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No surf blog is complete without mentioning this masterpiece. This is perhaps the most well known surf film/poster of all time; The Endless Summer is a documentary of the travels of Bruce Brown, Michael Hynson, and Robert August. Practically every surer has this poster on the walls of their room (myself included) because it stands for everything that California surf culture has symbolized since the 60′s when this film came out. Words that come to mind when you hear “The Endless Summer” are freedom, adventure, peace, beauty, etc. This film was never about getting huge, gnarly waves; these California groms were just looking to travel, experience new cultures, and do what they love most with their best friends. To many surfers, that's the dream. This film displays classic surfing at its finest: longboards with no leashes, board shorts, graceful nose riding, packing light so you can hit more spots per day, great friends sharing waves. Unfortunately, surfing has progressed to be something much more complicated and serious. Don't get me wrong, today’s surfers are doing things in the water that guys in the 60′s thought were impossible, and that is amazing; It is the lingo, the vibe, the mojo, the love that today’s surf culture needs to restore. Why is it that all of this new technology has pushed surfers to become so territorial, yelling at each other for going on “their wave,” whatever that means. These guys didn't have performance fins, jet skis or surf watches to track the tides, yet they did fine. If you have not seen this film, check it out on a rainy day or once you have watched literally everything on Netflix, and keep in mind that it does not take a V6 performance jet ski with 350 horsepower and dual exhaust to create an icon.

#californiaculture

This is one of the most dangerous factors of tow in surfing, crowds. With twenty to thirty jet skis out at an average big tow session, and each moving towards one takeoff spot at speeds of nearly thirty miles an hour, things can get very messy very quickly. If everything goes well, the worst thing that will happen is for a few surfers to get tangled up on a wave and be forced to bail, or maybe a couple ski drivers have a miscommunication and get in each other’s way. Unfortunately, things can often get much worse when the waves are so huge and the ocean is as unpredictable as it has been known to be. Every surfer is familiar with the phrase, “being caught inside.” This is when a rouge wave, larger than the average size of waves that day, comes through a spot and breaks much farther out than the usual wave where surfers are positioned. This sends all of the surfers scrambling to make it over the wave in time before it breaks on top of everyone; all of the people who have the wave break on top of them and have to take the beating were, “caught inside.” Having had this happen to me many times, I can say that it is easily one of the least fun parts of surfing. When it happens on such a large scale, like when chasing tow in waves, surfers may be held underwater for minutes at a time, being dragged violently along the ocean floor in a vortex of mayhem and disorientation. When jet skis weighing nearly a ton are added to the equation, things get even more dangerous because surfer are at risk of getting crushed by one of these vessels. Even if a surfer avoids these giant fiberglass boulders underwater, if their ski driver gets caught inside, when they surface their is no one to rescue them, and they are forced to rely on any other watercraft that can help them. If I was taking waves the size of three story buildings on my head, had dismounted jet skis flying at me, and had no water rescue team coming my way immediately, I would start reconsidering whether this was a good idea.

#paddleoverthrottle

The Footprint Chronicles® examines Patagonia’s life and habits as a company. Learn about our supply chain and our efforts to reduce or eliminate harm.

This link is to the Patagonia website, and their newest effort to promote sustainability. Having read Yvon Chouinard’s (their founder) book about the ethics of the company, I am very familiar for what Patagonia is all about. All of their products are not only made to last and covered by a lifetime warranty, but they are crafted with all organic and recycled materials. They came out with an article called, “The Footprint Chronicles” that traces all of their efforts to save the environment while still running one of the largest outdoor equipment companies in the world; It is so admirable that a front runner in innovation like this is also a major contributor to sustainability. Patagonia could easily get consumed with making money, and use their status to become filthy rich, but instead they focus on what they were founded on, a passion for nature. The reason this relates to my issue is because Patagonia makes many surf products, and the fact that they are doing so in the most efficient, environmentally sustainable way shows that they are on the purist side. While watching a tow in session, you will never see a jet ski with Patagonia logos all over it, because it goes against all that they stand for. They are willing to go there extra mile to assure their customers that they are as sustainable as they claim; for example, on the link above their is a map of every factory and farm where Patagonia attains their materials used to make their products, so that any customer could feel confident when buying a Patagonia product that it was made in an ethical way. Patagonia’s founder, Chouinard, was never about taking the easy route, he wanted to take the path that kept him close to mother nature, and honest with himself; and he holds his company to that to this day.

In recent years, Sea Doo has been making a line of jet ski models specifically for tow use; the 2016 models cost from $12,000 to nearly $15,000. Since when did surfing need to be this expensive? Like any other vehicle, every year they come out with a bigger and faster model with a larger engine. With more engine means more fuel, and therefore more exhaust and pollution. There is no Prius of performance Jet skis, they are all going for power and speed. As a surfing community we need to restrict jet ski use to rescue; We are doing no good to the ocean by having twenty or thirty skis racing around in chaos trying to get waves. Jet ski use for rescue is great because not only do we get the huge benefit of being able to save lives, but we only need one or two in the lineup at a time, which will minimize pollution.

