Surfing Etiquette » School

In a crowded line up, competing for waves is not an anarchic free for all. Nor is it a socialist utopia where surfers all share waves. There is an order and structure to ensure that dinged boards and unduly raised tempers don’t destroy the pleasure of surfing.

If you don’t want to be the recipient of some harsh language or possibly much much worse on your nest surf trip, don’t go into the water until you understand fully the etiquette of surfing.

Whilst it is perfectly fine to share "the" waves, it is not normally acceptable to share "a" wave. Indeed if you are an incoming surfer at a very localised surf spot you should do your utmost to share "the" waves but bend every sense and sinew to avoid ever sharing "a" wave. On any given wave you may see several surfers paddling for the wave. One of the surfers will have the right of way, and should be able to take the wave and ride it without worrying about any of the other surfers dropping in. Dropping in is the ultimate faux pa of surfing etiquette, the equivalent of farting in a lift or sneezing in the soup. It means to take of, or attempt to take off, on a wave where another surfer has a clear right of way on the wave.

So who has right of way and who is dropping in? Luckily surfing etiquette is easy to understand. The surfer nearest the breaking crest of the wave has right of way, anyone who takes off further down the line than this surfer is dropping in. It’s that clear cut. Even if someone gets to their feet before the surfer nearest the crest then this is still technically dropping in, and will be regarded as snaking.

Snaking is behavior that is not directly against the letter of the law of surfing etiquette but is still considered rude and should be avoided by visitors to a localised surf spot. A classic example would be to observe a surfer is in a good position to catch a wave with priority, and then proceeding to paddle ultra fast slightly deeper than the other surfer to take priority away from him, not leaving him any room or time to go deeper still with out risking going over the falls. Locals may tolerate this begrudgingly from other locals but will get pissed off very fast if a visitor keeps doing it repeatedly.