Just a little SoCal reminder of why we don't want oil drilling off our coast: 
Of course, now that a gallon of gas has suddenly become cheaper than bread, nobody's shouting that stupid slogan anymore. But hopefully no one's rushing out to buy an SUV either.
Of course, now that a gallon of gas has suddenly become cheaper than bread, nobody's shouting that stupid slogan anymore. But hopefully no one's rushing out to buy an SUV either.
Hmmm. I'm just wondering...I mean...just a thought...if one's "home breaks" are from Linda Mar to Capitola (I always thought a "home break" was a break that was actually in the town you live in, but what do I know)then don't we NEED to drill to supply all the gas we burn to get to our "local" surf spots? Or, should we just drill in someone else's back yard? Or, should we carpool with four people and crowd a break, but justify it in the name of saving gas? Or, should we pick one or two spots closest to home and stick to them? And if they are not good, just go home? Or, should we just be hypocrtes and rack up tons of driving miles looking for surf and just talk a good environmental line but not really live it? (Yeah, bro, I am SO green but I have a petro wetsuit, a petro surfboard, and I just drove fifty miles one way to catch two waves because I cant really surf) What about jet travel? I mean, just a thought...but if we are going to surf Australia and Costa Rica and Timbuktoo and all, don't we NEED to drill to get all that jet fuel we need to jetset to all the cool hangouts and surf? I suppose we all justify our wants and desires. We are all such fucking hypocrites. Dont want to drill, but our beloved surfing requires driving for miles, dont like "mean people" (the four mile comment, fyi) but post blogs online that spew about breaks all up and down the coast and wonder why people (i.e. people who have been surfing since LONG before internet, cell phones, and YOU have been crowding breaks that used to be cherished and sacred) are so pissed.
ReplyDeleteDont you get it "Nor Cal Surfer Girl? (oh, you should rename central cal surfer girl, btw) Dont you get how much you piss off people who have dedicated their lives to surfing? Dont you get how silly you sound spewing about all your driving and jetsetting and then are anti drill? Dont you get it that you are a kook and long time surfers cannot stand the sight of you?
Turn off your stupid blog, get off your stupid seasick meds and welcome the rhythm of the ocean, keep your mouth shut and just surf, ok? I mean, do you blog about the great lovemaking that you had the night before? Of course you don't. You keep it inside as a gift to quietly share with a special few. Get it?????
Actually, I'm vegan, so that more than cancels out my carpool drives to the beach in my fuel-efficient MINI a couple times a week. If more people would cut out eating animals, we wouldn't need so much oil.
ReplyDeleteHey, are you that agro guy who yelled at me while I was bleeding at 4 mile? Dude (and I think that's a correct gender assumption), you really need to go get wet - your pissiness has reached epic proportions. Stop reading my blog cover-to-cover and go surf.
Have a nice day :-)
lookinthemirror, what exactly is it that you're so angry about?
ReplyDeleteI guess it must be described, that living in Central California is a different surf environ than SB and south, where one can walk out the door, down the street, and paddle out. To surf Guadalupe north, is to drive to the spot.
Now, second, you miss the point of the post, or chose to ignore it: 1100+ gallons of oil just spilled into the sea! Doesn't that suck?
An oil spill has nothing to do with driving to surf spots, it has to do with:
1. Someone was not doing their job at that platform,
2. This is a reminder that we do not want to increase the risks by building more platforms off our precious coast.
There's something else going on here though, to make you comment as such - what is it that's really bugging you?
Coastroad, I am not angry, I am disgusted. What is "really bugging me" (which fortunately does not lessen my stoke) is exactly what I previously stated. We as a surf culture have, in my opinion, swirled into a hypocritical, self rightous, bullshit ourselves, group who deserve all the problems we are faced with today. "An oil spill has nothing to do with driving to surf spots"???? Oh really? So, you postulate that when we choose to consume gasoline for an unnessecery activity that we do not share in part a direct fault for supporting the companies that drill for it and then spill on occassion as they obviously will? I mean, we all know that they WILL spill as part of the program rather than as an anomoly, or we would not be so concerned with drilling, right? Therefore, when we drive to surf, we are knowingly, as part of our activity, using a product that we KNOW is part of spilling in the ocean, and accepting and justifying the result. Or, we would not do it. Or, no? I dont care if one is a vegan or a mcdonalds pig. What do we get, an allotment of credits? So if I am vegan, I can pollute as part of my hobby and it is ok, because I "offset" my consumption with my vegan habits? Bullshit! I could be Jesus Christ and if I choose to drive two hours round trip to surf rather than take a walk around my own house (or surf a closer spot!) for excercise then at least I should ADMIT that I am CHOOSING to pollute for my hobby, and, in this particular thread of thought, justifying my part in a spill, because I want to surf. Instead of self rightous BS about another aspect of my lifestyle that somehow nullifies a negative behavior.
ReplyDeleteYou miss my point. I am well aware of the environment of the Central Coast. You say that to surf anywhere north of guadalupe is to drive to the spot? Huh. Ok. Well, even if that was true, which it obviously is not, the goal would be, if you actually cared so much about fuel consumption, to minimize the drive, yes? So...live on the Peninsula...surf the Jetty? Even if you carpool your mini and chew on boca burgers while tooling over 92, you still would burn less fuel. Or no? Burn more fuel because you want better waves?
