…taunting and ‘egging-on’ other surf friends, and possibly exaggerating surf size and epic-ness and the performance during this (usually unseen by the recipient of the info) session, and, while we’re at it, why not discuss (again) the etiquette of who to call, and when, and whether bragging is helpful to the growth of those who we regard as having a spot somewhere on our personal list of those we might refer to as ‘surf friends.’ Not that one can’t be a REAL friend AND a SURF friend,

THAT was the title part, now, um, an example of the ETIQUETTE: If it is considered bad form to call someone from the beach BEFORE you go out to tell that (let’s presume friend) that it’s surfable, is it okay to call that person after he or she, someone who was at the beach you’re at, gave up and headed elsewhere? I mean, it’s great to call the person later and brag about how, if he or she had only waited another three hours, there was a window in which the waves were just so… (fill in from your own file of second-hand poetic descriptions) perfect, but if the recently-skunked surf friend is, like, not that far gone? Permissible?

WELL, whether it is or not on your tablet of ten commandments, I am certainly grateful for a call I got, halfway home, AND I want to give a special shout out (publicly, I already thanked her in private) to TRISH, long-suffering at the whims of the waves, for telling me, when I called her to say how I really missed it, that, HELL, YES, I should turn around and go back. AND I DID, U-turn in the middle of Surf Route 101, speed run only interrupted because I just had to get some gas, and, yes, the waves that had been not quite, but almost (story of the Strait) big enough or clean enough to convince me to suit up, were… okay, I’m not going to embellish (here- later, yes), the conditions were pretty fucking OKAY for about an hour. Window closed. I was out in the wonk and rip and weirdness for another hour, hoping, chop-hopping.

PRETTY STANDARD STUFF.

BUT, on this same day, during which some of my friends went to another spot and couldn’t talk themselves into surfing (and you must bear in mind that surfers on the Strait have been known to surf waves in conditions Texas surfers would pass on), another surfer in the sort of loose circles (multiple- it would take another post to describe this) of surfers I know kind of… there is no other way to describe this, he BRAGGED about waves he found.

EVIDENTLY the bragging did not go over too well with those he (I’m just going to call it, as they would in the NFL) TAUNTED.

INTERMISSION- Here is a possible t-shirt design I have been working on. I’m not totally finished with it. It may have gotten just a little too psychedelic. If there is such a thing.

BACK TO THE BRAGGING. The surfer in question here is not apologetic. He defends himself with the argument that it seems right to ‘egg on’ your friends when you get some good waves. And they can respond in kind. Repartee. GOOD FUN. PLUS, the boasting might just inspire them. “Oh, yeah?” “Yeah!”

There is something to the CHIMACUM TIMACUM ARGUMENT. I feel lucky that, because the main topic of conversation I share with a limited number of friends concerns when the next window might open, how we are going to scheme or scam our way out of doing what we probably should be doing (most frequently but not always work) and go looking for waves, there is the sort of EXHORTATION ARGUMENT. Basically, if I miss a search-if-not-surf opportunity, I might feel compelled to explain why. Not forced. AND, even if I know I missed small and mediocre waves, I do get a bit of a twinge of something in the jealousy/regret range. I probably should have known. I probably could have gone.

WHAT I DO KNOW is that the PENALTY for excessive taunting is not fifteen yards, it’s more like no one telling you what you missed, even if a window opened when you had only recently given up or gone elsewhere. MAYBE a day or two later. I think that’s allowed within the commandments.

NOTE- All original artwork and original content on realsurfers.net is copyright protected. All rights reserved. Erwin A. Dence, Jr.

FINAL NOTE- I do consider Tim a friend. I am grateful to all the surfers who put up with me. My best friends are also surf friends. AND another shout out to TRISH for allowing all my surf scheming and scamming lo these many years. Heart emoji.

Final Final note WAIT, am I, myself, bragging? Maybe.