By Wayang Ombak: Compiled from surfers and non-surfers, bits and pieces of conversations here and there, and more so from our more experienced surfers, has resulted in these interesting ‘rules’ of surfing. Rather than rules, we think it is more of a poetic landscape – or minimalist bouquet – into surfing’s past, present and future. Some rules cover many of the surfing world’s long-standing unwritten code, some are a bit more specific.

We have not included rules that can only be related to certain conditions, for example, some special handling rules in Bali can only be relevant to surf breaks who share Bali’s somewhat weird conditions: blatant commercialism, mega-tourism and mafia-like localism. Of course not all Bali breaks are like this and not all of the time, it’s just a point in discussion. On the other hand, we’ve included some specific rules that might actually be relevant in any break in the world. The ‘visiting friend syndrome’ and the ‘I don’t have a tomorrow’ syndrome are two examples. – - – Enjoy!
 
a) be amazing trend-setters …

Think and feel about it before you go about it. This goes for you in your own home break and even more so if you are a visitor away from it.

Before you even decide to start to get wet in a surfbreak, consider and imagine to yourself the best surf-stoke day you ever had in your life, wear that aura and smile on your whole self, have no expectations or indulge in any judgements.

Move good, drink good eat good and BE good. But of course you will FEEL good! On top of that without any effort at all this will transcend to the place and the locals you are in, and eventually feedback to yourself.

Just like other sports activities, surfing too has already one too many drunks, gangsters, factions, groups, gangs, supporters of this and that brand, sponsored by this and that … and so on. Decide for yourself if you want to be classified or not, then don’t!

Surfing has one too many wave hoggers, not enough wave givers. Too many into it for the hype and style, not enough for surfing’s soul itself. Too many competitive and who’s better than who, not enough cruise and be at one … and so on. Decide for yourself if you want to transcend or not, then do!
 
b) leave a mark that lasts …

Of course in terms of being green it actually means tread as lightly as possible wherever you go, and leave the least ecological mark you can manage, as possible. Yes, this even means if you go to a beach which has everyone PLUS the locals flicking their trash on the beach at every imaginable destination and trajectory, if you have only one item to dispose, find a proper trash bin to throw it in.

Be as local as you can get, not only to the local surfers or the surfers in the water with you, also to the locals of the place. Consider their traditions and culture while at the same time politely stay away from the bad sides of each of the local place’s habits and ways. Do it with your whole, you are a person too as is the others.

If you think a misunderstanding needs clarification, then do so as much as you can without forcing your own way of thinking to others. If it has to be left unresolved, then maybe it should be unresolved. Move on and cruise on.
 
c) try to surf NOT alone …

When you see someone surfing alone, give the surfer already in the water good company. If you find yourself surfing alone try to go your way to have others in the water with you, or, at least, try to find out if there is a local surf rescue watch on hand. Anything can happen. Be safe.

An exception to this rule is of course if we are surfing at a break that we have wired. Sometimes, we just want to do our thing totally solo. There’s nothing wrong with that until we realize that, hey, it might be cooler if there was a surf mate or two in the water.
 
d) know your limits …

This just means don’t go over our head in surfing. If you can’t comfortably handle crowds, then don’t surf at crowded situations. If you are not sure about how to make a safe exit in a break, regardless of how big the surf is at that time, then make yourself acquainted with the ins and outs, tips and tricks of that break, in other words, start to get it wired.

Ask local surfers how to wire it. If there are no surfers around, then slowly learn the rips and currents of the break, the shallowness or depth of it, and the different different ways to take off safely in its different different waves. It’s okay to be slow and careful. It beats being injured and going M.I.A. for a couple of days.

If you think you don’t have the best board for the surf conditions, then don’t go in! You are already disadvantaged at least in your mind. The way out for learners is usually trying to get a more comfortable board (or equipment) while expert surfers might just need to change his/her state of mind.

It’s the same if you think you are not in a good physical condition. Make it good, one way or another. Most gnarly breaks can only be wired in one’s state of mind anyway, but it sure helps your state of mind if you have background preparation for it, whether physical or not. Knowledge and experience goes a long way.

Mellow breaks deserves the same attention to get wired. It all just translates to more stoke every time we get wet. Innit?
 
e) longboards vs other boards aka wave hogging …

Nowadays there are so many types of boards one cannot really say that the ‘other’ boards are not similar to longboards, and guess what, there ARE longboards 9 foot and over that are specifically shaped to be wave predators, one can even do airs on ‘em! … so for discussions sake, we’ll talk about this rule in the manner of the boards catching the waves, not the type of board, AND in our abilities to catch waves.