I assume that you are a long time surfer? Then I am sure that you understand the impact that the internet as a whole and on a micro scale a seemingly inocent surf blog has when posting articles, photos and etc on surf spots. Oh, I am well aware of the plethora of information available on each and every nook and cranny. And I am well aware that removing a blog will most likely not lessen impact. Or, will it? I would hope that, regardless, a "thinking" surfer would weigh the potential impacts and rather than be a part of tipping a scale in the wrong direction would not take the risk and would instead choose to keep his or her newfound puppy like excitement among his/her friends and herself rather than risk insulting not only those who have come well before, but to many, actually insult the wave itself. Unless, of course, one justifies the impact because of the commercial gain (which clearly here there is none)or one is simply ignorant from lack of perspective.
It is a matter of perspective, coast road. All changes with time. But that does not mean all change is good, or must be swallowed as anything but the bitter pill that it is. What was once an adventure at our backdoor is now a keystroke away from all revealing. Knowledge that was once a journey of apprentice-ship and dedication is now thrown about like so much empty air by the unknowing. No pain, no satisfaction that comes with watching day after day after day after day. Shortcuts, like so much medication to supress the nausea of the reality of the power of our ocean. No longer even knowing what we do not know, let alone earning what we do know.
It is not anger, it is sadness. You either understand, or you dont. But yes, many do read a blog such as this, drawn by an attraction similar to that which draws us to peer in the coffin of a loved one. We know life goes on, we know there is as much as ever to be thankful for, but we also know that something special is irrefutably gone.
Oh, and btw, sufer grrl, it was not me that yelled at you. I dont yell, I keep quiet, go by myself and focus on remembering to be thankful for the wave at hand. And, I stopped going to 4 mile about 15 years ago after a previously good 15 year or so run.... for many reasons, among them I prefer to surf the beaches I see from home, and the internet has frothed up the crowd to the point of ruining the fun.
It's just a matter of different perspectives, and I suppose we all need to live with the fact there are many we do not like. I dont like yours, and you spew it every day to the world. You dont like mine, but allow my two days of spewing, and dont worry, I wont yell at you, even though I think you are a kook ;)
Have a nice day.
I do get you lookinthemirror. I do. I've felt the same way.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, just last week after a lovely Thanksgiving repast, my brother pushed back from the table and said, "There are SO many people who move to California without a fucking clue as to what it's all about to live here."
I cringed because five of the eleven people at the table were not native Californians. But even the rest of us aren't "native," we were only representing first and second generation Californians.
The problem that you illustrate has been going on since Portolá and his buddies made their way north, disturbing the native population. The natives also cherished this land and had their own sacred spots.
But the newcomers were drawn to this land by the boomers before them: Vizcaíno's map promoting Monterey Bay, for example. The better life promoted to the Anza Party. The Gold Rush. This is California's history, a history of promoters who bring in more believers, who overrun the population existing in place. This has been going on for almost 240 years.
So, yes, I do get you. And the internet, whether it is this blog, or if Google Earth starts to map every break, accompanied by seasonal merits, it's all umbrella'd under Information.
Growing up in Laguna in the 70s, we didn't really want anyone from Newport on our beaches, surfing our waves. We definitely didn't want the kooks from Huntington anywhere south of Corona del Mar. Then in high school it was us against the inlanders, the Valleys. Later, when I should have been in college, I lived instead on Maui, and witnessed Laird pissing off quite a few by attracting thrill seekers to the bigger breaks through technology.
Earlier today I was distracted by DSP sending out a blast that contained this link. Hypnotic view, mesmerizing, but then it hit me: It used to be that we'd only see photos of this break - nobody on the face of this wave - and the photos would allow us to enjoy wishful thinking. Remember that? Drool-worthy photos in Surfer that we'd talk about and just dream over, but also have a little enjoyable fear and respect? I watched this video two more times and my take-away is that these guys, with the driving soundtrack and jet skis, were more about conquering this wave - no need to simply photo such an outstanding form to dream about, like in the old days, ...
like in the old days, ...
So, yes sir, I do get you - and also, I agree, we are all hypocrites. I bemoan this oil spill, yet I'm driving all over lately. So yes, I do get you, which is what my original point was questioning your intent. Thank you for replying.
I don't think it necessary to hate norcal surfer girl. She's not driving any more than anyone else I know. She represents the latest emigrant to California: a good job that affords her the opportunities that she wishes to pursue. Jesus, at least it's not golf!
Yes, surfing isn't about promotion if you just grew up here and it's always been a part of your life. I don't think she's promoting surfing per se, her blog began as an offshoot of her stoke, and a publisher said, "Make something of it," so she is. It's a schtick. She's on her path at the moment. (Sorry surfrrgrrl (sp??) for talking about you on your blog.) Just my interpretation.
I cringed at the Thanksgiving dinner table when my brother wanted to go off on a subject that all of us who've lived here our whole lives, moan about: the never-ending influx of newcomers. Wouldn't it have been nice to have lived her 500 years ago? But even then, the newer tribes arrived, pushing the older tribes further coastside or south. Territories were fought over. This is an old California tale. I cringed because I just don't know how the rant's going to solve the problem.
Read, "The Indian Lover" by Garth Murphy.