In order for any work to accurately describe the world of surfing, or any part of it, that work must reflect upon the changes in the culture of surfing. While the actual action of surfing remains the same, there are many things that have changed from the “glory days” of surfing. Back then, in the early 1960’s, true surfers were never more than a few pennies from being homeless. They scraped by, and were bonded by the Ocean. Surfing was a much more spiritual sort of event back in those days, with surfers never looking for attention, and, in fact, shunning it. In the modern world, however, where money is such an important part of everything in our society, “hot-shot” surfers compete for sponsorships and promotional contracts, leaving the “old” concept of surfing behind. What once was a way to connect with nature, to experience the Ocean, has become a way to show off using the waves, rather than be amazed by them. Changes like these are inevitable in nearly every facet of society, and one cannot always dwell on the “good old days”, but move on, accepting whatever society had placed importance on, being it the change from spiritualism to capitalism, or exercise to chemical pills.

Perhaps the most obvious part of communication that sets surfers apart from the rest of the world is slang. It is used with such frequency, and encompasses so many words, some with altered meanings, such as “pearl diving” (to fall off the tip of the board, causing a faceplant), some with the same definition, but an obviously implied alteration, such as “the Green Room” (the interior of a tube, when a wave forms a tube, and the surfer is inside it), and still other terms that are entirely new in themselves, such as “getting scabbed” (being damaged, or injured, by a rock or a reef). The vast “dictionary” of surf slang is one that has its roots in the early days of the life.

Surfers also tend to use communication to solidify “crews” or groups of surfers local to a certain surf spot. A crew will almost always have its own slang, in addition to the common terms used by all surfers. Understanding the anatomy of a crew is absolutely necessary to understanding the importance of slang. As we will soon see, slang was much more than just a way to “hang” with friends. Stephen Wayne Hull described the bonds of a crew, and how their unique thesaurus of terms sets them apart in his Master’s thesis paper entitled “A Sociological Study of the Surfing Subculture in the Santa Cruz Area”. In it, he writes “Locals are the individuals who make up the group of surfers who consider a particular beach theirs.’ This sense of territoriality is very important within the surfing scene. The particular beach is a symbol to the group of their home’ and their unity. They surf there whenever possible, lounge there whenever they can, party there regularly, and sometimes sleep there.” Hull continues in his description of the “local” surfer: “The local is among the first to arrive at the beach in the morning, and the last to leave after the sunset. While he may surf at other spots during the day, he always returns to his own territory. The locals are usually easy to identify. They fit the surfer image better than anyone else on the beach, and they are grouped on the beach where the greatest vantage point for observing the parking lot, the waves, and the beach is.” This description of the quintessential “local”, as detailed by Hull, is a necessary “starting point” to establish exactly why unique communication is so important to the culture.

The surfer of Hull’s description is an individual with a deep connection to the Ocean. This bond was treasured to the extent that it needed a certain “protection” from infringing forces, such as non-surfers, or, the most hated of all, tourists and “posers”. As R. B. Alderman said, “The love and affection people have for each other, and the feelings of belonging to an important group, tend to be emphasized when the group faces a common external threat.” The slang dictionary set surfers apart from these outsiders, and united them together in their love for the Ocean. Any surfer could recognize another, and be able to effectively communicate without any surrounding non-surfers ever understanding a word that was said. This uniqueness was bound to lead to some sort of conflict and, of course, it occasionally did.
Fights were not excessively common, but one must understand that it was not their frequency that separated them from any other conflict, it was their intensity. Often, humiliation would be enough to ostracize a surfer, without any punches being thrown. Because, as previously described, locals were so attached to their particular beaches, they would feel threatened when another crew, or any other group of people, would begin to adopt the beach. It is for this reason that the occasional violence would break out with a fury rarely seen. Violent beach fights were the bane of lifeguards and local law enforcement officials. The fights were almost never lethal, but an “out-of-town” surfer would learn a valuable lesson about property. One must remember that the surfer persona is one always in monetary poverty, but never at any emotional loss. When an individual, like a surfer, literally lived for one thing, one connection, having that connection threatened would make them fight for their life, for their piece of coastline.

Through a complete analysis, it is possible to see exactly how important certain language was to surfers, and how it continues to shape the lives of those still pursuing that same dream. Without their pages and pages of jargon, the surfing community would surely be lacking one of its key bonds. Every surfer knows every term in the “book” and every surfer realizes just how important that “book” is to their way of life.