On mellower ‘fat’ wave breaks, boards with more flotation, easier paddleability and is shaped to catch these kinds of waves, almost always has the upper hand. As users of the right board for these conditions, we just have to be considerate to the other surfers who don’t have the same leverage.

On hollower ‘thick lip’ breaks, smaller boards that sink totally when you are on it, a strain to paddle, and able to be driven into a very deep duck-dive, almost always have the upper hand. As users of these kinds of boards on these conditions, we just have to be considerate to the other surfers who just cannot be our peers.

In short, at any condition you are in, whether equipment wise or ability wise, if you seem to be taking wave after wave while the other surfers are low on wave count, then put in your mind that you may be wave hogging, even if it is unintentional.

A great way around this is to give out waves to others, even though the wave is clearly yours, or give a friendly holler (or body movement if you are far away) signalling the next wave is theirs.

Another great way is to keep to your turn in the line-up, no matter how far the line-up extends. Some surfers coin this as wave queueing and is not exactly the same as wave jockeying.

For example, we are at the furthest point of take off, and we see there are some surfers waiting on another point down the line far away from us, which, if we ride a wave, they cannot take off because they will be ‘dropping in’. In this situation the farthest line-up and the line-up down the line should be treated as one extended line-up, where wave queueing will be great.
 
f) wait for your turn aka wave queueing …

If someone has been waiting longer than you in the line-up, or even the ‘extended’ line-up, then he/she has the top priority to paddle for the next wave. If they are far away from you, give a friendly holler or gesture … ‘your wave, mate!’

If you have taken your turn but missed the wave or had an abrupt wipe-out, not taking the full advantage of the wave you took, then you must let go of your turn, and queue from the end again. Sometimes, the other surfers in the lineup will let you jump the line to have another go, sometimes not; the most important thing is we know our place and respect the others in the water.

Be mindful of how some surfers in the water with you have certain wave-catching tendencies, and give that surfer what he/she wants. This also means that if you are that surfer waiting for a specific kind of set coming, or wave coming, being very ‘picky’, have some courtesy and tell the others to go ahead and take the waves you are not waiting for, even though you have been waiting the longest.
 
g) spend some of your quality time to assist learners …

We’ve seen it too many times … ‘learn to surf’ and ‘surf lesson’ packages, services or camps, NOT INFECTING THE SURF LEARNERS IN A HOLISTIC MANNER.

We can’t really blame these learn-to-surf industries, because maybe they just cannot put enough heart and soul into the teaching process. Maybe they are, and its just the surf newcomers having an already set mind to do drop ins and snakes forever! whichever way we look at it, all surf learners anywhere in the world can probably benefit by being bitten by more than one surfing bug!

You are a surfer. Ask yourself. How many times have I been bitten? The answer is surely not once, right? Well here’s your chance to infect your bug to others … MAKE SOME OF YOUR TIME SURFING ASSISTING SURF LEARNERS, yeah sure there may be some learners who are just too adamant (or bigheaded) to receive anything from us – the, ‘I only listen to so and so’ syndrome – just spend your time anyway, okay?

Duke Kahanamoku cannot have been the main infector of the surfing bug worldwide if he did not have this spirit. He spent his quality time away from his loved breaks in Hawaii. He spent quality time not taking the best waves possible when he was touring the world. By each of us spending our quality times, the surfing world is sure to change only for the better.
 
h) the ‘I have no tomorrow’ syndrome …

If someone seems specifically ‘greedy’ at a break, maybe it’s his or her last day in that break, and tomorrow will be going home to his or her house smack dab in the middle of the alps, and won’t see any kind of liquid wave for three years to come. You know, something as dramatic as that or another; but it doesn’t have to be dramatic to happen to us.

Say we’ve been at so and so break for 10 days straight, with very much less than great conditions throughout our stay, and we were all ready to move on to another break with all travel preps made, suddenly, on the very last day, a good swell with great conditions materialize! What do you think we’d do? We’d hope to catch more than a ‘few’, that’s what we’d do. The perfect ice-breaker is of course saying hello and make friends in the water. Then everyone would know everyone else’s specific set of circumstances.

Alas, this doesn’t always work at ultra-crowded spots were ‘surf rage’ is somewhat of a norm. More often than not, by aura, you are with 50 other surfers but you feel absolutely alone. Sigh!
 
i) the ‘visiting friend’ syndrome …

It can happen to all of us. We have a friend visiting our ‘home’ break, then we unintentionally go into this syndrome. We constantly put our main attention – and give more than a fair share of waves – to our friend. This is simply not fair. It is by far better for us to ask our friend to be like the others in the water. Surfers are like a tribe. Be considerate to each other wherever we are.