The Misconception of the Surfer Dude

“No, I don’t smoke weed. Nor drive a van to and from the beach every day. No, I don’t say things like “stoked” or “gnarly.” And please, for the love of God, don’t assume I’m a rude, lazy, unmotivated beach bum because I love the sport of surfing” (Connolly). In a passionate phone interview, T.J. Connolly, a 60-year-old surfing fanatic proved he has been in the game for quite some time, and like many others across the U.S. coastlines, he is exhausted by the constant stereotypes that come along with loving the ocean sport as old as humans themselves. Although it seems like a minor inconvenience for someone infatuated with riding waves, after over 45 years of harsh stares, snarky comments, and overall mistreatment in his local area of Lavalette, New Jersey, it is time to prove that surfers and surf culture are a much more uplifting, spiritual, and diverse movement than many people care to realize. 

A common misconception on coasts across the globe is that a dedicated surfer is a jobless, lazy, and overall unmotivated individual who uses surfing as an outlet for time-wasting. However, assumptions like this could not be more untrue. Surf culture is one of the most dedicated and well-intentioned movements in the world, and often, surfers start their journey of wave-riding in search of well-being both physically and mentally. Even the most obsessed are drawn not to waves as a time-wasting tool, but as their life's passion. Pulitzer Prize winner William Finnegan for example, tells his life story chasing waves in the book Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life. To him, surfing is not a sport or hobby, but an art form that dates to primitive human civilizations. He dedicated his life to chasing the perfect wave, and explicitly states he would not have disbanded his passion for surfing for the world. Finnegan wrote, “It’s just pure. You’re alone. That wave is so much bigger and stronger than you. You’re always outnumbered. They always can crush you. And yet you’re going to accept that and turn it into a little, brief, meaningless art form” (Finnegan 164). This is just a small piece of the countless quotes from the book that provides insight into the mind of the most extreme surfers.

It is not a method of time wasting, but a relationship between man and sea. This is further proved when Finnegan states, “[Waves] each have personalities, distinct and intricate, and quickly changing moods, to which you must react in the most intuitive, almost intimate way—too many people have likened riding waves to making love. And yet waves are of course not alive, not sentient, and the lover you reach to embrace may turn murderous without warning. It is nothing personal. Wave love is a one-way street” (Finnegan 205). The depth of this quote alone shows just how complex, beautiful, and personal the sport becomes. Hearing from an experienced surfer, much like T.J, it becomes easy to empathize with people placed into stereotypes over something significantly more complicated than they realize. 

Whether it is a hobby, career, or meditative experience surfing takes many forms across the globe. Another more emotional example of this comes from the other side of the world in India. Mukesh Panjanathan, also known as Mumu, started a surf school in his hometown of Mahabalipuram to help combat overwhelming amounts of alcoholism in fishers in the area. He was only 12 years old when his father committed suicide due to alcohol-related health issues. Now over 30 years later, Mumu is accredited for massively improving alcoholism rates in the area solely through the sport of surfing. It exclaims, “Over the last 15 years, the rise of surf culture in Mahabalipuram has not only transformed it into one of India’s top water sports destinations, but also opened doors for the young to pursue alternative careers. The trend is rooted in the state’s local fishing traditions.

Tamil Nadu, which occupies 13 percent of India’s long coastline, has one of the country’s most thriving and active fishing communities, with over 608 fishing villages across 13 coastal districts and a fisherman population of over 1 million” (Vaswani). The school also hosts Covelong Point Surf Festival every year, which draws over 15,000 surfers from across the world to the village and houses many young boys who aspire to represent India’s international surf team. Mumu’s inclusion of surfing in the area not only brought numerous benefits to the individuals who suffered from alcohol abuse in Mahabalipuram but also positively affected the community entirely. 

Surfers should not be glared at, misjudged, or scolded for finding a passion for one of the most intricate and fascinating natural anomalies on every coast in the world, waves. While every surfer has their own intentions and motivations to begin surfing, through the multiple perspectives here, it is obvious the art of surfing far proceeds itself as the “stoner’s hobby” or the sport of the “lazy and unmotivated.” Being a surfer myself, I have received many of those stereotypical comments like T.J highlighted in the very beginning. If only those people knew that the art and sport of surfing is much more than a loner “surfer dude” wasting time, but an international movement of people looking to find an escape from their lives on land to one in the sea, to better themselves in every conceivable way.