This link is to an article done by Surfer Magazine in January of 2015; it discusses the steps made by different surf companies to be more environmentally friendly. The most common moves that have been seen in recent years include using recycled polyester to make board shorts, EPS recycled packaging foam replacing epoxy to be the core of boards, and all organic resins from trees rather than synthetic polyurethane resins. All of these new materials not only decrease the amount of trash in the ocean/landfills, but they all do less harm to the ecosystem when they are present. It is great to see huge brands like Hurley, Lost, Channel Island Surfboards, Patagonia and Vissla all leading the charge. This shows that the sport of surfing and its following are not all about money, they have a real passion for the ocean and plan to take care of it. Unfortunately, tow in surfers are working in the opposite direction.

For me, surfing is as close a connection I can have with Mother Nature. To surf, you're riding a pulse of energy from Mother Nature. And it's strong. It's real. It's there. And you're dancing with that. You're connecting with that. You might be the only person in history of the universe that connects with that particular pulse of energy.

Xavier Rudd

This is a song by Jack Johnson that he refers to as his, “love letter to surfing.” Its with the whole surfing purist movement, and it gets me stoked before I paddle out!

Perhaps the most widely known lifeguard/waterman of all time is the Hawaiian Eddie Aikau. Born in Kahului on Oahu and raised by the ocean, Aikau always felt like the ocean was his home; his famous words, “Outside of the water I am nothing” still live with the surfing community today. He became a lifeguard on the north shore at the big wave venue Waimea Bay. He never once had someone die on his watch, but he did lose his own life while saving a capsized US Coast Guard Cutter crew. He is widely loved and admired by the surfing world for representing the ideals of the ancient Hawaiians, and the way they viewed surfing. He worshipped the ocean, he took great care of it, and always had the highest degree of respect for it, knowing any day in the water could be his last. Today, we see fewer and fewer surfers that represent what he stood for because of trends like tow in surfing which take away from the intimacy of man, board, and ocean that makes surfing so majestic. Aikau’s “Aloha Spirit” lives on through his charity, the Eddie Aikau Foundation, which promotes knowledge and education on the ocean and Aikau’s goals/ideals. Also, the most prestigious big wave paddle surfing event, The Eddie Aikau Memorial, is dedicated to the life and achievements of the famous waterman. The competition is held only when the waves are of outstanding size and danger, which may be as rare as every decade. When the event is called, only the most talented and respected surfers in the world are invited to surf in the Eddie; it can be argued that being invited to the Eddie is the biggest achievement a professional surfer can make. It is a chance to bring Aikau’s ideals back to life, and remind the world what surfing is all about to the Hawaiians.

Surfing soothes me, it's always been a kind of Zen experience for me. The ocean is so magnificent, peaceful, and awesome. The rest of the world disappears for me when I'm on a wave.

Paul Walker

It's a culmination of your life of surfing when you turn and paddle in at Mavericks.

Jeff Clark

#surfforlife

This is the footage of Raimana Van Bastoleor almost being killed by his friend, and professional surfer Reef Mcintosh. As you can see in the video, Mcintosh just was not able to pull out of the wave in time after slingshotting Bastoleor into this massive wave in Tahiti. Not only was the surfer almost killed by having the jet ski nearly fall directly on his head, but both the driver and surfer had to take a few hold downs under some giant waves that came after this one. This video is not only a case for how dangerous tow in surfing is in general, but it shows that even experienced professionals can end up in dangerous situations in the ocean. Furthermore, this clip is a testament for how useless and vulnerable a ski driver is once they are knocked off of their jet ski. The odds that a driver will be able to swim to his ski, flip it over, mount himself on it, and save his surfer in the midst of being pounded by waves of this size are so slim.

Seen here are some specialized tow surfing boards, these have several key differences from normal boards that are obvious even to non surfers. The first and most noticeable are the foot bindings; the surfer straps their feet into these, allowing them to be pulled by the jet ski easier while still being able to remain balanced on the board. These straps also give the surfer a new feel of control while surfing the wave, the straps enable them to keep contact with the board much easier if it goes airborne. Despite the different shapes of tow boards one will see, they all have a common characteristic in weight; all tow boards are made much heavier than a regular paddle in shortboard. This is done so that the board can handle the chop and bumps on the face of larger waves, but the downside to a more heavy board is that it will be much more difficult to turn freely. The goal of a tow in board is very specialized, and directs the surfer subconsciously to ride the wave in a certain style because of its limitations and advantages.

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